With the resignation of Boris Yeltsin in December 1999, due to his health problems, his vice president, Vladimir Putin, took over the government. Indeed, the year 2000 was the first year of Putin's presidency, who had to take an aggressive stance in the face of Russia's economic crisis. His strategy was, basically, a mixture of deepening neoliberal policies in the economic plan, but with a strong political centralization in the internal and external fields. As early as 2000, presidential elections were held, with the victory of the situation and confirmation of Vladimir Putin in power.
With regard to the separatist republics of the Caucasus, in southern Russia, Putin acted in an ostensible way, provoking the 2nd Chechen War (2000-2004). In 2002, Chechen rebels stormed the Dubrovka Theater in Moscow, holding more than 800 people hostage. In a disastrous action by Spetsnaz, a kind of elite group for special occurrences, the theater was occupied with the use of toxic gases, which caused the deaths of 42 terrorists and 129 civilians. Shortly thereafter, in 2004, Islamic terrorists from Ingushetia invaded a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, holding more than 1000 Ossetians, Orthodox Christians, as hostages. The rebels demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya and the release of some prisoners in exchange for the hostages. Even with the release of some of the detainees, Russian troops once again failed to reach a peaceful resolution, resulting in the deaths of 331 people, most of them children and teenagers.
For the world, Russia has always deserved respect, whether for its territorial conquests in the past, its strategic position in relation to Europe and Asia, or for its military and nuclear arsenal. Since 1997, the country has been invited to participate in the meetings of the G7, a group formed by the most industrialized and developed countries, which led the group to be called G7 + Russia or simply G8. The growth of the western military bloc NATO towards Eastern Europe was viewed by the Russian government with considerable skepticism, and it became clear how much the country still exercises the function of an empire. military in the episode that led to the invasion of Georgia in 2008, when the Georgians were very close to allying with NATO, even though this was not the official argument for the invasion. Russian.
The growth of the European Union during the 2000s attracted many former allies to the European bloc, even the countries Baltic people who were part of the USSR, but who also always sought to distance themselves from Russia, even before the end of the empire Soviet. Vladimir Putin was never in favor of a new arms race, but whenever he observed any geopolitical movement near the territory Russian or in areas of international interest such as the Middle East, immediately expressed warmongering arguments and defending the sovereign interests of the Russia.
Re-elected in 2004, Putin was unable to run again in the 2007 elections, appointing Dmitri as his successor Medvedev, a lawyer and executive at Gazprom, a Russian state-owned company that is considered the largest natural gas company in the country. world. Medvedev continued the project by Putin, who held the position of 1st minister in the management of Medvedev, which in practice meant keeping Vladimir Putin in the decision-making sphere from the country. It was very common on several occasions, such as at the G8 meetings, statements about military interventions and economic agreements, the presence of Putin and not Medvedev.
If we consider the period formed by the second term of Vladmir Putin together with the government of Dmitri Medvedev, the country has achieved the status of an emerging nation, accumulating great growth economic. The energy sector, especially natural gas and oil, played an essential role in this process. Unlike what happens in many countries that export fossil minerals, Russia has managed to channel the foreign exchange earned by exporting gas and oil to other segments of the economy, which led Russia to the status of a member of the BRICS group, formed by the main countries emerging. In recent BRICS meetings, Russia has sought to establish new trade relations within an axis that presents greater potential for growth, and even because there is enormous difficulty for Russia to compete economically with the market European. Along with Brazil, for example, there are many possibilities for partnerships in the mineral and energy sector.
Taking advantage of the current period of Russian economic growth, Putin has encouraged the creation of an economic integration zone between the ex-republics, which in principle is formed by Belarus (Belarus), a country that is increasingly isolated from the European Union, and the Kazakhstan. The latter has a great attraction for Europe: oil and natural gas in quantities that could reduce Europe's dependence on Russian fossil fuels. The signing of the commitment for the creation of the Single Economic Space and the Economic Union was carried out in 2011 by the presidents of the three countries, which already have a Customs Union agreement. The new treaty is more audacious, considering the foundation of an Executive Committee to deliberate common economic policies.
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Also in 2011, Russia finally achieved acceptance with the WTO (World Trade Organization), ratified by the Russian Parliament in 2012, after 18 years of attempts and negotiations. Theoretically, this was the last barrier to Russia's entry into the process of economic globalization. Having been out of the organization for so long, the country has always needed a complex quota system trade, signing many bilateral agreements, that is, directly with other countries and blocs economical. Some communist deputies and part of the local business community did not agree with the decision, believing that this change will unprotect Russian-owned companies, which will compete with foreign products that will have lower rates customs.
For Brazil, the livestock sector, especially chickens and pigs, along with the aeronautical sector, is the one that suffers the most impact from the tariffs imposed by the Russian government. Even with the acceptance at the WTO and the possible reduction of import duties from Russia, these sectors must remain protected. The Russians plan to become self-sufficient in the livestock sector, which represents the largest trade channel between the two countries.
The 2012 elections placed Putin in the country's presidency for the third time - with Medvedev as prime minister -, now with the presidential term extended to six years, approved by the majority Russian parliament pro-Putin. As there is great control over the press, with several state agencies present in this segment, the Russian population cannot be sure of what is happening in its territory. Journalists and politicians against Putin ended up imprisoned, such as former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, a public figure who seeks to point out the problems of recent presidential administrations. In 2012, a punk rock band called Pussy Riot, whose lyrics have a critical content against the Putin government, held a concert inside an Orthodox church in Moscow, and the three members of the band ended up imprisoned for allegations of vandalism and religious hatred, because in the midst of the songs, it was a “prayer against Putin” was made, where the expression “Virgin Mary expels Putin” was taken as an offense to Orthodox Catholics of the parents.
During the polls, it was common for people to vote more than once, leading the international community to believe in the fraud hypothesis. Thousands of people took to the streets to protest the election results, demanding the organization of a new vote. A few months earlier, in the parliamentary elections that led Putin's ‘United Russia’ party to majority of seats in Parliament, several waves of protests were violently confronted by the government. All these events demonstrated the precariousness of the democratic process in the country, which has not yet managed to complete the political transition to a de facto democracy. Putin even said that the end of the USSR was a huge mistake, being a great supporter of state centrality and the greater powers of the executive.
In another direction, the country is already preparing its infrastructure for the organization of the 2018 Soccer World Cup and will hold the Winter Olympics in 2014, the same year it will receive for the first time in its history a Grand Prix of Formula 1. The holding of all these events reflects the country's economic strength and technical modernization. Such initiatives represent the exposure to the world of its economic and investment attraction potentials. It is looking to the future, but keeping our feet on the political past of the tsars, dictators and bureaucrats.
Image credits: Shutterstock and Alexey Kryuchkov
Julio César Lázaro da Silva
Brazil School Collaborator
Graduated in Geography from Universidade Estadual Paulista - UNESP
Master in Human Geography from Universidade Estadual Paulista - UNESP
