NEWS: Vladimir Putin Fires Entire Russian Government

In a live television broadcast that stunned viewers, Russian President Vladimir Putin fired the entirety of his government today. He has appointed deputy minister Viktor Khristenko as Prime Minister to replace the ousted Mikhail Kasyanov.

BBC News
With the country's elections set for March 14th, it is speculated that Putin made this drastic move solely to rid the Cabinet of Kasyanov before election day. Kasyanov is the last majory carryover from former leader Boris Yeltsin's reign as President and is rumored to have been overly critical of Putin.

The Russian stock market tumbled on news of the sacking, with shares dropping between 3-5% upon the announcement.

Article 117 of the Russian constitution allows Putin to call for the resignation of government officials.

Related News Stories
Guardian.co.uk
Gateway2Russia.com

[Edited on 24-2-2004 by Banshee]

Holy Crap!!!!

Well that was unexpected for news this morning!!

So take it this guy Kasyanov was a main player in the Boris Yeltsin days?

Kinda sounds to me that Putin just wanted them out so he could get control on the goverment again.

hmm soo close to elctions makes me wonder. I mean that would almost be political suicide especially when it damages the stock market. I smell a potential coup if putin doesnt win and if he does win he would have the entire government under his thumb. Im not too familiar with russian political structure how big of a move is this and how much control does he now have.

Welcome to the "new" communism. This is Putin tightening the noose around the necks of his rivals. The movement to a full dictatorship is almost complete. Chechnya is completely hosed once this "election" cycle is over.... then Georgia, then the Stans from Khazak to Uzbeka then on to who knows where.
Putin is a snake.

I wonder if he did this in order to get new people in charge that are in line with a particular agenda?

This is bigger than the news from the other day about the space-base missile defense defeating(?) technology they're working on. And maybe this has something to do with that.

Just the thought of a president firing the entire government in one fell swoop...

I guess anything goes now. How could anyone even speculate the implications of this? I know Russia was never out of the loop economically, politically, militarily - even after all the trouble they've been through, but these are SOME developments.

I wonder what our government is thinking? Did anyone expect this? Certainly not the Russian government!

Hey, ATS member RUSSIAN! You've got experience. Weigh in on this one, will you?

DeltaChaos

Damn!!!! What the hell?

This is just odd news. I don't know enough about it to comment yet. I'm going to have to prod around.

In other words, he wants total control. Hmmmm isn't that interesting. What else do you suppose he WANTS?

I would be interested in seeing a post from any of our members from Russia (seems we have a few).

I have heard in some talks shows that there is a lot of corruption in their government and my wonder is if he is just cleaning house, and waited until he had the election shored up before acting.

For some reason I am not afraid of this man, I think he has a horribly difficult job trying to build a country that for decades was based on a dictatorship/commmunist structure. I have never felt that we in America embraced them as much as we should have when the changes first started. They have been left to dangle and there is always the chance that communism could rise again.

I guess unless we see something else I am willing to be less worried about these changes as I am in security of the nuclear weapons in former soviet countries.

Originally posted by IndianaJade
In other words, he wants total control. Hmmmm isn't that interesting. What else do you suppose he WANTS?

He is president of the most criminal country in the world where a human life is worth as much as in China and North-Corea. So - now he can decide, try ruling legally and getting kicked out by super-rich opponents and military leaders or play the game and force down all others.

As Berlusconi I am as well supporting Putin - if you can't stop the criminals, then at least rule them. And they are both doing good at this.

Originally posted by Banshee
Article 117 of the Russian constitution allows Putin to call for the resignation of government officials.
[Edited on 24-2-2004 by Banshee]

now what possessed them to add that to the constitution? Russia has never been a terribly stable place, less so since the end of the Soviet Union. it almost seems like an engraved invitation to the current president to fire whoever he dislikes.

As Berlusconi I am as well supporting Putin - if you can't stop the criminals, then at least rule them. And they are both doing good at this.

Yes it would be great for mankind if a leader actually did something like this for the improvement of mankind...but the skeptic in me is extremly wary of actions such as these..as im sure most people are.

As bad as the U.S. gov can be sometimes..im sure glad bush[any president for that matter] doesnt hold power such as that...man that would be bad.

Interestingly, something to note is that Putin's final term is due to expire this year or next year. The question is: will he relinquish authority when his term expires or will he hold onto it?
The Russian Constitution allows for such "rights to dismiss" and being that this is an election year, I may need to look this up to verify, but I think it is somewhat common practice for the entire Russian cabinet to 'resign' or be 'fired/removed' when a new or prior existing President is re-elected; much like what the US President does when he takes over the office in his first term and then appoints his Cabinet. I also think that Putin can reappoint them if he so desires or he has option to replace.
This may simply be something that has not been used very often, but Putin choose to excercise his 'right' to do so, for the first time.

I surely hope that this wasn't an unexpected fall-out from Putin dressing in his white, full military dress and then heading to a full-blown military excercise, only to witness the failed launchings of two missiles go Pffftt.....
Let's hope not.....but it certainly raises the question of "if" he will retain power when his term does finally expire.



regards
seekerof

[Edited on 24-2-2004 by Seekerof]

I am a little confused on the point you were trying to make.No offense.....but did you mean that it is not a big deal that this happened?

if thats the fact then that would help my perspectiveon this situation if this is a somewhat regualr pratcise for them.From the sounds of it,it seems to be extremly over the top But givin the fact that I do not know anything about russian politics I can not be suprised by this.

Please elaborate on wether this is or is not regualr practice seekerof.

Yes the government is dissolved just before an election anyway; he's just done it early and by surprise. I think it's just his way of letting everyone know of his confidence in winning, he says he want' to show the people what the government will be after he is re- elected. It's rumored he's going to appointed another ex KGB agent as prime minister and possible successor. Forget his name.

Shoo and McGotti, Berlusconi is a criminal and a fascist.

Shoo and McGotti, Berlusconi is a criminal and a fascist.

Sir,Im sorry but I fully admit I have no clue about anything that happens in the russian government.

Please tell me something about it.

I have not the first clue about what is going on over there.When I saw that he had fired all of the governmnet,trust me,the first thought I had was that putin was up to no good to say the least.But I want to know the truth and would like to know.I hope he did this for good and not corrupt reasons.



[Edited on 24-2-2004 by McGotti]

Originally posted by Seekerof
Interestingly, something to note is that Putin's final term is due to expire this year or next year. The question is: will he relinquish authority when his term expires or will he hold onto it?
The Russian Constitution allows for such "rights to dismiss" and being that this is an election year, I may need to look this up to verify, but I think it is somewhat common practice for the entire Russian cabinet to 'resign' or be 'fired/removed' when a new or prior existing President is re-elected; much like what the US President does when he takes over the office in his first term and then appoints his Cabinet. I also think that Putin can reappoint them if he so desires or he has option to replace.
This may simply be something that has not been used very often, but Putin choose to excercise his 'right' to do so, for the first time.

I surely hope that this wasn't an unexpected fall-out from Putin dressing in his white, full military dress and then heading to a full-blown military excercise, only to witness the failed launchings of two missiles go Pffftt.....

Let's hope not.....but it certainly raises the question of "if" he will retain power when his term does finally expire.



regards
seekerof

[Edited on 24-2-2004 by Seekerof]

I was under the impression that Putin is looking to be re-elected.
Also, the reason the cabinet was fired was because he wanted to get rid of the Boris Yeltsin-era Prime Minister... The constitution says that the whole cabinet must be dismissed for this to happen. the BBC have a copy of his speech online, and from the sounds of it, he was planning to dismiss them ANYWAY when he got re-elected, just sped up the process a bit.

When I see how Russia is nowdays, if I was a Russian, I would support Putin and I would vote for him.

Browha....is there any reason to think that Putin won't get re-elected? Putin is doing/making a "pre-emptive" stirke in replacing/removing his cabinet, in that he knows, as do outside political analysts, that Putin has the Russian Presidential elections pretty much sown up.



regards
seekerof

[Edited on 25-2-2004 by Seekerof]

HOLY crap! now thats power...is this the new face of a 1st world dictator???

this isnt the best thing that Putin could do for the former ussr. with the russian econ. tumbling to begin w/, and the war w/ chesynia, the econ may not recover to its full potenial for another 20 to 30 yrs.