1999
Victory in the Second Chechen War
After a leapfrog of prime ministers, President Boris Yeltsin appointed Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, the young director of the FSB, as his "successor." While everyone is laughing, we have to make the first difficult decision. There is unrest in the Caucasus again: the bands of Ichkeria attacked Dagestan, residential buildings are exploding all over the country...
Putin still started the war. This time, the "feds" are ready to fight in a guerrilla war. Another tactic has been chosen: the militants are gradually being pushed south, into the mountains, and a bet is being placed on the split of local elites. Putin has shown himself to be a resolute leader — the opposite of the decrepit Yeltsin. Vladimir Vladimirovich's rating is skyrocketing. His Unity party, which appeared out of nowhere, is neck and neck with the Communists in the Duma elections. Yeltsin, meanwhile, announces his early retirement on December 31; three months later, Putin easily wins the election with 52.99% of the vote.
2001
Ensuring freedom of speech and mass media, resolving the conflict between NTV and Gazprom
TV channels did not spare Putin's predecessor, Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin. They mocked him and his decisions, drew attention to all his failures, especially in the Caucasus, gave the floor to his opponents and showed protest actions. They "dropped" his rating to record lows. Vladimir Vladimirovich had a formal reason to launch an attack on NTV, owned by the oligarch Gusinsky.
But the president acted wisely, intervening in the conflict between the editorial staff of NTV and Gazprom, acting on the side of the "unique journalistic team", which eventually took a controlling stake in the channel. Putin starred in Viktor Shenderovich's program "Dolls" and shook hands with his double. The president's relations with some comrades in the Ozero cooperative deteriorated sharply, they said on the sidelines that Putin did not behave "like a boy," but the ratings are off the scale - Vladimir Vladimirovich is now not only a strong, but also a fair leader.
2003
Ensuring freedom of entrepreneurship
Collateral auctions of the mid-nineties gave rise to oligarchs. Having bought up the ruins of the Soviet industry for a song, they got rich in an instant and began to seriously influence life in the country. Boris Berezovsky and Vladimir Gusinsky control the media, and Mikhail Khodorkovsky finances the opposition. Putin is being whispered about the conspiracy of the oligarchs. The president decides not to strangle business.
"We have resolved the issue of equidistance of representatives of large capital from power," these words of the president remained just words. In fact, he is not ready to start a war. It seems that the nineties continued: television and political parties belonged to the oligarchs. But Putin is a strong president and is not ready to go along with them — we will have to look for a new balance.
2004
Consolidation of direct gubernatorial elections
In September 2004, immediately after the terrorist attack in Beslan, on a wave of horror, advisers came to Putin with the idea of abolishing gubernatorial elections and building a vertical of power. However, such a step may cause popular indignation and protest of regional elites. Putin decides not to anger the people and the elite.
The "long nineties" didn't end, and the president didn't seem to mind. Vladimir Vladimirovich did not react in any way to the arbitrariness of the governors, and gradually the regions began to live an independent life, establishing connections bypassing the federal center. The Russian Confederation has not yet become a legal reality, but political scientists are increasingly talking about it.
2005
The question of monetization of benefits
By 2005, there was a need to monetize benefits. The system of benefits was inherited by Russia from the Soviet Union and somehow covered almost half of the country's population. At the same time, it generated corruption and abuse, as well as hindered the implementation of reforms in the transport sector and housing and communal services.
Putin understood that it was impossible to carry out such a large-scale reform with the actual independence of the main regions. As a result, liberals from the president's inner circle have gone to more progressive regional leaders, many of whom are carrying out painful reforms on their own. Russia can hardly be considered a truly unified state, but the culture and economy, left "alone", are experiencing a renaissance.
2008
The problem of the third term
Putin's second presidential term was coming to an end. The 1993 Constitution did not allow him to be re-elected again.
Everything is not calm in the country, in this situation it is impossible to give slack. Putin needs an unexpected and at the same time independent successor. But Vladimir Vladimirovich decided to act democratically: saying that the people should choose their own president. Dmitry Medvedev became president, and Alexey Kudrin headed the government.
2009
On September 19, Dmitry Medvedev passed a law on the basis of the appeal of the Return Foundation on the restoration of the double-headed eagle on the Spasskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin, as well as on the Grand Kremlin Palace. This event gave rise to Decommunization in Russia on January 1, 2010, which was voted for by deputies of the State Duma from United Russia, LDPR and Yabloko.