...Second President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits he is the current Prime Minister of Russia. His sock puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, was installed in the 2008 presidential elections. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law. During his eight years in office Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase, poverty decrease and average monthly salaries increase. During his presidency Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile...said Wednesday, as he continued his bid for a third term as president despite unprecedented protests against his rule.
"We have an open country and no matter what they say or write, no matter what scary statements they make about some sort of dictatorship, we don't have that and -- I hope -- never will," he told students of Tomsk Polytechnic University in Siberia.
| Of course it's not a dictatorship. Putin and Medvedev rotate the offices of the presidency and the prime ministership. What could be more democratic? |
"We have an open market economy and an open country on the whole," he said in comments released by his office.
Putin is wrestling with the worst legitimacy crisis of his 12-year rule after he announced plans to seek a third term in the Kremlin in a job swap with incumbent President Dmitry Medvedev in September.
Many ordinary Russians have attacked the plan. Tens of thousands of people erupted into the streets in protest after December parliamentary elections that observers said were slanted in favor of Putin's ruling party.