Putin Administration
Russian politics are now dominated by President Vladimir Putin, his United Russia party, and Prime minister Dmitry Medvedev. At the 2003 legislative elections, United Russia reduced all other parties to minority status. Other parties retaining seats in the State Duma, the lower house of the legislature, are the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia and A Just Russia.
The first presidential elections were held on 26 March 2000. Putin (who had previously been made Prime Minister of Russia, and, following Yeltsin's resignation, acting president of Russia) won in the first round with 53% of the vote in what were judged generally free and fair elections. (see Russian presidential election, 2000).
At the last elections on 14 March 2004, Putin gathered 71.31% of the votes. Putin has had one of the highest approval ratings of all world leaders in recent history, often over 80%. His support remains high to this day. This is largely due to Russia's strong economical growth and relative stability during his presidency.
In 2004, Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and his cabinet were dismissed by Putin. However, pundits in Russia believed this not to be due to the president's displeasure with the government, but with Mikhail Kasyanov himself, as the Russian constitution does not allow the prime minister to be removed without firing the whole cabinet. Kasyanov later went on to become a stark Putin critic.
Putin won a second full term without difficulty in the March 2004 presidential election, while the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe reported that the elections were generally free, there was some criticism of the use of the Media by Putin's campaign.
In September 2007, Putin accepted the resignation of Prime minister Mikhail Fradkov, appointing Viktor Zubkov as the new Prime minister.
Although Russia's regions enjoy a degree of autonomous self-government, the election of regional governors was substituted by direct appointment by the president in 2005.
Although Freedom House lists Russia as being "not free", Alvaro Gil-Robles (then head of the Council of Europe human rights division) stated in 2004 that "the fledgling Russian democracy is still, of course, far from perfect, but its existence and its successes cannot be denied." The Economist Intelligence Unit rates Russia as a "hybrid regime", where they consider "some form of democratic government" is in place.
The arrest of prominent oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky on charges of fraud, embezzlement and tax evasion was met with accusations from the West that the arrest was political. However, the move was met positively by the Russian public and has largely undeterred investment from the country, which continued to grow at double digit rates.
Starting 2005 Russia started steadily increasing the price it sold heavily subsidized gas to ex-Soviet republics. Russia has recently been accused by some in the west of using its natural resources as a political weapon. Russia, in turn, accuses the West of applying double-standards relating to market principles, pointing out that Russia has been supplying gas to the states in question at prices that were significantly below world market levels, and in most cases remain so even after the increases. It argues that it is not obligated to effectively subsidize the economies of post-Soviet states by offering them resources at below-market prices. Regardless of alleged political motivation, observers have noted that charging full market prices is Russia's legitimate right, and point out that Russia has raised the price even for its close ally, Belarus.
Read more about this topic: Politics Of Russia