From an elected Prez to permanent leader!

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From an elected Prez to permanent leader!

Sunday, 12 July 2020 | Makhan Saikia

From an elected Prez to permanent leader!

The unbridled power of Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin has grown over the last two decades. He enjoys enormous popularity. At its highest, his poll rating was close to 90 per cent.

Sensing the global public pandemic and home quarantining of millions in Russia, Putin affected amendments to the Russian Constitution. And the parliament of the country, Russian State Duma, has approved a slew of amendments, including the extension of his presidential terms (if he wants) up till 2036. This allows him to enjoy another two six-year terms starting from 2024, when his current term comes to an end. Without any iota of doubt, the Russian Legislature voted 383 to 0 to amend the Constitution. And Putin now holds the office of the President till he turns 83 years and that would be his 36th year in that office. This unusual parliamentary move was made by 83-year old former cosmonaut and now member of Duma Valentina Tereshkova, who said, “Putin knows much more than all of us. Why do we need to create some artificial constitutions? We should be honest, open, consider publicly and cancel all limitations on the number of presidential terms in the Constitution. Or, if the situation demands and people want that, let the current President run again for this position.” This was more than sufficient to launch Putin to the orbit of power again by Tereshkova and thereby she has become a part of a deal that is gradually pushing Russia deep into the hands of Putin. In fact, the abolition of presidential term limits will make him the country’s longest serving ruler since Joseph Stalin.

Meanwhile, the helpless Russian Opposition is furious. A former MP and Opposition leader Dmitry Gudkov aired his anger: “That was a Brezhnev era, poorly directed performance. Putin must be feeling almighty, and hopes to live forever.” But how does it make any difference to Putin. His rule is passing on to a new era, wherein he is aging and his former KGB aides are fast proliferating to each sphere of administration around Russia.

When Duma has already approved the amendments, why Putin wanted the same to be passed in a public referendum at Covid-19 times? As it is too dangerous to gather in public, he should not have demanded an approval from the people of Russia. Precisely, it is a traditional tactic used by the authoritarian rulers to marshal a stamp of legitimacy from the commoners. The aim is to be in the “Democracy Club”. And Putin and his administration are successful in performing this act so far since he has come to power in 1999.

What disturbs the international community is that Putin is a fighter and he is a survivalist. Therefore, he needs to be considered seriously. If he says he will do something, then it is understood that he is prepared to do it. Further, he has the practice of finding a way to sort out difficult things by using every means available to him. Interestingly, he and his core team at Kremlin wanted the world to view him as a street fighter, a low profile and possibly an underdog. But he is not. The way he has meddled with the US politics, he has made his mark.  Over the decades, he has carefully crafted a system, wherein he has to deal only with a selected number of people, he

has literally abstained himself from dealing with ordinary actors in politics and administration. This indeed allows him to strategise for every possible hurdle that might come on his way.

With Putin, Russia will be definitely heading for a stable political system. But the regime is only favouring a few, some allege. The desire for freedom and political mobility is completely bleak under Putin, they claim. If he stays till 2036, the answer to the question “who comes after Putin” is elusive. The reason is too simple: neither Putin has allowed an Opposition to thrive or even a successor to be groomed for a distant future. This and a total control on all aspects of the Russian State have enabled him to virtually keep all probable political rivals at bay till date.

The big mystery is how he has risen to this stature? Looking at his roots, one can easily observe that he comes from a very humble family. His father worked in the Soviet Navy and mother was a factory worker. The family lived together in a lower income group community housing project. But somehow, he was sent to the college and finally to the law school. After graduating from the law school, he served as a KGB agent for about 16 years. In fact, KGB was the primary security agency for the USSR from 1954 until the historic collapse of the union in 1991. Basically, the KGB worked as a multi-faceted organ of the state, both within and outside the USSR. Clearly, the organisation was known for delivering its extraordinary service for intelligence and as a wing of the “secret police”. In 1988, the official White House photographer inadvertently spotted Putin spying on then US President Ronald Reagan in the guise of an ordinary Russian tourist in Moscow. After retiring from the KGB in 1991, Putin managed to get a job in the office of the mayor of St Petersburg and by 1994, he became the deputy head of city administration. In 1997, Putin was running a political party called “Our Home-Russia i.e. Nash dom-Russiya”, originally founded on May 12, 1995 by Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin of then President Boris Yeltsin. Initially a liberal and centrist political movement, the main objective of this party was to rally behind more technocratic and reformist supporters for the Government. Though the party was disbanded on 2006, Putin, the ever clever KGB guy had climbed the echelons of power from this unknown political platform. From here when he moved to Moscow, he was soon made the chief of the presidential staff of Yeltsin in 1997. Breaking all the political norms, an ailing and ageing Yeltsin, suddenly appointed Putin as the Prime Minister and named him as his successor. When he resigned unexpectedly on December 31, 1999, Putin became the acting President of the Russian Federation. Today, he has amassed more than $70 billion worth of property. Probably his assets would also represent one of the largest personal fortunes ever accumulated by a sitting head of a state. This makes him much more powerful and helps him to sideline his rivals to make his way forward.

Russia has no longer the normal tools of democracy i.e. a free media, free election and an independent judiciary. A few independent magazines and papers that reach the outside world surely can’t match what the state-owned Russian TV sends out to the world. A pure “manufacturing of consent” is practised. Another malaise of Russia today is that its people are hardly capable of electing the local governors and their parliamentarians.

(The writer is an expert on international affairs)

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