Translated material
Second coming
Vladimir Putin again headed the Russian government
On the eve of one of the most significant holidays for Russia - Victory Day, May 8, the State Duma approved Vladimir Putin as Prime Minister. After leaving the presidency, he was unemployed for no more than a day. Moreover, the deputies did not just vote for a certain candidate, some average politician nominated for the post, but rather “confirmed Vladimir Vladimirovich as Prime Minister” without an alternative or much thought. An hour after the vote , Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree appointing Vladimir Putin as prime minister . The composition of the new cabinet is due to be announced today. In his candidacy speech, the ex-president did not rule out that Russia “already this year may surpass Great Britain in terms of GDP,” and in the next 10-15 years it will even join the global economic elite.In August 1999, Vladimir Putin stood here on the Duma podium as Yeltsin’s nominee, whom no one expected and could not imagine. But then everything worked out. And now deputies cannot imagine Russian politics without Putin. The speaker of the lower house of parliament and now the second person after Putin in United Russia, Boris Gryzlov, searches and finds words appropriate to the moment: “Today (May 8. - Ed. ) we are making a historic decision that will allow Vladimir Vladimirovich to continue working for the benefit of Motherland." Seeing on the scoreboard the number 392 out of 448 for Putin (56 communists were against. There were no abstentions. Probably no one dared, because it would have been worse than against), Mr. Gryzlov exclaimed: “This is a record result in voting for the head of the government."
Now Vladimir Putin really made a speech, if not a hero in the understanding of every citizen, then, in any case, a person still endowed with the greatest power. “Since then, Russia has not only changed. Without exaggeration, she has become different,” the future prime minister put an end to it five minutes later. Next, he curtsied to the Duma factions, which he did not have time to meet before approval (he briefly consulted only with faction leaders), and to President Dmitry Medvedev. Which, according to Mr. Putin, wanted to see everyone in office on Victory Day.
Next, Vladimir Putin moved on to the main subject of his new responsibilities - the economy. From that moment on, the speaker peered with particular interest at the piece of paper with the text lying in front of him. You can’t say that he saw any unusual prime ministerial aspect in it: inflation, which did not want to subside, and the tax scale that was unchanged according to the Ministry of Finance, and average pensions, and minimum wages - everything was in the same place. Inflation is a priority, and we must fight it in a manner that is not childish. Average pensions, which, as Mr. Putin assured deputies, “we will no longer rely on.” Food prices are outrageous, “especially world prices that have robbed our citizen.” (Here, Putin’s speechwriters traditionally magnified the role of “world evil”, forgetting that in the food market we have our own monopoly networks, cartels and other noteworthy carriers of inflation.)
Vladimir Putin called stabilization of prices on the food market “the government’s top priority.” “This is a political task,” he emphasized. Even macroeconomic stability, which again ranks among the new prime minister’s priorities, has paled in comparison to the anti-inflationary program. Three times during his Duma speech, Mr. Putin returned to this topic in one form or another.
The candidate for prime minister mentioned the change in tax policy twice. The first, when the new prime minister did not agree with the Ministry of Finance: “Tax policy needs to be changed. True, the Ministry of Finance believes that we already have the best tax system. But I doubt it,” Mr. Putin noted, not without a bit of irony. The new prime minister promised to introduce initiatives to change tax legislation during the rest of the spring and the beginning of the autumn session of the lower house of parliament. The second time, Mr. Putin stipulated possible tax innovations, on the contrary, in almost Finance Ministry-like cautious words. “When and by what amount taxes need to be reduced will be determined by the new government,” the ex-president said. The Prime Minister has not yet said a single specific word: neither about VAT, nor about the mineral extraction tax, nor about the profit tax, nor about the Unified Social Tax.
And the new prime minister tried to transfer a couple of other topics from populist to pragmatic. “We need to make the most important decision to ensure that the minimum wage is not less than the subsistence level. From January 1, this minimum should become 4,330 rubles. This is the only figure verified by the government, the cost of living at the end of the fourth quarter of 2007. And taking into account inflation,” Mr. Putin admitted to not paying close attention to office statistics. “In order to do this, it is necessary to provide huge funds in the budget, I don’t even want to name the figure now,” he shared with the deputies, making it clear that we will have to work hard together so that the new financial injection through the budgetary sphere into the economy does not cause a shock.
Mr. Putin expressed some indignation at the reluctance of the communists, as well as other “populists,” to come to terms with the reasonableness of increasing tariffs for the services of natural monopolies. On the one hand, he stated that “it is necessary to firmly suppress the attempts of monopolists to put their hand in someone else’s pocket.” On the other hand, he gave a lesson to those who do not want to take responsibility for such decisions: “Do you want to?! Let’s go to the striking railway workers then.” “It’s the same with us,” he explained his original thought. - The nose pulled out - the tail got stuck. The tail was pulled out - the nose was again in the mud. We must support our electric power workers.”
As if apologizing for the inconvenient question about tariffs, Mr. Putin, concluding the conversation about this “unpleasant matter”, allowed himself a comment that, probably, in his opinion, all of democratic Russia was waiting for: “I think it’s normal that the Communist Party faction did not vote for the candidacy of the prime minister. We have done a lot, and this reduces their political ambitions,” he concluded. Despite the unprecedented complaisance of the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov, who devoted his entire anti-premier speech to praises of the future prime minister. “Vladimir Vladimirovich has a good quality - he has established excellent relations with faction leaders, he knows how to listen, makes notes in the margins of a conversation, and immediately comments,” the communist leader did not have time to list the merits of the new head of the cabinet. “But others? - Mr. Zyuganov asked rhetorically. - Other members of the government - they inflated the tariffs!.. Mr. Kudrin (here Comrade Zyuganov switched to criticizing the younger associates of the ex-president) will kill any living business... Mr. Kozak, the person was given so much authority that even “ the golden head will overwhelm these directions.”
In conclusion, Gennady Zyuganov recalled that he offered the ex-president of Russia another job: “For you, Vladimir Vladimirovich, it would be the best option to be the prime minister of Russia and Belarus. I have repeatedly persuaded you. But, unfortunately, you did not agree!” “We cannot support your candidacy and will vote against it,” that’s the whole conversation.
How they voted for prime ministers
On May 8, 2008, when voting for confirmation as Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin received 392 votes in favor and 56 against. In terms of votes in favor, this is an absolute record for the Putin era, when parliament became loyal to the executive branch. However, in terms of “no” votes, Vladimir Putin lost to Mikhail Kasyanov and Viktor Zubkov.
For the first time, Vladimir Putin himself was confirmed as prime minister on August 16, 1999. Then 233 deputies voted for his candidacy, 84 votes were cast against, and 17 people abstained.
After his election to the presidency on May 7, 2000, Vladimir Putin appointed Finance Minister Mikhail Kasyanov as acting chairman of the government. On May 17, 2000, it was approved at a meeting of the State Duma. 325 people voted for Mr. Kasyanov, 55 were against, and 15 deputies abstained.
On February 24, 2004, less than a month before the presidential elections, Kasyanov's cabinet was dismissed. The president nominated Mikhail Fradkov, the former minister of foreign economic relations and trade, former director of the Federal Tax Police Service, and Russia's plenipotentiary representative to the European Union, to the post of prime minister. On March 5, 2004, 352 deputies voted for the appointment of Fradkov as prime minister, 58 were against, and 24 parliamentarians abstained.
On May 7, 2004, on the day of the inauguration of the re-elected president, Fradkov's cabinet resigned. On the same day, the president submitted his candidacy to the State Duma. Mikhail Fradkov was approved with a result of 356 votes in favor, 72 against and eight abstentions.
On September 12, 2007, the president dismissed the government. On the same day, the president nominated the 66-year-old head of Rosfinmonitoring, Viktor Zubkov, for the post of prime minister. On September 14, he was confirmed as prime minister. 381 deputies voted “for”, 47 “against”, eight abstained.