Putins Administration Policies on Russias Economic Revival - Case Study Example

 Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born on October 7, 1952 in St Petersburg which was then known as Leningrad. He was the second president of Russia and the current Prime Minister of the Russian Federation. He doubles up as the chairman of United Russia and chairman of the council of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He is a law graduate from the State University in St Petersburg. He was raised as the only son of Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin and Maria Ivanovna Putina. His father was a factory foreman while the mother was a homemaker. Both his parents died in the year 1999. However, their deaths occurred at different times starting with his mother’s in February 1999 which was followed by that of his father’s six months later. As the last born to his parents and his birth after the World War II, Putin never saw his two brothers who had died earlier (Stressgut, 2005). One of his two brothers had died shortly after birth while the other died of diphtheria during the World War II. During his early life, Putin enjoyed visiting his paternal grandfather, Spiridon Ivanovich Putin at a dacha belonging to Communist Party of the Soviet Union where he worked as a cook. Spiridon had been working as a cook at Vladimir Lenin’s dacha before joining the Communist Party’s dacha. He was born in 1879 and later died in 1965. As an employee of KGB which was the Soviet Union’s secret service, Putin met with his wife-to-be, Lyudmila Schkrebneva at a concert in 1980 and they got along well. Their courtship lasted for three years and in 1983 they got married. This marriage was blessed with two daughters, Katya and Masha. Both his daughters are now attending an international school in Moscow. His wife, who is a graduate of Philological department of the Leningrad State University, was working as a stewardess in Kaliningrad during their first time of meeting but later changed her career to teaching (Stressgut, 2005). Putin was raised in a humble background and he spent much of his tender years in a communal apartment in Leningrad. The laws which were in place during this time were those regarding government as the sole owner of land and other property. The result was the living of many poor Russians in apartments which were in regretful state. As a youth, Vladimir was known to many as Putka and was secretly initiated into the Russian Orthodox faith by his mother and later baptized in spite of a ban by the Communist law. In addition, he loved taking after intelligence officer’s characters which were played by actors. Putin started school in 1st September 1960 at School 193 which was located across from an apartment he shared with his parents. He proved to be smart in class but was, however rejected in the Pioneers during his fifth grade, which was a children’s movement organized by the government to eradicate illiteracy. The reason for the rejection into the movement was his rowdy behavior and his lack of hard work in class. He won acceptance into the Pioneers during his sixth grade owing to his hard work and change in behavior. It was during his sixth grade that he developed some liking for sports. He first ventured into boxing but dropped out of it after breaking his nose during one of the training exercises. This did not make him lose his interest in sports for he was recruited into sambo, which is a Russian style of self-defense, and judo. He was just an eleven year old kid when he enrolled for these training. In spite of his skinny nature and small size, Putin was determined to winning every game he played. He mastered the art of these games and was soon seen as the favorite amongst his peers. His determination and talent in these sports led to his winning of many championships of St. Petersburg and earning the title Master of sports in sambo and judo. His excellent performance in academics during his eighth grade secured him a place in School 281, which was admitting only students with excellent grades. Putin entered a high school in his ninth grade where he studied hard and performed well in Germany. His love for sports did not just end in primary school but grew in all the levels he attended. For instance, his continued exhibition of great talents in both sambo and judo led to his appointment as a sports leader, a position he proved to be good at. During his study at the secondary level, he learned a great deal of spying-society, which involved use of codes in its communication. This society really fascinated him and prompted his urge to join it in spite his lack of connections in the government. The secret society was known to involve connections with influential people in the government and its employees were reputed for their no-nonsense nature. These did not deter him from pursuing the new dream as he soon approached one of the persons at KGB headquarters inquiring on the things one needed in order to work for that society. The information regarding a degree in law as a pre-requisite to joining the force inspired his choice of pursuing law degree. Vladimir Putin, on completion of his secondary education joined the State University in St Petersburg to pursue a degree in law. As a great sportsman, Putin continued to be part of the university’s sporting team where he won them several medals. His dream of working in KGB came to almost a true reality in 1974 when he was approached by a stranger who was one of the KGB’s personnel. Upon graduation in 1975, he joined the KGB’s foreign intelligence service, which was the security force for the former Soviet Union. He was first subjected to one-year training and later based in Leningrad with the duty of monitoring foreigners and consular officials who were suspected to be spies working in the Soviet Union. During his execution of duties he posed as a police officer attached with the CID as a way of concealing his identity, a tact well used by the security force. During his tenure at KGB, he was sent to Moscow for further training, and his duty was to track those people who criticized the Communist regime. In 1976, he was assigned to the section of First directorate which involved spying outside USSR. His execution of duties was lauded and as a result he was promoted. His promotion involved his 1984 further training at Andropov Red Banner Institute, which was a school for foreign agents (Streissguth, 2005). Between 1985 and 1990, he was stationed in Dresden which is in East Germany. However, he was recalled to Soviet Union as a result of the fall of the East Germany regime. In 1991, he left the service and was employed by the International Affairs section of the Leningrad University. Among his new duties was the continued checking of the students’ body and reporting to the vice-Rector. In the line of his duty at the University, Putin met with his former lecturer, Anatoly Sobchak, who was the mayor of St Petersburg. Anatoly played an important role in Putin’s political career by appointing him his international affairs advisor in May 1990 and thus drawing him into active politics (Robert, 2003). His work was excellent and this made people he interacted with view him as an efficient, effective and honest person. He was later made the head of Anatoly’s committee for external relations whose responsibility was to foster foreign investments and international relations. His office of the commission of the city legislative however, came under scrutiny, in 1992 for understating prices and issue of licenses allowing the export of non-ferrous metals in exchange for food aid from overseas but was never received in the city. Thus, the committee recommended his sucking. Instead, Putin continued to serve at this position for some four more years. In 1996, Sobchak lost the mayoral election to Vladimir Yakovlev but unknown to Putin, Ataloy Chubais, who was a deputy prime minister, had noticed his efficiency at work. He recommended him for a job as deputy chief of the presidential property management department which was headed by Pavel Borodin. In March 1997, he was appointed the deputy chief of the presidential staff by President Boris Yeltsin. He served in this capacity up to May 1998 and as a chief of the main control directorate of the presidential property management until June 1998. He had a reputation of being a good chairman and organizer which prompted his rise in power and making him popular among the youth. Putin was appointed the first chief of presidential staff for regions and by July 15 he was made the head of the commission for the preparation of agreements on the disadvantages of power of regions and the federal center attached to the president (Shields, 2006). His excellent execution of duties led to his appointment to the head of Federal Security Service of Russia Federation (FSB) which was involved in counter-intelligence, internal and border security, surveillance and counter-terrorism (Shields, 2006). He worked in this position until August 1999. As a result of his devotion to the duties assigned to him and hard work, he was made a permanent member of the security council of the Russian Federation in 1 October 1998 and later the federation’s secretary. His rise in power and fame escalated leading to his promotion as one of the three deputy prime ministers. This position opened room for his appointment as an acting prime minister of the Government of the Russian Federation and later as Yeltsin’s successor. President Boris Yeltsin, who was ailing, announced him as his successor and in 31 December 1999 Putin was made the acting president following the resignation of Yeltsin. Presidential election was conducted shortly after the resignation of the president contrary to the June 2000 elections which Putin’s opponents had been preparing for. Consequently, Putin emerged a winner and was inaugurated president in May 2000. He served as the president from 2000 to 2008. His second term in office was from March 2004 (Robert, 2003). Under his leadership, consolidation of powers and delegation of duties was in earnest. He was, however, responsible for the overall running of the government. This was depicted by his re-alignment of the regional bureaucracy to allow governors to report to the prime minister instead of the president (Robert, 2003). He did this while keeping the main role of overseeing the effectiveness of regional authority to the president. This rule led to heightened political stability in Russia. He tried hard to curb corruption by ensuring that those acquiring wealth through dubious means were brought to book. This was manifested by his government’s prosecution of Yukos and its management for evading tax, embezzling funds and fraud in relation to illegal acquisition of shares in a state-owned fertilizer firm, Apitite. He also fired some defiant and non-performing cabinet members and replaced them with better ones (Politkovskaia, 2007). He led Russian by carrot and stick. He did this by ensuring that every independent source of political power in Russia was suppressed resulting in lesser degree of pluralism in its society. He launched an initiative which replaced the direct election of governors and the presidents of the federal subjects of Russia. This was done by developing a system whereby the president would propose the candidates for the positions and the regional legislatures had a duty to approve or disapprove them. A merger of a number of federal subjects of Russia into larger entities was done. As a consequence, a better system of governance was reached at and the proper utilization of resources was greatly achieved. Following the higher death rate as compared to birth rate in Russia, national priority projects were launched in the fields of health care, education, housing and agriculture. These led to the raised living standards and decreased mortality rate. The policy on agriculture was a relief to the Russia’s big population and was a move towards self-reliance in food production with the goal of reducing the country’s expenditure on imports (Shields, 2006). Illiteracy level was reduced by the government’s effort in ensuring full access to education by its citizens. Housing conditions were improved following the policies imposed on it and re-establishment of the rule of law. His second term was characterized by the continued fight against corruption in which the Russia’s richest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who is the president of Yukos, was prosecuted for fraud and tax evasion. This was coupled by the state intervention in the economy by holding a larger stake at various companies within it. This, according to a study by Bank of Finland's Institute for Economics in Transition, in 2008, had a positive impact on the running of many companies. The implementation of these rules made Russia an independent and democratic state by realizing economic development. Under the policies set by Putin and his administration, Russia's economy has rapidly grown. The GDP has gone up by 70%, the industrial growth has tremendously gone up to 75% while investments rose by 125%. These are attributed to the laws favoring the growth of various economic sectors. All these have made Russia be among the top ten economies though with a task of making a transition to an innovation-driven economy. Putin’s consolidation of power during his two terms in office and the improved economy, according to Liao’s special report on Russia’s presidential elections of 2008, are greatly credited. The consolidation of powers led to the delegation of decision making powers to the central government. This resulted in the efficiency of the Russian state which was in the verge of falling. The policy on the government's control of substantial amounts of oil and gas shares in addition to formation of legal space made the country self-reliant in energy production, and was the initialization stage in the overcoming of Russia's systematic crisis. The revenues collected from gas and oil sectors are large enough to support other government projects. This has also been realized in other sectors where the government controls much of the shares. An excellent management of oil revenue was realized during the tenure of Putin as the president. This was done by adopting a policy on management of oil export revenues (Charles, 2005). A stabilization Fund to accumulate oil revenues was launched in 2004 and the accumulated funds helped to reduce inflationary pressure on the economy. More of the funds were used for investment purposes while others were channeled to Russian development institutions. According to the Federal State Statistics Service, the industrial production greatly increased in the year 2000 with the industrial growth rated at 11.9 percent. However, there was a slowed down industrial growth in 2001 and 2002 of up to 3.7%. This by 2007 grew to 6.3 percent. The income levels of many citizens of Russian doubled whereas the poverty level was cut by half during President Vladimir’s tenure in office. The current population living below poverty line has dropped from 30% in 2000 to 14%. This was aided by the average wages and average pension increased a situation which had presented problems before Putin's assumption of power (Robert, 2003). The overall change in the industrial sector was its turnover transformation from barter-based to money based which resulted in the boost of the economy. The government advocated for liberal economic policies in 2001. This resulted in the introduction of a flat tax rate of 13% and a reduction in the corporate tax from 35% to 24%, which allowed the growth of smaller businesses. As a consequence, Russia enjoyed lower tax benefits than any other European country. The internal policies put in place by Putin's government saw the signing of a Kyoto protocol in the effort to curbing down environmental pollution. Putin and his successor are committed to making Russia a clean nation by cracking down on greenhouse-gas emitting companies. They have done this despite the fact that Russia's pollution level is below the 1990 baseline set for them (Shields, 2006). The pollution level went down after the fall of the Soviet Union, which was a power house of many production industries. Putin's commitment to a cleaner environment is a characteristic of his love for nature and care for the next generation. However, a higher inflation has hit the government as a result of its failure to control prices. The Russian government, under Putin lost the fight against inflation in 2007. This has continued in spite of the promise by the government officials to curb it. The industrial sector has not been fully exploited as explained by the fact that nearly half of the federal budget’s revenues are from the fuel and energy sector. Furthermore, a larger revenue earner is the raw materials and fertilizer sector whereas machinery and equipment contribute a small fraction of the total revenue collected. The Western media accused Putin of not protecting the freedom of the press in spite of the laws on freedom of the media and journalist protection. A large number of Russian reporters, who were involved in the unmasking stories on organized crimes, state and administrative officials and large businessmen, were reported to have been eliminated between 1990 and 2000 (Robert, 2003). This was further explained by the killing of a journalist, who ran a campaign on exposure of corruption in the Russian army and was famous for her criticism of Russia’s actions in Chechnya. Her death occurred on 7 October 2006 at her apartment. This exposed the government to criticism from the western world for lack of protection of its independent media. The growth of agriculture is not able to sustain Russia's large population. The government’s commitment in the development of better methods of practicing agriculture as a solution to the high demand for food by its ever rising population has not been dealt with appropriately. This has created a gap in food production and consumption resulting in high dependency on food imports (Shields, 2006). Consequently, the country is losing a lot in foreign exchange and in expensive food imports. The food imports in big cities have greatly increased with high poultry meat and butter demand topping the list. Fruits, especially apples are second on the list of imports. The rapid growth in Russia's economy is not reflecting the true picture on the ground. The gap between the rich and the poor has greatly increased. This is illustrated by the fact that the income of the rich was about 14 times larger than that of the poor in 2000 while the figure rose to 17times in 2007. A small population of wealthy Russians makes super-profits at the expense of the greater majority. This has made the average income/wage for Russians to go up contrary to the real situation. Public awareness in the importance of investing in the stock market was not greatly achieved. This implies that large companies capitalize in these markets leaving just a smaller number of individuals to trade in the stock market. A survey made indicates that 70% of Russians do not have savings while 26% of the remaining keep their savings in cash and majority prefer saving this cash at home rather than in the bank. This is an indication of a failure by Putin's government to develop proper banking systems and educate its subjects on the importance of savings (Ann, 2007). The lack of investment on stock market has resulted in the failure in the development of middle class. President Putin's foreign policies were based on increasing Russia's prestige and power. He joined the European security and defense policy initiative and a joint military structure for the European Union. In so doing, he counterbalanced America's role in European security in the NATO and increased its arms and petroleum sales. His signing of a large deal on fire-arms sale with China, India and Iran governments in 2000 increased Russia's influence and increased its revenues. The friendship between Russia and other European countries which had long been lost was slowly cultivated during Putin's era. This was done with strategic goals in mind of increasing the market of Russia's arms and machinery. The agreement to reduce Russia's nuclear forces has earned Putin a reputation of being a great leader. He was not for the idea for deploying his country’s national missile defense system for America as this posed a threat to his country’s enjoyment of powers. His defiance to America's dominance in the global relations is rooted in the quest for a fair and democratic world not controlled by only a few (Shields, 2006). The proposal for the development of a uranium enrichment plant and the laws governing the deployment of weapons in the outer space have been his vocal points in the effort of reducing ozone depletion. Putin's administration gained popularity among the Russians but was not welcome to the Bush administration and other western nations. The manner in which he led his country and his anti-Western stand was viewed by foreigners as oppression of his people and as a barrier to vital changes required in the modern world. To his opponents, this rule was oppressive and did not respect human rights. For instance, his sanctions on the existence of Kosovo did not go well with other European nations and the USA. In addition, several government actions under him have come under criticism as anti-democratic. This was heightened by the arrest of several opposition protestors in 2007 who had attempted to break through police barricades. The president's word on the arrest of the protesters was that their actions interfered with the normal living of the vast majority. Putin inferred that local critics were funded by foreigners who wanted to see Russia fall. Putin became unpopular as a result of his suppression of media freedom, the cunning exploitation of the church, the increase of the wages of his administrators and other workers from the huge revenue collected from oil and gas sale, and the military dominance (Bret, 2007). Bret further compares Putin's economic policies with those of Hitler in which a means of production was not fully developed. This type of economy lacks the nationalization of the economic stimulus plan and diversification. A report by the Human Rights Watch, dated January 2008 indicated some violation of human rights by Putin's administration during the parliamentary and presidential elections of 2007/2008. It claims that a crack down on civil society and freedom of assembly was conducted. This involved human torture, abduction, and unlawful detentions. This has earned Putin a title of a brutal and repressive leader. The electoral system was further put under severe criticism. In the case leveled on him concerning bombing of Russian apartments, Putin has been severely criticized by many authors of different books for his involvement. They claim that he issued commands to Patrushev, who was his successor as the secret service director, and German Ugryumov, who was the director of Russia’s counter-terrorism department. They further accused Maxim and Lieutenant-Colonel Abubakar, who were both secret service operatives for their practical organization of the bombings. According to Alexander Litvivinenko’s book entitled “Blowing up of Russia: Terror from”, said Mr. Putin had a hand in the 1999 series of bombing of Russian apartments. The reason he cited for the bombing was political. He however, blamed FBS for undertaking the bombings to bring him to power. Alexander’s death which resulted from radioactive poisoning was linked to Putin’s administration by Western critics and Putin’s political opponents (Bret, 2003). The circumstances surrounding his death were related the secret agents’ ways of executing rebels and those spying against Russia. Alexander’s criticism on Putin’s leadership and policies were attributed to his elimination in London. Accusations of journalists’ executions against President Putin were also made by Oleg Panfivin who was the head of the center of Journalism in Extreme Situations. He alleged that there was a system of judicial terror which was targeting journalists and that several criminal cases had been opened against them over the last six years. On the same scale, Putin’s administration has been criticized for its censorship on media houses, especially the TV crew which was estimated to rise from about 62% to 82%. This was heightened by socialists’ accusation of Russians’ inability to vote against press freedom suppression. Several round-ups were made on media houses which resulted in the destruction of printed materials and airing of only those materials regarded fit by the government. The prosecution of Russia’s richest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who is the president of Yukos Oil Company, met some criticism from his political opponents and international press. The international press viewed it as a punishment on Mikhail for funding Kremlin, who was Putin’s political opponent. This criticism was, however, turned down by the government citing Mikhail’s engagement in large scale corruption in Duma by preventing changes in tax codes which were aimed at taxing windfall profits and reducing offshore evasion of tax on vehicles (Politkovskaia, 2007). In spite of President Putin’s policy on environment conservation, his delegation of this duty to Natural Resource Ministry, according to the organizations Greenpeace, led to development of various illegal and hazardous projects. This Ministry has been criticized for its corrupt deals with influential individuals and some rich Russians (Politkovskaia, 2007). The government under Putin failed to prosecute corrupt officials in this ministry but instead allowed it to take a different dimension. In his article “Inside Putin’s Russia”, Andrew Jack (2004) criticizes Putin and other Russian politicians for their honoring of some former oppressive leaders, for instance the re-erection of a statue in honor of Felix Dzerzhinsky who was the founder of the secret police force which led to the introduction of Russia’s oppressive laws. Putin, however, is not bothered with this criticism. Instead, he takes these critics especially the foreign ones and those from his political opponents as non-development based. Andrew further accuses Russia of her participation in undermining the independence of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) by trying to impose laws against their operations. Conclusion The policies set by Putin’s administration on the revival of Russia’s economy and governance proved fruitful. This was exhibited by the increased economic growth and the improved relations between Russia and other countries. The criticism on Putin’s leadership and suppression of press freedom does not carry much weight as they are overshadowed by the positive changes he made. Works cited Anna, Politkovskaia Putin's Russia: life in a failing democracy. 2nd ed. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 2007, 256-261. Bret, Stephens. “The Wall Street Journal.” Criticism of Putin 2.1. (2007): 13-17. Charles, J., Shields. Vladimir Putin. New York: Chelsea House, 2006, 34-105. Human Rights Watch. Report on Vladimir Putin. 3.4 (2007): 6-11. Robert, Service. A History of Modern Russia from Nicholas II to Vladimir Putin. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003; 262-400 Thomas, Stressguth. Vladimir Putin. Minneapolis: Lerner Publishers, 2005, 54-102. New York library journal. Languages arts and disciplines. 130.12. (2005): 10-16. Website: Vladimir Putin. The life and career of Putin. 30th September 2009. Read More