Vladimir Putin re-elected as Russian President, sweeps to victory

Last updated: 2018/03/21 at 7:55 PM

Sandarbha Desk 6 years ago

Courtsey : Embassy of Russia

With the announcement of results of the elections in Russia yesterday, Vladimir Putin re-elected as President. He

sweeps to an anticipated victory over the world’s largest country for another six years.

Upon expiration of his rule until 2024 as the president, his total time in office would nearly be quarter of a century. Putin thumbed the political scenario for 18 years either as President or Prime Minister of Russia.

Since his connections with the West are unfavorable at the moment over Syria and Ukraine, this victory was a retort to his tough stand against the Western powers. In his victory speech, he promised to boost Russia’s strength against the West and raise the living standards.

Putin, who has ruled Russia for more than two decades, marked his best ever election performance with more than 76.68 percent culminating in 56 million votes. Putin’s nearest rival Pavel Grudinin from Communist Party took around 11.8 percent votes followed by nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky with 5.6 percent votes.

Hugely supported by state TV, the ruling party and credited with approval around 80 percent, Putin’s path to victory was quite obvious.

The constitution of Russia limits the Presidential terms to two successive years, obliging him to abdicate the office by the end of his new mandate, as he did in 2008 after acting as president for two successive four years terms. The limit then extended in 2012 from four to six years.

Putin after his victory beacon his desire to majorly focus on domestic issues rather than international ones, to raise the standard of living by investing in education, infrastructure and health while reducing defense expenses.

Achievements of Putin as the President in the past-

Since Putin became the president of Russia, poverty levels dropped considerably and the economic growth has accelerated by 70 percent. He is also known to bring financial stabilization in Russia by reducing tax rates from 35% to 24%. However, many countries do not acknowledge his methods and strategies, he is well supported by his country.He eliminated the barter system thereby expanding the economy.

During his tenure, Russian industry grew substantially including production, construction, real income and the middle class.

Recent scenario of India and Russia relations

India and Russia have always shared cordial strategic and diplomatic relations since last 70 years. According to Putin, India is the only country with which Russia shares deep cooperation in delicate issues like missiles. Russia will always support India in its fight against terrorism. Since India and Russia can never be geopolitical competitors and share the same point of view on critical matters like Afghanistan, Syria and Ukraine, both the countries share a great friendship and have stood for each other.
Putin asserted that Russia’s growing ties with Pakistan will not have any impact on its relations with India.

India and Russia share bilateral trade relations.Both countries aim to achieve USD 30 billion via import-export by the year 2025.

India imports its defense goods which include bombs, grenades, mines and missiles from Russia while India exports pharmaceuticals, machinery, tea, coffee, chemicals and electronics to Russia. India is the second largest market for Russian defense industry.

Current Problems between India and Russia-

• The rapid expansion in India-US relations after the nuclear deal in 2008.
• India now imports defence equipment from the US also. Russia is still the largest supplier of defence goods in Indi but the overall imports have declined considerably.
• Russia’s close ties with China and defence agreement with Pakistan strained India and Russia’s relations.

Saanya Jain