Presidency of Dmitry Medvedev

The Presidency of Dmitry Medvedev began on 8 May 2008, when he became the 3rd President of the Russian Federation. Medvedev was the Head of the Presidential Administration during the 2nd term of Vladimir Putin as president, and the Chairman of Gazprom oil company. Dmitry Medvedev was the youngest Russian leader since 1918, during his inauguration. Medvedev's main domestic agenda has been the wide-ranging Medvedev modernisation programme which aims at modernising Russia's economy and society. In particular, the massive Skolkovo innovation center, part of the modernisation programme, is often regarded as Medvedev's brainchild. Another important program has been the Russian police reform, launched by Medvedev in 2009, and led to the renaming of the Policing Organisation from Militsiya to police. In foreign policy, Medvedev assumed a more conciliatory tone than his predecessor, pursuing a closer relationship with the United States in general and with President Barack Obama in particular; The New START nuclear arms reduction treaty is regarded as Medvedev's main achievement in foreign affairs. Under Medvedev, Russia intervened on behalf of South Ossetia and Abkhazia after a Georgian military attack against the de facto independent regions, and emerged victorious in the ensuing five-day 2008 South Ossetia war. During Medvedev's tenure, Russia also struggled with and recovered from the serious late 2000s financial crisis. Other important decisions made by Medvedev include lowering the Duma election threshold from 7% to 5%, firing Moscow's powerful but criticised mayor Yuri Luzhkov, launching a large-scale privatisation of state-owned companies, removing state officials from the boards of state-owned companies and the extension of the Presidential term from four years to six.

Presidency

Inauguration

On 7 May 2008, Dmitry Medvedev took an oath as the third President of the Russian Federation in a ceremony held in Kremlin Palace. After taking the oath of office and receiving a gold chain of double-headed eagles symbolizing the presidency, he stated: "I believe my most important aims will be to protect civil and economic freedoms....We must fight for a true respect of the law and overcome legal nihilism, which seriously hampers modern development." As his inauguration coincided with the celebration of the Victory Day on 9 May, he attended the military parade at Red Square and signed a decree to provide housing to war veterans.

Personnel appointments

On 8 May 2008, Dmitry Medvedev appointed Vladimir Putin Prime Minister of Russia as he had promised during his election campaign. The nomination was approved by the State Duma with a clear majority of 392–56, with only communist deputies voting against.

On 12 May 2008, Putin proposed the list of names for his new cabinet, which Medvedev approved. Most of the personnel remained unchanged from the times of Putin's presidency, but there were a couple of high-profile changes. Minister of Justice Vladimir Ustinov was replaced by Aleksandr Konovalov; Minister of Energy Viktor Khristenko was replaced with Sergei Shmatko; Minister of Communications Leonid Reiman was replaced with Igor Shchegolev and Vitaliy Mutko received the newly created position of Minister of Sports, Tourism and Youth policy. In the presidential administration, Medvedev replaced Sergei Sobyanin with Sergei Naryshkin as the head of the administration. Furthermore, the head of the Federal Security Service Nikolai Patrushev was replaced with Alexander Bortnikov.

"Tandem rule"

With Medvedev's election as president and Vladimir Putin—still the country's most popular politician—as Prime Minister, Russia was faced with an unprecedented situation: the constitutionally powerful President was now flanked with a highly influential Prime Minister. Media speculation was rife as to who of the two would be the country's real leader. "Tandem rule" became a widely used term in the media.

Main Events

2008 South Ossetia war

The most serious foreign policy event during Medvedev's presidency was the 2008 South Ossetia war. Tensions between Georgia and Russian-supported separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia had been rising throughout the year 2008, with both sides accusing each other of preparing for a war. In the night of 7–8 August, Georgia launched a massive military attack against South Ossetia. 7 Russian peacekeepers stationed in the region were killed in the attack. Georgian side said, actions of Russian peacekeepers and Ossetians were provocative and they intended to make Georgian side forced to start military operation. On 8 August, Russia reacted by sending its military forces into South Ossetia and launching air strikes against Georgian military infrastructure. Russia and Abkhazia opened a second front by attacking the Kodori Gorge, held by Georgia. In five-days of fighting, the Georgian assault was repelled and its forces were expelled from both of the separatist regions.

Domestic policy

In September, the country was hit by the 2008 Russian financial crisis. Dmitry Medvedev attributed the decline in the Russian stock market to the impact of the liquidity crisis in the United States and contended that the crisis in Russia had little if anything to do with internal problems in its economy and government policies. He ordered the injection of large funds from the state budget into the markets to stabilize the situation.

In his first address to the Russian parliament on 5 November 2008, Medvedev proposed to change the Constitution of Russia in order to increase the terms of the President and State Duma from four to six and five years respectively (see 2008 Amendments to the Constitution of Russia).

On 10 March 2009, Medvedev signed the presidential decree to reform the civil service system between 2009 and 2013 as part of his drive against corruption. The main direction of reforms include establishing a new system to manage the civil service, introducing effective technology and modern methods of human resources operations, and increasing the efficiency and professionalism of civil servants.

Medvedev on 8 May 2009, proposed to the legislature and on 2 June signed into law an amendment whereby the chairperson of the Constitutional Court and his deputies would be proposed to the parliament by the president rather than elected by the judges, as was the case before.

In May 2009, Medvedev set up the Presidential Commission of the Russian Federation to Counter Attempts to Falsify History to the Detriment of Russia's Interests.

Medvedev has named technological innovation one of the key priorities of his presidency. In May 2009, Medvedev established the Presidential Commission on Innovation, which he will personally chair every month. The commission comprises almost the entire Russian government and some of the best minds from academia and business. Medvedev has also said that giant state corporations will inevitably be privatized, and although the state had increased its role in the economy in recent years, this should remain a temporary move.

On 7 August 2009, Dmitry Medvedev instructed Prosecutor General Yury Chayka and Chief of the Audit Directorate of the Presidential Administration of Russia Konstantin Chuychenko to probe state corporations, a new highly privileged form of organizations earlier promoted by President Putin, to question their appropriateness.

Just like Prime Minister Putin few days earlier, on 15 September Medvedev announced that he might stand for presidency again in 2012, but stressed that he would not challenge the former and that they would have to find an agreement. During the same speech he approved of the 2004 abolition of direct popular elections of regional leaders, effectively in favor of their appointment by the Kremlin, and added that he didn't see a possibility of a return to direct elections even in 100 years.

In August 2009, Medvedev promised to break the near-monopoly of ruling party United Russia over the political system, stating that "New democratic times are beginning". On 11 October 2009, regional elections were won by United Russia with 66% of the vote. Medvedev stated that this proved the party's moral and legal right to run the regions. But according to Liliya Shibanova, head of independent poll watchdog GOLOS Association, "political competition is practically zero". Pro-Western opposition parties claimed the playing fields were uneven. On 26 October 2009, the First Deputy Chief of Staff Vladislav Surkov, warned that democratic experiments could result in more instability and that more instability "could rip Russia apart". On 6 November 2010, Medvedev vetoed a recently passed bill which restricted antigovernment demonstrations. The bill, passed on 22 October, notably prohibited anyone who had previously been convicted of organizing an illegal mass rally from seeking permission to stage a demonstration.

In late November 2010, Medvedev made a public statement about the damage being done to Russia's politics by the dominance of the United Russia party. He claimed that the country faced political stagnation if the ruling party would "degrade" if not challenged; "this stagnation is equally damaging to both the ruling party and the opposition forces." In the same speech, he said Russian democracy was "imperfect" but improving. BBC
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