1. RUSSIA

2. Charismatic Legitimacy

11. President Obama met with Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, second from right, at his residence on Tuesday

12. President Obama and President Dmitri A. Medvedev at a summit meeting in a Moscow exhibition hall Tuesday. The two seemed to develop an easy familiarity by the end of Mr. Obama’s visit

13. Nikita Y. Belykh, right, accepted an appointment as one of the Kremlin's regional governors this month. He said he had felt beaten down as a leading member of Russia's liberal opposition... SO HE HAS BEEN __-________ BY THE Kremlin Rules Russia’s Liberals Lose Their Voice

14. Maxim Shemetov/Itar-Tass Nikita Y. Belykh, once a Kremlin critic, took a job offered by Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin.

15. Bill to Extend Russian President’s Term Advances By ELLEN BARRY MOSCOW Nov 15 2008— As a bill extending Russia’s presidency to six years from four barreled through the Russian legislature on Friday, it fell to the old-timers from the Communist Party to put up a fight.Russia “Why do we have to do this today?”Viktor I. Ilyukhin, a Communist legislator, said during discussions Friday in the State Duma, the lower house of Parliament. “Why are we in such a hurry? A strict authoritarian regime has already been established in this country. There is already an unprecedented concentration of power in one person’s hands.” Political opposition leaders have been harshly critical of the proposed change, which is almost assured of becoming law, but opposition parties have little presence in the Duma, and on Friday, the Communists were virtually the only dissenters. In the end, the bill sailed through its first reading in the Duma, passing by a vote of 388 to 58. Fifty-seven of those votes were from Communists, who unanimously opposed the change. The measure must pass two more readings in the lower house, and also be approved by majorities in the upper house and Russia’s regional parliaments. Vladimir Kashin, left, and Gennadi A. Zyuganov of the Russian Communist Party during the debate on extending the term.

16. Electing a President The winning candidate requires an absolute majority of the total vote. If no candidate secures this majority in the first-round ballot, then a second-round run off election must be held three weeks later in which the only contestants are the two front-running candidates in the first round. In 1996 Boris Yeltsin won barely a third of the vote in the first round; in 2000 and 2004 Vladimir Putin won an absolute majority in the first round (previous results), and Dmitry Medvedev did the same in 2008. Before the 2008 election, the ballot option of voting "against all" was abolished; in 2004 this protest vote was 3.4 percent of the total.previous results The previous minimum turnout of 50 percent of the registered electorate was also abolished. In the three previous presidential elections, the turnout had ranged between 69.7 percent in the 1996 first round and 64.3 percent in 2004. In 2008, it was again 69.7%. The inauguration day of the new president was 7 May 2008 http://www.russiavotes.org/president/presidency_electoral_system.php

17. Duma deputies applaud the passing of legislation that would lengthen the presidential term in November 2008

18. Russia's Medvedev Inks Law Extending Presidency Move Seen As Paving Way For Vladimir Putin's Return Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, left, and President Dmitry Medvedev. (File Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a law extending presidential terms from four years to six, the Kremlin said Tuesday, a move seen as paving the way for Vladimir Putin's return to the presidency. Medvedev's final endorsement of the legislation follows its quick approval by the Kremlin-controlled parliament and all of Russia's 83 provincial legislatures. If enacted, the change would not apply to Medvedev's current term, due to end in 2012. Putin, who remains very popular, was barred constitutionally from seeking a third straight term as president. He tapped his longtime protege Medvedev as his favored successor, ensuring Medvedev's landslide election in March

19. Russia begins 1985: Gorbachev becomes General Secretary: institutes a program of glasnost, perestroika; law governed state and more open foreign policy Ball gets out of control: by 1990, 15 Republics are calling for independence; Gorbachev agrees to the CIS (commonwealth of Independent states) Soviet chief Mikhail Gorbachev, left, chats with Ronald Reagan during an arrival ceremony at the White House on Dec. 8, 1987.

20. Hardliner coup: Aug. 1991 coup Gorbachev’s own VP, PM, defense minister and KGB chief put him under house arrest Yeltsin (who had been elected president of Russian federation in June) rides on tank to declare Russian independence Coup falls apart (3 days) and Gorbachev is back in power but fatally weakened. In the fall, Russia begins to take over functions of the Soviet Union ministry by ministry. December; Gorbachev resigns as president of a country that no longer exists The Background

21. 1991 - Russia becomes "independent" as the Soviet Union collapses Chechnya declares unilateral independence.

22. Yeltsin and Gaidor become president and PM of Russia and demand extraordinary powers to deal with economic problems This leads to a...

23. A. Confrontation with parliament—1993 In March Parliament impeaches Yeltsin... In April he calls a referendum asking if people support him--he gets clear but not overwhelming support)... In September he dissolves parliament (illegally) and calls for new elections in December 1993... SO, the MPs lock themselves in white house--10 days skirmish--army finally decides to back Yeltsin and launch artillery attack

24. The Constitution of the Russian Federation Ratified December 12, 1993 Preamble We, the multinational people of the Russian Federation, united by a common destiny on our land, asserting human rights and liberties, civil peace and accord, preserving the historic unity of the state, proceeding from the commonly recognized principles of equality and self-determination of the peoples honoring the memory of our ancestors, who have passed on to us love of and respect for our homeland and faith in good and justice, reviving the sovereign statehood of Russia and asserting its immutable democratic foundations, striving to secure the wellbeing and prosperity of Russia and proceeding from a sense of responsibility for our homeland before the present and future generations, and being aware of ourselves as part of the world community, hereby approve the Constitution of the Russian Federation AND... A new constitution approved by referendum in Dec. 1993 and elections to Federal Assembly at same time

25. Inauspicious beginnings....THE WHOLE process is Questionable: First... Yeltsin violated existing Constitution by using a referendum so he violated the rule of law in name of higher goals (democracy vs order and reform)--undermines legitimacy of new regime because why wouldn't that happen again Second... he called elections for something ( a new parliament) which has not even been approved yet (since the vote for the new system was taking place a the same time) Third... There were severe restrictions on press during period right before referendum vote; also allegations of election fraud and misreporting of results And Fourth... It does not seem very democratic to lob artillery shells at democratically elected MPs and kill 146 of them

26. Features of the Constitution A defining feature is power of president vis a vis Parliament: he can issues decrees w/force of w law, nominate PM (Duma can refuse, but if after pres submits a name 3x and nom still fails, he can call for new elections); dismiss PM, dissolve P and call for new elections, veto, call refs, pardon, C in C, intro leg What can P do to him? Impeach, override (2/3 in each house), refuse to confirm PM, remover PM

27. Russian soldiers sat on a tank on Wednesday before a portrait of Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin in Tskhinvali, in South Ossetia. Mr. Sarkozy’s report, made in a telephone call to President Bush on Aug. 13, has added to a sense of bewilderment in Washington about how to deal with what is now a two-headed government in Moscow — with Mr. Putin, still the dominant partner, occupying what is technically the subservient role. West Baffled by 2 Heads for Russian Government

28. The never-ending presidency IT HAS always been a question of how, not if, Vladimir Putin would retain power in Russia when his second, and (according to the constitution) final presidential term runs out in March 2008. This week Mr Putin lifted the veil. At a congress of the pro-Kremlin United Russia party, he graciously agreed to head its party list at the general election in December. He added that he may become prime minister if the party wins the election and the president is a man he can work with. United Russia is sure to win and, since Mr Putin will hand-pick the president, he will presumably get along with him. So this charade has only one meaning: Mr Putin is staying on, probably for a very long time.

29. Several prescribed powers put the president in a superior position vis-à-vis the legislature. The president has broad authority to issue decrees and directives that have the force of law without legislative review, although the constitution notes that they must not contravene that document or other laws. Under certain conditions, the president may dissolve the State Duma, the lower house of parliament (as a whole, now called the Federal Assembly). The president has the prerogatives of scheduling referendums (a power previously reserved to the parliament), submitting draft laws to the State Duma, and promulgating federal laws. The executive-legislative crisis of the fall of 1993 prompted Yeltsin to emplace constitutional obstacles to legislative removal of the president. Under the 1993 constitution, if the president commits "grave crimes" or treason, the State Duma may file impeachment charges with the parliament's upper house, the Federation Council. These charges must be confirmed by a ruling of the Supreme Court that the president's actions constitute a crime and by a ruling of the Constitutional Court that proper procedures in filing charges have been followed. The charges then must be adopted by a special commission of the State Duma and confirmed by at least two- thirds of State Duma deputies. A two-thirds vote of the Federation Council is required for removal of the president. If the Federation Council does not act within three months, the charges are dropped. If the president is removed from office or becomes unable to exercise power because of serious illness, the prime minister is to temporarily assume the president's duties; a presidential election then must be held within three months. The constitution does not provide for a vice president, and there is no specific procedure for determining whether the president is able to carry out his duties.

30. It’s federal....

31. But... Federalism in Russia: The “Vertical of Power” 1. May 2000, Putin issued an executive decree that re-imposed Moscow’s authority over Russia’s 89 regions and republic by breaking the country into 7 new administrative sections, each headed by its own Kremlin representative “super governors”. 2. New laws 2000 also gave the president the power to remove a governor if s/he refuses to harmonize local law with national law or the constitution The State Duma, the lower house of Russia's Parliament, also overturned a Federation Council's veto, voting 363-35 to push through legislation giving President Vladimir Putin the right to sack elected governors and dissolve local legislatures. 3. September 2004: Putin proposes a new law replaces the election of governors, presidents and other regional leaders with presidential appointments. Under Mr. Putin's proposals, which he said required only legislative approval and not constitutional amendments, the governors or leaders of the country's 89 regions would no longer be elected by popular vote but rather by local legislatures - and only after the president's nomination (similar to haw a PM gets appointedsee. 4 New law tries to limit vast array of parties by refusing to register any party unless it has 10,000 members and a significant presence in the 89 regions (100 members per Freedom House)—hurts regional parties 5. eliminates smd for Duma (which helped regional parties and independents) In elections December 2003, those races accounted for all of the independents and liberals now serving in the Duma

32. Choose Nord-Western /Severo-Zapadnyi/ federal district Volga /Privolzhsky/ federal district Siberia /Sibirsky/ federal district Central /Tsentralny/ federal district Urals /Uralsky/ federal district Far East /Dalnevostochnyi/ federal district Southern /Yuzhny/ federal district Outside the Russian Federation Choose federal district: federal district:

33. Dual Transition: economic and political liberalization A. command economy: (a form of socialism in which government decisions ("commands") rather than market mechanisms (such as supply and demand) are the major influences in determining the nation's economic direction 1. land, factories and all other important economic assets belong to state 2. Operated through powerful state ministries that oversaw various sectors of the economy (machine building, light industry, grain products etc). 3. Gosplan (the state planning committee) was responsible for working out 1 and 5 year economic plans to be implemented through the ministries. 4. Prices centrally controlled--set by state and did not rise when demand high and supplies were limited so no incentive to increase production if in short supply--that was why there where long lines It was a tough situation: Soviet Union was a Not responsive to consumer demands

34. Shock Therapy by Cutting govt spending Letting prices rise Raising taxes TWO parts to Liberalization Done to control inflation Privatization done to “denationalize” Turned to insider privatization “Loans for shares” Privatization more about wealth _______ than wealth_______ Insider Privatization creates _________ Capitalism by decree

35. The West saw Boris Yeltsin as the best guarantee of stable East-West relations. Western leaders backed him against the parliament, barely criticised the Chechen war, and offered Russia a $10bn IMF loan before the 1996 election. Yeltsin in turn entered a strategic partnership with Nato in 1997, despite Russia's deep objections to the alliance's eastward expansion. For Bill Clinton, his friendship with Yeltsin became an embarrassment after Russia suspended co-operation with Nato during the 1999 Kosovo crisis, and reports surfaced that Kremlin favourites had embezzled Western aid. But throughout the 1990s you saw and emphasis on economic freedoms over political freedoms

36. Boris Yeltsin was becoming an increasingly remote figure as presidential elections approached in 1996, spending long periods away from the Kremlin - on holiday or recovering from illness. But the election campaign brought a transformation, and he toured the country meeting voters with his former enthusiasm. The 65-year-old leader won the second round comfortably thanks to an election pact with the charismatic general, Alexander Lebed, though it later emerged that Yeltsin had suffered a heart attack before the final vote - possibly as a result of the exertions of the campaign

37. The Oligarchs were scared... If Yeltsin is weak, than the _________ might take over

38. Mr. Yeltsin won re- election in 1996 despite being too ill to show up at his polling station. The inauguration ceremony marked his first public appearance in a month.

39. B. Results of econ liberalization (what were two parts?) inflation down, privatization did release state control, but it did not create a middle class-- many people sold for the price of a few bottles of vodka, turned into insider privatization, prices did float, stock exchange created, banking system, but massive tax evasion— Oligarchs control ½ of economy (they claim) Shock therapy to control inflation and privitization

40. Mikhail Khodorkovsky arriving at his trial in Moscow with his ever-present entourage of prison guards. Great slide show: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/magazine/22khodorkovsk y-t.html?_r=1

41. Moscow street kid: Homelessness, juvenile crime are commonplace And then in August 1998... It got worse...the ruble collapsed and more than 1/2 economy became barter economy, banking system collapse, inflation soar, media collapses, GDP shrinks. Workers aren’t paid for months

44. http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1204/p01s04-woeu.html Popular President: Bolstered by a strong economy, that has lifted Russia a out of its 1990’s doldrums, Mr. Putin recently registered a celestial 87% approval rating. CSM Dec 4, 2006

47. Mikhail Khodorkovsky was sent to a Siberian prison Crushing the oligarchs

48. This type of flamboyance may have been common in the 1990s. But Mr. Putin has made it blisteringly clear that financiers should stay clear of politics. In 2003 Mr. Putin ordered the arrest of Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, the outspoken owner of the Yukos petroleum company who financed political parties critical of Mr. Putin. At the time, Mr. Khodorkovsky was Russia’s richest man. Five years later, he is still in a Siberian prison, his billions gone. Another chilling example was Mikhail S. Gutseriev, the owner of Russneft, one of Russia’s largest private oil companies. Last year, as Mr. Gutseriev was preparing to sell his company to a Kremlin loyalist, he published a letter of protest in a major business newspaper, saying the government “tightened the screws on the company with unprecedented persecution,” leaving him no option but to sell. A month later, a warrant was issued for his arrest on charges of tax evasion and fraud. He fled the country, and the sale is going forward. Oligarchs now understand that they must screen any high-profile act through the Kremlin, said Olga V. Kryshtanovskaya, a sociologist who specializes in the Russian elite. Mixed among Mr. Lebedev’s theatrics are some deeply relevant political acts. In 2006, he teamed up with Mr. Gorbachev to buy 49 percent of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta. Advertisers were abandoning the newspaper, one of the few publications that remain routinely critical of the Kremlin. Months after the purchase, Novaya Gazeta’s crusading reporter, Anna Politkovskaya, was shot dead in the elevator of her apartment building. Russia, he said, needs independent political institutions and the return of direct election of governors, “simple signals to investors” that the country is set on a modernizing path. He said the economy had rebounded strongly from the market crash, but that the country’s long-term economic policy should be completely rethought SO here are some examples... Will Mr Lebedev get away with it?

49. Influx of Siloviki As in the days of the KGB, the secret service has become powerful

50. Political clans are entrenched in the Kremlin A number of political clans, rather than political parties, act as distinct and independent political forces in Russia. After the president, Vladimir Putin, removed the last high-profile members of the Yeltsin-era "Family" from power, the siloviki became by far the most prominent political class. According to a study published in 2003, the siloviki—members of the security services, the military and the police—at the time occupied almost 60% of all power positions in Russia, compared with less than 5% during Mikhail Gorbachev's rule. Although the siloviki do not constitute a coherent group, they share a belief in the need for a strong state and a distaste for the wealth and influence acquired by Russia's business oligarchs How come I classify this as “elite recruitment?”

51. Russia ended 2007 with its ninth straight year of growth, averaging 7% annually since the financial crisis of 1998. Although high oil prices and a relatively cheap ruble initially drove this growth, since 2003 consumer demand and, more recently, investment have played a significant role. Over the last six years, fixed capital investments have averaged real gains greater than 10% per year and personal incomes have achieved real gains more than 12% per year. During this time, poverty has declined steadily and the middle class has continued to expand. Russia has also improved its international financial position since the 1998 financial crisis. The federal budget has run surpluses since 2001 and ended 2007 with a surplus of about 3% of GDP. Over the past several years, Russia has used its stabilization fund based on oil taxes to prepay all Soviet-era sovereign debt to Paris Club creditors and the IMF. OF COURSE THIS CHANGES IN 2008 with global recession

52. Sergey Ponomarev/Associated Press A woman in a Moscow park reflected a worrying concern in Russia: just one child. Small families are the norm and the population is shrinking. NYT 5/11/2006

53. May 11, 2006 Putin Urges Plan to Reverse Slide in the Birth Rate By C. J. CHIVERSC. J. CHIVERS MOSCOW, May 10 — President Vladimir V. Putin directed Parliament on Wednesday to adopt a 10-year program to stop the sharp decline in Russia's population, principally by offering financial incentives and subsidies to encourage women to have children. Mr. Putin's instructions, issued to a compliant Parliament that follows his orders almost without fail, formed the center of his annual address and signaled a new Kremlin determination to confront a problem that demographers have warned endangers the future of the Russian state. Russia's population, now about 143 million, has been falling since the collapse of the Soviet Union, trimmed by emigration, rising death rates and declining birthrates. Both the government and demographers predict more downward pressure, including H.I.V. infections, that could shrink the population below 100 million by 2050.

54. The governor of a central province told employers to contribute to a Kremlin campaign to boost the birthrate by giving couples the day off to have sex. And if a woman gives birth in exactly nine months — on Russia’s national day on June 12 — she will qualify for a prize, perhaps even winning a new home. Russia wants to reverse a trend in which the population is shrinking by about 700,000 people a year as births fail to outpace a death rate fueled by AIDS, alcoholism and suicide. This is the third year the Ulyanovsk region, famous as the birthplace of Lenin, has dedicated a day to encouraging couples to produce more babies. Published: September 13, 2007By REUTERS Women posed with their newborn babies in Ulyanovsk, Russia, on Wednesday. Russia: A Day for Making Babies

55. Nashi- Remember the red tents

56. Russian Political Structures: elections, the electoral system; party system and political parties A woman voted from her home outside the city of Barnaul

57. Legislative elections were held in the Russian Federation on December 2, 2007. At stake were the _____seats in the State Duma (Gosudarstvennaya Duma), the _____house of the Federal Assembly of Russia (The legislature). Changes to the electoral system: The 2007 election will be assigned exclusively from ______-list _______representation under a law adopted in 2005 on the initiative of President Vladimir Putin. He claimed it would strengthen the party system by reducing the number of parties in the Duma. In the previous elections half of the seats were filled using proportional representation and another half using the _____ -______-the-_______ system.A s of 2007, the 225 single-member districts are abolished. In the election of 2003, 100 of these seats were won by in_____________ or minor party candidates. The threshold for eligibility to win seats has been raised from 5.0 to _____percent. In 2003 four parties each exceeded 7.0 percent of the list vote and collectively won 70.7 percent of the total Duma vote. Only officially registered parties were able to compete, and registered parties cannot form a bloc in order to improve their chances of clearing the 7.0 percent threshold, with the provision that parties in the Duma must represent at least 60% of the participating citizens..

58. How come you have all these parties in the first pie chart showing election results and only 4 in the second?

59. DUMA ELECTION FINAL RESULTS

60. Party System: Multi, but becoming less so “in flux” “developing”, approaching a one- party dominant system like pre-1990’s Mexico under the PRI Changes to Electoral system (eliminate independents and regional parties) and increase t__________d Party platforms: Rather than consolidating into a Western-style party political system—with parties offering competing programmes to distinct social groups—Russia's parties define themselves mainly by their support or opposition to the Kremlin. In 1990s, tended to identify with a person (leader) more than an ideology Co-opting opposition leaders- see beginning of this packet

61. ______ _________— the Duma's strongest political force—was set up in February 2002 by means of a merger of the pro-Kremlin Unity and the Fatherland-All Russia movement (OVR). Its main attraction is its close association with Mr Putin. Although it lacks internal discipline and coherence, the absence of a distinct political programme allows it to attract Putin-supporters from vastly different parts of the population. The __________Party remains strong and well organised The CPRF, the successor to the ruling party of the Soviet era, was launched in February 1993 and remains one of Russia's largest and best-organised political parties. Although the CPRF has a better-defined programme than most other Russian parties, it still comprises an ideologically incoherent coalition of social democrats, Stalinists and nationalists. Around 40% of the CPRF's supporters are over the age of 55. Leader: Zugonov Коммунистическая партия Российской Федерации

62. The Communist Party candidate in the race against Mr. Medvedev is Gennadi___________, who was greeted by Young Communist party activists at a rally at a Moscow cinema, earlier this month. Mr. Zyuganov has been marginalized in part by Mr. Putin's popularity and his mastery of Soviet nostalgia.

63. The ___________ _____________ Party of Russia remains the main nationalist group Russia's nationalist groups are fixtures on the political scene and performed well in the 2003 parliamentary election. The LDPR is led by the controversial Vladimir Zhirinovsky. The large share of votes for the nationalists represents a broader development among the Russian population. Young Russians, in particular, are rediscovering national pride—which often goes alongside anti-Western sentiment and racial hatred of people from the Caucasus and Central Asia. However, neither the LDPR nor the new Justice Russia party is an independent political force likely to ride the wave of growing nationalism. Their leaders did not dare to criticise the Kremlin during the 2003 election campaign, and will remain loyal in 2007. Yabloko and Union of Right Forces (SPS) : the liberal parties, are gone--

64. Russia’s Election Is for Parliament, but the Real Vote Is on Putin A banner by the United Russia party on Manezh Square, near the Kremlin, says “Moscow is voting for Putin!”

65. November 1, 2007 Russia Sets Limits on Foreign Vote Monitors By CLIFFORD J. LEVY MOSCOW, Oct. 31 — The system of international monitoring intended to ensure clean elections in the states of the former Soviet Union appeared near collapse on Wednesday after Russia formally declared that it would sharply cut the number of observers for it parliamentary elections in December. Officials in charge of the monitoring mission refused to agree to the change. Russia had already hindered the work of the monitors — part of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe — by delaying the necessary invitation to them. On Wednesday, the monitoring group announced that it had received an invitation, but that it provided for unprecedented restrictions, including a limit of 70 observers for the Dec. 2 elections. The group sent 400 observers for the parliamentary elections four years ago.

66. May 19, 2007 Russia Detains Opposition Leaders Until They Miss a Protest MOSCOW, May 18 — The police detained more than a dozen opposition leaders and journalists here on Friday, preventing them from flying to a provincial city to take part in anti-Kremlin protests. The action followed a wave of harassment of the protest’s organizers. The detentions added a new element of frostiness to President Vladimir V. Putin’s meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and other leaders of the European Union near the city, Samara.

67. President Vladimir V. Putin, center, with his wife, Ludmila Putina, on his arm, walked toward a Moscow polling station Sunday. Dec 3 2007 Party’s Triumph Raises Question of Putin’s Plans

68. Mr. Putin said that he would lead the ticket of Russia’s dominant party in parliamentary elections President Vladimir V. Putin Monday at the congress of United Russia, his country’s top party Oct 2, 2007

69. The Russian Presidential election of 2008, in March 2008, was widely expected to be a three-horse race between the official Kremlin-backed candidate, the candidate of the left-wing forces and the nominee of the liberal opposition. Incumbent President Vladimir Putin, who is barred by the Russian Constitution from seeking a ________consecutive term, is expected to back one of the current Deputy Prime Ministers, Sergei Ivanov or Dmitry Medvedev. On February 1, 2007, Putin announced that he would not nominate a successor up front, but would back a candidate after the campaign had begun. The Communist Party will likely nominate its leader, Gennady_________, who had already run for President in 1996 and 2000. Potential liberal candidates include former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov, the leader of Yabloko party Grigory Yavlinsky and former world chess champion Garry Kasparov.

70. Mr. Medvedev and Mr. Putin appear together on campaign posters over Manezh Square near the Kremlin with the slogan, "Together we will win." The outcome of the month-long presidential campaign on Sunday, when voters will cast ballots, is already known. Barring something extraordinary and unforeseen, Mr. Medvedev will win by a landslide and become the Kremlin's new leader

71. The opposition leader and former chess champion Garry Kasparov drew large X’s over his ballot in protest.

72. Voters went to the polls in Russia on Sunday to put the final stamp of approval on the preordained conclusion to the monthlong presidential campaign. A poster at a polling station in central Moscow listed information about the candidates.

73. Putin Protégé Secures Election Victory Dmitri A. Medvedev, right, attended a post-election event in Moscow with President Vladimir V. Putin on Sunday

74. With 98.78 percent the vote counted on Monday morning, Mr. Medvedev, of the United Russia Party, had 70.21 percent of the vote, followed by Gennadi A. Zyuganov, of the Communist Party, with 17.77 percent. Vladimir V. Zhirinovsky, an ultranationalist who leads the Liberal Democratic Party, received 9.37 percent, and Andrei V. Bogdanov, a little- known candidate whose Democratic Party is considered a creation of the Kremlin, had 1.29 percent.Gennadi A. ZyuganovVladimir V. Zhirinovsky Officials said turnout was 69.61 percent.

75. Dmitry Medvedev takes the Presidential Oath whilst placing his right hand on the Presidential copy of the Russian Constitution. http://www.departments.bucknell.e du/russian/const/ch4.html

76. SO here’s the order for 2007-2008: Fall 2007, Putin says he won’t run for pres, but he will head the party ____________ Then there are ___________elections in Dec and Putin says if you elect my guy for pres, I’ll be his________ Then __________ elections in March—Mevedev wins and then in April, he appts Putin _______

77. First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri A. Medvedev with President Vladimir V. Putin in Moscow in October Headline Dec 11, 2007: Putin Backs Deputy Prime Minister as Successor Headline Dec 12, 2007: Dmitri Medvedev Wants Putin as Prime Minister

78. Putin to become United Russia chief, cementing hold on power April 16, 2008 April 16, 2008 Standing ovation: United Russia delegates on Tuesday cheered news of President Putin’s new role as chairman. The move sets up an unusual and potentially precarious power structure of two strong leaders: Vladimir Putin (r.) and Dmitri Medvedev (l.). The new president, Medvedev, has no power base of his own and is entirely beholden to Putin's sponsorship for his ascent to the Kremlin. Yet Russia's president enjoys supreme powers under the Constitution, written by former President Boris Yeltsin after he crushed a defiant parliament with military force in 1993. Under Putin's eight-year leadership, the Kremlin greatly strengthened presidential powers by eliminating independently elected regional governors, subordinating the media, sidelining civil society groups, and ushering in a pro- Kremlin parliamentary majority.