 | This article needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(January 2015) |
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A diverse variety of informal political groups emerged since the presidency ofVladimir Putin starting in 1999. They include remnants of theYeltsin family,Saint Petersburg lawyers and economists, and security-intelligence elements called thesiloviki.[1]
When Putin came to power in 1999, he had few protégés or long-term associates, and had to balance various competitive elements as he crafted his team. In contrast to the Yeltsin years, Putin's regime was marked by personnel stability, a gradual elevation of trusted associates and coalition-building across competing interests both within the presidential administration and with other political actors.[1]
AsPresident Vladimir Putin, a former employee of theLeningrad andLeningrad OblastKGB Directorate and former Chief of the Committee for External Relations ofSaint Petersburg Mayor's Office, had come to the presidency in 2000, many political observers noticed quick career promotion of bureaucrats and businesspeople fromSaint Petersburg to the federal power bodies (especially thePresidential Executive Office, a very influential institution that has always been totally controlled by the presidential authority) and large state-controlled companies (such asGazprom andRosneft) and their struggle against old Moscow elites loyal toBoris Yeltsin's family, known asFamily group, as well as against influential media tycoonBoris Berezovsky and his allies, who helped Putin on his way to power in 1999–2000.[2][3][4][5][6]
According to Associate Professor of Political Science John P. Willerton, it is difficult to make general judgements about the various informal groups, their backgrounds and political preferences.[1]
| This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(November 2019) |
According to Associate Professor of Political ScienceJohn P. Willerton of theUniversity of Arizona in theUnited States, reformist St. Petersburg economists and lawyers constitute a prominent group in the Putin team. Many of them have career and personal ties to Putin dating back to the early 1990s.[1]
Many of the members of the economic reform team, both in the presidential administration and the government, are drawn from the St Petersburg group. They are academically qualified, have significant administrative experience, and are often focused on the technical complexities of the country's system transformation. They are - in general - committed to market development, privatization and the continued diminution of the state's role in the country's socioeconomic life. The liberal economists contend that the consolidation of democracy comes with improving the population's standard of living and developing the private sector. Prominent St Petersburg economists includeAlexei Kudrin,Herman Gref and Putin's economic adviserAndrey Illarionov.[1]
The St Petersburg lawyers focus on constitutional-legal-administrative arrangements to bolster an efficient democratic system, favouring reforms that strengthen simultaneously the market economy and political stability. Prominent members included the former presidential administration headDmitry Medvedev andDmitry Kozak.[1]
Much foreign attention has been given to the security-intelligence elements, what Russians refer to as thesiloviki. They began coming to power under Yeltsin, but this accelerated during Putin's premiership and presidency. A common view in Russia is that thesesiloviki are generally non-ideological, are corrupt, have a pragmatic law and order focus and have Russian national interests at heart. They do not form a cohesive group.[1] Putin himself is a retired Lieutenant Colonel of theKGB.
Another identifiable group are the remnants of the so-called"Family" [ru] - a term which originally referred to relatives and associates of the former president Yeltsin. Most senior members of the group have left the highest corridors of power, but some have been able to survive and secure influential positions.[1]
Ozero is the name of a co-operative society headed,inter alia, by Putin. The co-operative administers Putin's substantial personal wealth generated over the course of his presidency. The immense financial power of members of the co-operative fundamentally creates a wealthy clique of new oligarchs capable of replacing the financial power of Yeltsin era oligarchs.
According to aThe Washington Quarterly article written byIan Bremmer and Samuel Charap in 2006–2007, at the start of his presidency,Vladimir Putin announced that he would consolidate political powers inRussia into the so-calledpower vertical. However, despite being considered successful by many, this controversial endeavour partially backfired and led to the increasing factionalism within the president's inner circle. Although other institutions became largely irrelevant, disputes and clashes between Kremlin factions, rather than the president's will, became more and more important in determining major policy outcomes, Bremmer and Charap write.[7]
During the final years ofBoris Yeltsin's presidency,Alexander Voloshin,chief of thePresidential Executive Office, was considered to be the most influential figure within the Family group. Despite his obvious connections to Russian commerce, he was dominating Russia's politics of that time.[8][9]
In 1999, the Family group, Vladimir Putin, Boris Berezovsky and their allies united their efforts in order to prevent coming to power of theFatherland-All Russia political alliance of formerPrime MinisterYevgeny Primakov andMoscow MayorYury Luzhkov that was supported by media tycoonVladimir Gusinsky and to some extent by the public opinion. The efforts were successful, but as soon as Putin had won the2000 presidential election, an acute conflict with Boris Berezovsky developed, and in 2002 Berezovsky fled to London. As a result, Russian authorities consolidated their power over Russian television companiesNTV andORT previously controlled by Vladimir Gusinsky and Boris Berezovsky, respectively.[10]
The Family group has also almost entirely lost its influence by 2004 after the dismissals of Alexander Voloshin (October 2003), Prime MinisterMikhail Kasyanov (February 2004) and some key figures ofhis Cabinet, but some of the group's members secured their political survival.Vladislav Surkov, initially being an aide to Voloshin, gained much influence, as well asProsecutor-GeneralVladimir Ustinov, who had leaned towards new Saint Petersburg elites and whose son had becomeIgor Sechin'sson-in-law. TycoonRoman Abramovich, who had leaned towards the Family group in the 1990s, also remained influential, as well as former Mass Media MinisterMikhail Lesin. Each of them, however, had already distanced away from the Family group by that time.
As the Family group had lost its influence, especially during Vladimir Putin's second four-year presidential term (since 7 May 2004), some conflicts between parts of the new elites of Saint Petersburg origin became evident, as witnessed e.g. by the disputes over the fate ofYUKOS, failed project of mergingRosneft andGazprom, struggle forSibneft and upcoming 2008presidential election, some appointments and dismissals inMikhail Fradkov's Second Cabinet and consequences of theThree Whales Corruption Scandal, but the exact configuration of these new groups still remains unclear. However, it is widely acknowledged thatIgor Sechin andDmitry Medvedev are key figures heading their own factions and opposed to each other but both very close to Putin. Former Prime MinisterMikhail Fradkov is considered a close ally of Sechin.[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]
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