Domestic and foreign policy of President D.A. Medvedev. Dmitry Medvedev. Medvedev's domestic policy When Medvedev ruled and was in power

Putin: pause (2008–2012) In response, the Kremlin carried out an “asymmetrical” combination: the presidential post was taken by one of the “Petersburg residents”, the circle of people closest to the president, known for his “liberal” sympathies and who held the position of first deputy prime minister

MOSCOW, May 3 - RIA Novosti. Dmitry Medvedev's presidency began with a difficult decision on a military operation against Georgia that attacked South Ossetia, and ends with large-scale political reform, including simplification of registration political parties and the return of gubernatorial elections, the decree on which the head of state signed the day before. Medvedev's four years as president will also be remembered for the renaming of the militia into the police, the replacement of approximately half of the governor's corps, the formation of "greater Moscow" and the abolition of the seasonal change of clock hands, which is customary for Russians.

After the inauguration of President-elect Vladimir Putin, scheduled for May 7, Medvedev is leaving the highest government post and is expected to become prime minister. The State Duma may consider his candidacy for the post of head of government on May 8.

1. Modernization

Modernization of the Russian economy has become the main program feature of the new President Dmitry Medvedev, who actually introduced this word into the modern Russian lexicon. In a message to the Federal Assembly in 2009, he said to the country that it was no longer possible to delay this. According to Medvedev, it is necessary to modernize the economy as a whole, as well as the production sector, the army, medicine, technology, including space technology, education and human upbringing. Great importance In this regard, the introduction of innovation and energy efficiency gains. The Skolkovo innovation center, created on the initiative of Medvedev after he visited the famous Silicon Valley in the United States, is intended to become a symbol of the new economy. In the future, Skolkovo should become Russia's largest testing ground for new economic policy. In a specially designated area in the near Moscow region, special conditions will be created for research and development, including the creation of energy and energy-efficient technologies, nuclear, space, biomedical and computer technologies. In 2012, about 1 trillion rubles will be allocated for modernization programs, according to Medvedev.

2. Constitutional changes

The main foreign policy event in Medvedev’s activities as president was the outbreak of hostilities in South Ossetia. As a result of Georgian aggression, civilians and Russian peacekeepers died. The President of the Russian Federation gave the order to send troops into South Ossetia and conduct an operation “to force Georgia to peace.” The result of the five-day operation was the destruction of the main military infrastructure of the Georgian army and ships of the Georgian battle fleet in the port of Poti. On August 12, Medvedev announced the end of the operation, saying that its goal had been achieved - the safety of the peacekeeping forces and civilian population had been restored, the aggressor had been punished and had suffered very significant losses. On the same day in Moscow, the presidents of Russia and France agreed on a plan called “Medvedev-Sarkozy” and provided for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Georgia and guarantees of the security of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Two weeks later, on August 26, after corresponding requests from Tskhinvali and Sukhumi, the Russian President announced that Moscow would recognize the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Later, Russian military bases were deployed on the territory of these countries, which were not recognized by most states of the world. Georgia, in response to this, withdrew from the CIS and continues to insist on its territorial integrity and demand the withdrawal of the Russian military from South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

6. START Treaty

Relations between Russia and the United States in the field of arms over the past four years have not been easy, but in April 2010, the heads of the two countries in Prague signed a new START treaty, designed to become one of the foundations of the modern international security system. The parties intend to reduce the total number of warheads by a third over seven years - to 1.55 thousand - compared to the Moscow Treaty of 2002 and more than halve the maximum level for strategic delivery vehicles. To enter into force, the treaty had to be approved by both houses of the Russian parliament, as well as the Senate of the US Congress. Russia's demand for synchronous ratification of the document was fundamental, and this was achieved.

7. Replacement of governors

The years of Medvedev's presidency in the field of domestic policy were marked by a change in the overwhelming number of governors and heads of regions, among whom there were many political centenarians from the era of the 90s. So, only for 2010 from their posts "by at will"The President of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaimiev, his "neighbor" from Bashkiria Murtaza Rakhimov and the head of Kalmykia Kirsan Ilyumzhinov left. Another "heavyweight" Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov was dismissed by Medvedev with the humiliating wording "due to loss of trust." Intensive replacement of governors has begun and after the December elections to the State Duma, as a result of which the ruling United Russia weakened its position. Thus, over the past months, the heads of the Primorsky, Perm, Stavropol regions, Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, Yaroslavl, Smolensk, Kostroma, Saratov and a number of others resigned. regions.

Medvedev's most controversial reform as president was the reduction of the number of time zones in Russia and the change of standard time in a number of regions. In June 2011, the president signed a law that abolished the seasonal change of clock hands. On the night of March 27, 2011, Russians moved their clocks forward an hour for the last time and switched to “summer time.” However, the past year has shown that the change of the already familiar regime is perceived very ambiguously by Russian citizens, which has given rise to new discussions. The other day Medvedev said that for winter and summer time, if the majority supports it, for example, by electronic voting.

Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev is one of the most prominent political figures in the Russian government, the third president of Russia. The politician has established himself as a statist modernizer whose goal is to improve Russian civil society.

Childhood and youth

Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev was born on September 14, 1965 in a residential area of ​​Leningrad. Parents Anatoly Afanasyevich and Yulia Veniaminovna worked as teachers at pedagogical and technological universities. Dima was the only child in the family. Already as a child, he was distinguished by his thoughtful, calm character.

In 1982, after graduating from school No. 305, Dmitry Medvedev entered Leningrad State University at the Faculty of Law, where he proved himself to be a successful student with pronounced leadership qualities. During his student years, the future chairman of the Russian government became interested in rock music, photography and weightlifting. In 1990, he defended his dissertation and became a candidate of legal sciences.

The politician says that in his youth he worked as a janitor, for which he was paid 120 rubles with an increased 50-ruble stipend.

Career and politics

Since 1988, Dmitry Medvedev has been teaching at Leningrad State University, teaching students civil and Roman law. Along with teaching, he showed himself as a scientist and was one of the authors of the 3-volume textbook “Civil Law”, for which he wrote 4 chapters.

Medvedev's political career began in 1990. At that time he became the "favorite" adviser to the first mayor of St. Petersburg. A year later, the man became a member of the St. Petersburg City Hall Committee for External Relations, where he worked as an expert under the leadership.

During the 90s, the future Prime Minister of the Russian Federation also showed himself in the business sphere. In 1993, he became a co-founder of Frinzel OJSC, he owns 50% of the company's shares. At the same time, Dmitry Medvedev became director of legal issues at the timber corporation Ilim Pulp Enterprise. In 1994, he joined the management team of OJSC Bratsk Timber Industry Complex.

The biography of Dmitry Anatolyevich finally went in a political direction in 1999. Then he became Vladimir Putin’s deputy in the mayor’s office of St. Petersburg, who at that time headed the apparatus of the Russian government.

In 2000, by decree of the new President of the Russian Federation, Medvedev was appointed to the post of first deputy head of the presidential administration. In 2003, after the resignation of the former Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, the politician headed the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation.

As soon as Dmitry Anatolyevich began to appear frequently in newspapers and on television, journalists noted his extraordinary resemblance to. Some sources began to publish theories about reincarnation or a secret conspiracy, for the execution of which a person similar to the emperor must be in power.

Conspiracy theories began to surround the increasingly popular politician. Sites have appeared on the Internet claiming that all of Medvedev’s personal data was falsified to hide the fact that he is Jewish by nationality, and his real name is Mendel. Official representatives of the Kremlin do not even comment on such theories, considering them not worthy of the attention of politicians.

On March 2, 2008, Medvedev won a landslide victory in the presidential race, gaining 70% of the vote. In May, the youngest president of Russia was inaugurated.

The first decrees of the third President of the Russian Federation concerned the development of the social sphere: education, healthcare, and improving the living conditions of veterans. The most striking project of the young head of the Russian Federation was the creation of Skolkovo - the “Russian Silicon Valley”. Medvedev also faced a five-day war with Georgia, which began against the backdrop of the conflict with South Ossetia.

It was Dmitry Medvedev who contributed to the dismissal from the post of the capital's mayor. The mayor of Moscow was dismissed in 2010 using the wording “due to loss of confidence.”

In the same year, a personal meeting between the Russian president and the head of the United States took place. Business meeting continued in an informal setting at the American leader’s favorite hamburger joint in Washington. Footage of the two politicians having a joint breakfast spread all over the world.

In 2011, during a meeting of the United Russia party, Medvedev said that Vladimir Putin, who was then prime minister, should run for president. In 2012, after Vladimir Vladimirovich’s victory in the Russian presidential elections, Dmitry Anatolyevich was appointed Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, and a little later headed the United Russia political party.

Kremlin officials consider Medvedev a professional administrator, a decent person, an out-of-the-box thinker and a competent lawyer. According to media reports, colleagues and associates in the civil service call Dmitry Anatolyevich Vizier and Nano-President, which is most likely due to the politician’s passion for new technologies and the politician’s short stature. According to unofficial information, Medvedev’s height is 163 cm.

Some events in the work of the Prime Minister and his proposals and initiatives attract public attention, often in a negatively humorous manner. A number of his statements become memes and aphorisms and spread across the Internet in less than a day.

In May 2016, the press began quoting Dmitry Medvedev’s scandalous statement “there is no money, but you hold on” in response to a complaint about meager pensions. The phrase spread across almost all media, appeared on humorous sites and on social networks.

While some of the public came up with new jokes, others were openly outraged that the government refused to take care of pensioners. As it turned out later, the scandalous phrase that appeared in the news was simply taken out of context. In fact, Dmitry Anatolyevich promised the pensioner that indexation would take place later, when the opportunity arises. As he said goodbye, he wished to hold on, adding to this other warm wishes.

The summer of 2016 presented the public with another odious statement from the Prime Minister. This time, during the “Territory of Meanings” forum, Dmitry Anatolyevich spoke about teachers. When asked about the low salaries of teachers, Medvedev replied that the work of a teacher is a calling, and an energetic teacher will always find an opportunity to earn extra money, and if a person wants to earn a lot, then he should think about changing his profession and going into business.

In the fall of the same year, the Internet again began to quote Dmitry Anatolyevich. During the ceremony of signing agreements following a meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council, Medvedev half-jokingly, half-seriously proposed renaming classic look Americano coffee at Rusiano.

The public immediately took up this initiative, a number of cafes began to include a new drink on the menu, and some even offered a discount to those visitors who ordered their usual coffee, calling it in a new way.

On March 18, 2018, the Russian presidential elections took place, in which Vladimir Putin again won. After the inauguration of the elected president of the Russian Federation, the government headed by the chairman resigned. Upon taking office, Putin again offered the position of prime minister to Dmitry Medvedev. On May 18, the new composition of the Russian government was announced to journalists.

Personal life

Personal life of Dmitry Medvedev, like his political career, clean and durable. He met his future wife, the daughter of a serviceman, back in school years. Medvedev's wife was the first beauty, popular with young people at school and at the financial and economic university. However, Svetlana chose Dmitry as her future husband. The wedding took place in 1989.

The wife of a politician works in Moscow and organizes public events in her native St. Petersburg. Svetlana Medvedeva became the head of the target program for working with youth “Spiritual and moral culture of the younger generation of Russia.” On the initiative of Medvedev’s wife, in 2008, it was introduced new holiday- Day of Family, Love and Fidelity.

In 1996, the family had a son, Ilya, who became a student at MGIMO in 2012. Medvedev’s son entered the university on a general competitive basis thanks to his Unified State Exam scores.

Now Ilya Medvedev has successfully completed his bachelor’s degree at MGIMO and is thinking about a career as a corporate lawyer. Ilya is the only son of Dmitry Anatolyevich; according to official sources, the politician has no other children.

Dmitry Anatolyevich is a passionate fan social networks. His accounts are registered in

MOSCOW, May 3 - RIA Novosti. Dmitry Medvedev's presidency began with a difficult decision on a military operation against Georgia, which attacked South Ossetia, and ends with large-scale political reform, including simplification of the registration of political parties and the return of gubernatorial elections, a decree on which the head of state signed the day before. Medvedev's four years as president will also be remembered for the renaming of the militia into the police, the replacement of approximately half of the governor's corps, the formation of "greater Moscow" and the abolition of the seasonal change of clock hands, which is customary for Russians.

After the inauguration of President-elect Vladimir Putin, scheduled for May 7, Medvedev is leaving the highest government post and is expected to become prime minister. The State Duma may consider his candidacy for the post of head of government on May 8.

1. Modernization

Modernization of the Russian economy has become the main program feature of the new President Dmitry Medvedev, who actually introduced this word into the modern Russian lexicon. In a message to the Federal Assembly in 2009, he said to the country that it was no longer possible to delay this. According to Medvedev, it is necessary to modernize the economy as a whole, as well as the production sector, the army, medicine, technology, including space technology, education and human upbringing. In this regard, the introduction of innovation and energy efficiency is of great importance. The Skolkovo innovation center, created on the initiative of Medvedev after he visited the famous Silicon Valley in the United States, is intended to become a symbol of the new economy. In the future, Skolkovo should become Russia's largest testing ground for the new economic policy. In a specially designated area in the near Moscow region, special conditions will be created for research and development, including the creation of energy and energy-efficient technologies, nuclear, space, biomedical and computer technologies. In 2012, about 1 trillion rubles will be allocated for modernization programs, according to Medvedev.

2. Constitutional changes

The main foreign policy event in Medvedev’s activities as president was the outbreak of hostilities in South Ossetia. As a result of Georgian aggression, civilians and Russian peacekeepers died. The President of the Russian Federation gave the order to send troops into South Ossetia and conduct an operation “to force Georgia to peace.” The result of the five-day operation was the destruction of the main military infrastructure of the Georgian army and ships of the Georgian battle fleet in the port of Poti. On August 12, Medvedev announced the end of the operation, saying that its goal had been achieved - the safety of the peacekeeping forces and civilian population had been restored, the aggressor had been punished and had suffered very significant losses. On the same day in Moscow, the presidents of Russia and France agreed on a plan called “Medvedev-Sarkozy” and provided for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgian territory and guarantees for the security of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Two weeks later, on August 26, after corresponding requests from Tskhinvali and Sukhumi, the Russian President announced that Moscow would recognize the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Later, Russian military bases were deployed on the territory of these countries, which were not recognized by most states of the world. Georgia, in response to this, withdrew from the CIS and continues to insist on its territorial integrity and demand the withdrawal of the Russian military from South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

6. START Treaty

Relations between Russia and the United States in the field of arms over the past four years have not been easy, but in April 2010, the heads of the two countries in Prague signed a new START treaty, designed to become one of the foundations of the modern international security system. The parties intend to reduce the total number of warheads by a third over seven years - to 1.55 thousand - compared to the Moscow Treaty of 2002 and more than halve the maximum level for strategic delivery vehicles. To enter into force, the treaty had to be approved by both houses of the Russian parliament, as well as the Senate of the US Congress. Russia's demand for synchronous ratification of the document was fundamental, and this was achieved.

7. Replacement of governors

The years of Medvedev's presidency in the field of domestic policy were marked by a change in the overwhelming number of governors and heads of regions, among whom there were many political centenarians from the era of the 90s. So, in 2010 alone, the President of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaimiev, his “neighbor” from Bashkiria Murtaza Rakhimov and the head of Kalmykia Kirsan Ilyumzhinov left their posts “at their own request”. Another “heavyweight,” Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, was dismissed by Medvedev with the humiliating wording “due to loss of trust.” Intensive replacement of governors began after the December elections to the State Duma, as a result of which the ruling United Russia weakened its position. Thus, over the past months, the heads of the Primorsky, Perm, Stavropol territories, Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, Yaroslavl, Smolensk, Kostroma, Saratov and a number of other regions have resigned.

Medvedev's most controversial reform as president was the reduction of the number of time zones in Russia and the change of standard time in a number of regions. In June 2011, the president signed a law that abolished the seasonal change of clock hands. On the night of March 27, 2011, Russians moved their clocks forward an hour for the last time and switched to “summer time.” However, the past year has shown that the change of the already familiar regime is perceived very ambiguously by Russian citizens, which has given rise to new discussions. The other day Medvedev said that for winter and summer time, if the majority supports it, for example, by electronic voting.

Introduction

Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev was elected to the post of President of the Russian Federation on March 2, 2008.

1. Election and assumption of office

On December 10, 2007, he was nominated as a candidate for President of the Russian Federation from the United Russia party. On the same day, Medvedev’s candidacy was supported by the parties “A Just Russia”, the Agrarian Party of Russia and the “Civic Force” party. This decision was made at a meeting in the Kremlin of President Vladimir Putin, Medvedev himself, as well as Chairman of the State Duma Boris Gryzlov, Chairman of the Federation Council Sergei Mironov and the heads of the Agrarian Party Vladimir Plotnikov and the Civil Power party Mikhail Barshchevsky. V.V. Putin approved Medvedev’s candidacy, his official nomination as a candidate took place on December 17, 2007.

On December 20, 2007, while submitting documents to the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation, he announced that he would leave the post of Chairman of the Board of Directors of OJSC Gazprom if he was elected President of Russia, in accordance with the law.

The election headquarters of Dmitry Medvedev was headed by the head of the Presidential Administration, Sergei Sobyanin, who went on vacation while working there. The main themes and slogans of the campaign were:

improving the level and quality of life of the population, continuing work on priority national projects;

laying the principle “freedom is better than lack of freedom” as the basis for state policy... (speech at the V Krasnoyarsk Economic Forum “Russia 2008-2020. Managing Growth” on February 15, 2008);

“...the main thing for our country is the continuation of calm and stable development.

What is needed is simply decades of stable development. What our country was deprived of in the twentieth century was decades of normal life and purposeful work” (speech at the II All-Russian Civil Forum on January 22, 2008);

following the ideas of Concept 2020 - development of institutions, infrastructure, innovation, investment, as well as cooperation and assistance to business;

the return of Russia to the status of a world power and its further development, integration into world relations, its own position on all key international issues, the widespread defense of Russian interests.

On March 3, 2008, President Vladimir Putin signed Decree No. 295 “On the status of the newly elected and not yet inaugurated President of the Russian Federation.” In accordance with the Constitution, Medvedev took office as President of the Russian Federation 2 months after the official summing up of the 2008 election results and 4 years after Vladimir Putin officially took office in 2004 - May 7, 2008 (at 12:09 am Moscow time).
In honor of this event, on the same day a number of philatelic materials went on sale under the general name “On March 2, 2008, D. A. Medvedev was elected President of the Russian Federation”, published by the publishing and trading center "Marka".

In his inaugural speech, he stated that he considered the priority task in the new position to be “ further development of civil and economic freedoms, creation of new civic opportunities". He confirmed this course by signing his first decrees, which directly relate to the social sphere. In particular, the first document was a federal law providing for the provision of housing at the expense of the federal budget to all veterans of the Great Patriotic War in need of improved housing conditions until May 2010. The next decree “On measures for the development of housing construction”, as part of the modernization of the relevant infrastructure, provides for the creation of a Federal Fund for Assistance to the Development of Housing Construction. Its main goal will be to promote the development of predominantly individual residential construction: it is seen as a transitional link in the process of forming an affordable housing market and the future use of federally owned land plots as areas for subsequent development of private property. In addition, in order to promote the systemic modernization of higher professional education based on the integration of science, education and production, training of qualified personnel to meet the long-term needs of the innovative economy, the Decree “On Federal Universities” plans to continue the formation of a network of federal universities that provide a high level of educational process, research and technological developments. As part of the decree, the President instructed the Government to consider the issue of creating the Far Eastern Federal University, along with the already established Siberian and Southern Federal Universities.

According to a VTsIOM poll conducted shortly after Medvedev’s inauguration, 86% of Russians knew that he was already President; 10% considered V.V. Putin to be the President; 1% of respondents considered Medvedev the Chairman of the Government.

2. Military conflict with Georgia

On the night of 7–8 August 2008, Georgian troops began intensive artillery bombardment of the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali and surrounding areas; a few hours later the city was stormed by Georgian armored vehicles and infantry. As a result of the attack, more than ten Russian peacekeeping troops were killed and several dozen were wounded. The official reason for the attack on Tskhinvali, according to the Georgian side, was a violation of the ceasefire by South Ossetia, which, in turn, claims that Georgia was the first to open fire. According to a number of reports in several Russian newspapers, as well as Georgian intelligence statements made public a month later, in September 2008, separate units of the Russian 58th Army were deployed to South Ossetia starting in the early morning of August 7, 2008. However, according to Russian data, as well as reports from a number of Western media and politicians, the Georgian side’s claims about the early transfer of Russian troops are false. In the evening of the same day, the Georgian and South Ossetian sides of the conflict accused each other of violating the terms of the truce. On the morning of August 8, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, in a televised address, announced the “liberation” of the Tsinagar and Znauri districts, the villages of Dmenisi, Gromi and Khetagurovo, as well as most of Tskhinvali, by Georgian security forces ; he accused Russia of bombing Georgian territory, calling it “classic international aggression”; General mobilization was announced in Georgia. On the same day, South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity reported numerous casualties among civilians in South Ossetia and accused Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili of genocide of the Ossetian people.

Medvedev later noted:

On August 9, President D. Medvedev began a meeting with Defense Minister A. Serdyukov and Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces N. Makarov with the words: “Our peacekeepers and the units assigned to them are currently carrying out an operation to force the Georgian side to peace.” No information about the official document (decree or order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief) on the basis of which the 58th Army and other units began operating was made public; There was also no mention of such a document in the statements of officials. According to the statement of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Colonel General A. Nogovitsyn dated August 9, 2008, Russia was not at that moment in a state of war with Georgia: “All units of the 58th Army that arrived in Tskhinvali were sent here to provide assistance to the Russian peacekeeping battalion that suffered big losses as a result of shelling of his positions by units of the Georgian army.”

On August 12, Medvedev announced that he had decided to complete the operation “forcing the Georgian authorities to peace”. On the same day, at a joint press conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, following Vladimir Putin, he called the actions of the Georgian army in the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict zone “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” and spoke insultingly about the leadership of Georgia.

Russia's military actions on the territory of a neighboring state caused a negative assessment and criticism from most Western states. A possible violation of Russian legislation when using the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation outside the country (Article 102 of the Russian Constitution, etc.) allowed former assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Georgy Satarov to suggest at the end of August:

During the Russian-Georgian armed conflict, Dmitry Medvedev met twice in an official setting with the president of unrecognized Abkhazia and once with the president of unrecognized South Ossetia. On June 26, Medvedev received the President of the Republic of Abkhazia Sergei Bagapsh in the Kremlin, and on August 14 (at the end of active hostilities in Georgia) he met in the Kremlin with the President of the Republic of Abkhazia Sergei Bagapsh and the President of the Republic of South Ossetia Eduard Kokoity. During the meeting, Kokoity and Bagapsh signed six principles for resolving the Georgian-South Ossetian and Georgian-Abkhaz conflicts, previously developed by Medvedev and Sarkozy; The presidents of the unrecognized republics were informed that Russia would support any decision on the status of South Ossetia and Abkhazia that the peoples of these republics would make.

As it turned out in October 2008, based on an analysis of satellite images of the outskirts of Tskhinvali, additional destruction of civilian objects occurred in the period from August 10 to 19, 2008, that is, after the occupation of the city by Russian troops: hundreds of houses were burned in ethnically Georgian villages in South Ossetia.

2.1. Analysis of the internal political situation due to the conflict

The comparison between the behavior of Medvedev and Putin during the conflict in Georgia led Western observers to wonder “who is in charge in the Kremlin” and came to the answer: “The current conflict has confirmed what has become increasingly clear in recent weeks: Putin continues to be in charge.” Financial Times commentator Philip Stevens, in the issue dated August 29, 2008, called Medvedev “the nominal president of Russia” ( Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s national president) . The Russian Newsweek magazine dated September 1, 2008 and the Vlast magazine dated the same date came to the same conclusion. The latter also noted:

“Another noticeable consequence of the Georgian conflict can be considered the final collapse of hopes for liberalization of the internal political course that appeared among a certain part of Russian society after the election of Dmitry Medvedev as president.”

Commentators in the Russian magazine The New Times on September 1, 2008 expressed a similar assessment of the situation in the country: “Inside the country, it seems that the choice between reforms and mobilization has been made in favor of the latter. Of course, members of the ruling duumvirate believe that a third way is possible, a kind of “mobilization modernization” in conditions of “easy” isolation from key states and institutions of the Western world. And - in the absence of institutions within the country. Of course, this is an illusion."

It is noteworthy that when analyzing the political and economic situation in the country after the conflict with Georgia, Anders Aslund in his article dated September 3 never mentions D. Medvedev and speaks of V. Putin as the only leader of Russia: “August 8 stands out as a fatal day for Russia. It marks Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's greatest mistake. Putin is turning Russia into a bandit state. » Economist Judy Shelton, author of the 1989 book “The Coming Collapse of the USSR” ( The Coming Soviet Crash), in the article "The Market Will Punish Putinism", published in the Wall Street Journal on September 3, 2008: To Putin “One thing to learn is that sometimes the invisible hand of the market strikes back.” The French magazine Le Point on August 31, 2008 wrote that “in the Kremlin, as well as in the presidential office, Vladimir Putin is still called “chief”. And during the Georgian crisis, it was the Prime Minister, and not Dmitry Medvedev, who “settled” the situation.” Ekho Moskvy columnist Evgenia Albats said in September of the same year that, “ Although Medvedev receives press attention, he appears to be Putin's press secretary.» Former Deputy Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation (1996-1997) B. A. Berezovsky said in November 2008: “There is no tandem, there is a buffoon and a dictator, who was in power and remains the same. What is happening now is a great fraud."

Political scientist Liliya Shevtsova wrote in the Vedomosti newspaper on September 17: “The war between Russia and Georgia in 2008 was the final chord in the formation of the anti-Western vector of the state and at the same time the finishing touch in the consolidation of the new system. In the 90s, this system existed as a hybrid, which combined incompatible things - democracy and autocracy, economic reforms and state expansion, partnership with the West and suspicion towards it. From now on, the Russian system becomes unambiguous, and there is no longer any doubt about its qualities and its trajectory. The August events confirmed one simple truth: foreign policy

in Russia has become a tool for implementing the domestic political agenda. The August War makes it pointless to discuss the question of who rules Russia and what are the relations within the ruling Medvedev-Putin tandem. Medvedev put on Putin’s jacket and became military president, and it was he who had to close the era in the country’s development begun by Mikhail Gorbachev.” The Financial Times of September 20, 2008 noted what it believed were changes in the social contract between the Russian propertied class and the power group:

President Medvedev’s speech on September 19, 2008 in the Kremlin “at a meeting with representatives of public organizations,” according to political scientist V. Nikonov, “was addressed to groups of elites within the country” who were concerned about the prospect of militarization of public consciousness. The President, in particular, said: “No new external circumstances - much less external pressure on Russia - will change our strategic line to build a free, progressive and democratic state and society. All tasks related to economic development, expansion of entrepreneurial, creative and personal freedom will be resolved urgently, without reference to the fact that the country is in a special situation, “there are enemies around.”

According to a FOM survey conducted on August 23-24, 2008, in the opinion of 80% of Russians surveyed in various regions of the country, “modern Russia can be called a great power”; 69% believed that Russian foreign policy was “very effective”; The vast majority of survey participants - 82% - said that "Russia should strive to become the most influential country in the world." Analyzing the FOM survey data, the FT wrote on September 23, 2008: “Russian society, which overwhelmingly supported the war, has become a bastion of tough politics. Polls suggest that this could prevent the few politicians who are trying to restore ties with the West from supporting economic and political integration with the West in the interests of Western countries.»

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