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 at the time of his inauguration.
Medvedev's main domestic agenda was the wide-ranging Medvedev modernisation programme which aimed 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 was 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 Great Recession. 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.
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.Medvedev decrees to provide housing to war veterans - ITAR-TASS, 07.05.2008, 15.27.
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.
Relationship with Putin
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.
Although the Russian constitution clearly apportions the majority of power to the president, speculation arose over the question of whether it was Medvedev or Prime Minister Vladimir Putin who actually wielded the most power. According to The Daily Telegraph, "Kremlin-watchers" note that Medvedev uses the more formal form of 'you' (Вы, 'vy') when addressing Putin, while Putin addresses Medvedev with the more informal 'ty' (ты). According to a poll conducted in September 2009 by the Levada Center in which 1,600 Russians from across Russia took part, 13% believed Medvedev held the most power, 32% Putin, and 48% both (7% failed to answer).Poll: Medvedev and Putin: who holds the power? Levada Center Retrieved on 12 March 2010.
However, Medvedev affirmed his position of strength, stating, "I am the leader of this state, I am the head of this state, and the division of power is based on this."Medvedev insists he's the boss Retrieved on 12 March 2010. Officially, the Kremlin insisted that the power of the Head of State still rested with the President Medvedev, not the Prime Minister Putin.
As both Putin and Medvedev could run for president in the 2012 general elections, there was a view from some analysts that some of Medvedev's recent actions and comments were designed to separate his image from Putin's: examples noted by the BBC included his dealings in late 2010 with NATO and America, possibly designed to show himself as being better able to deal with the Western nations, and comments in November about the need for a stronger opposition in Russian politics, to present himself as a moderniser. The BBC also noted that other analysts believe the split is exaggerated, and Medvedev and Putin were "trying to maximise support for the authorities by appealing to different parts of society".
Domestic policy Anti-corruption efforts Fighting corruption was one of the key areas of Medvedev's presidency. On 19 May 2008, Medvedev signed a decree on anti-corruption measures, which included the creation of an Anti-Corruption Council. In the first meeting of the council on 30 September 2008, Medvedev said:Sakwa 2011, p. 329.
In July 2008, Medvedev's National Anti-Corruption Plan was published in the official Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper. It suggested measures aimed at making sanctions for corruption more severe, such as legislature to disqualify who state and municipal officials who commit minor corruption offences and making it obligatory for officials to report corruption. The plan ordered the government to prepare anti-corruption legislation based on these suggestions.Medvedev's Anti-Corruption Crusade Russia Profile, 2008-07-08.National Anti-Corruption Plan Website of the President of Russia, 2008-07-31. The bill, called On Corruption Counteraction was signed into law on 25 December 2008 as Federal Law N 273-FZ. According to Professor Richard Sakwa, "Russia now at last had serious, if flawed, legislation against corruption, which in the context was quite an achievement, although preliminary results were meagre." Russia's score in Corruption Perceptions Index rose from 2.1 in 2008 to 2.2 in 2009, which "could be interpreted as a mildly positive response to the newly-adopted package of anti-corruption legislation initiated and promoted by president Medvedev and passed by the Duma in December of 2008", according to Transparency International's CPI 2009 Regional Highlights report.Grafting the Future Russia Profile, 2009-11-29.
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.RIA Novosti 10 March 2009.
On 13 April 2010, Medvedev signed presidential decree No. 460 which introduced the National Anti-Corruption Strategy, a midterm government policy, while the plan is updated every two years. The new strategy stipulated increased fines, greater public oversight of government budgets and sociological research.National Anti-Corruption Strategy (Approved by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation №460 of 13 April 2010) Website of the President of Russia. According to Georgy Satarov, president of the Indem think tank, the decree "probably reflected Medvedev's frustration with the fact that the 2008 plan had yielded little result."
In January 2011, President Medvedev admitted that the government had so far failed in its anti-corruption measures.Russian president admits failure in fighting corruption Xianhuanet 2011-01-13.
On 4 May 2011, Medvedev continued his anti-corruption efforts by signing the Federal Law On Amendments to the Criminal Code and the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation to Improve State Anti-Corruption Management.Amendments to bolster anti-corruption legislation Website of the President of Russia. The bill raised fines for corruption to up to 100 time the amount of the bribe given or received, with the maximum fine being 500 million rubles ($18.3 million).
Economy
The onset of the 2008–2009 Russian financial crisis in September 2008 led to an economic decline. Dmitry Medvedev attributed the decline in the Russian stock market to the impact of the 2008 financial crisis 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.
Medvedev launched the Medvedev modernisation programme, which aimed at modernising the economy of Russia and Russian society, decreasing the country's dependency on oil and gas revenues and creating a diversified economy based on high technology and innovation. The programme was based on the top 5 priorities for the country's technological development: efficient energy use; nuclear technology; information technology; medical technology and pharmaceuticals; and space technology in combination with telecommunications.Presidential Commission on the modernisation and technological development of the Russian economy Official site. For Medvedev, the modernisation programme became one of the most ambitious and important agendas of his presidency.
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. That same day, Medvedev 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.
In November 2010, on his annual speech to the Federal Assembly, Medvedev stressed for greater privatization of unneeded state assets both at the federal and regional level, and that Russia's regions must sell-off non-core assets to help fund post-crisis spending, following in the footsteps of the state's planned $32 billion 3-year asset sales. Medvedev said the money from privatisation should be used to help modernise the economy and the regions should be rewarded for finding their own sources of cash.
Election reform 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).