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Change Your Life! |
Putin to be sworn in as Russia's second president amid Kremlin Fanfare |
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May 7, 2000
MOSCOW, MAY 6 (AP) - Russia will inaugurate the stern, careful Vladimir Putin as its second democratically elected president Sunday, handing the former spy a mandate to restore national pride and economic health after decades of decline.
Boris Yeltsin, who dismantled the Soviet Union and brought Putin to the Kremlin before resigning in December, will hand his successor the presidential chain and medal as the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, looks on. Such a peaceful, voluntary handover of power is unprecedented in the sprawling nation's history.
In addition to the high and mighty, Putin has invited his former judo coach and elementary school teacher to his inauguration. The Moscow political elite is jockeying for seats at the noon ceremony in the ornate Great Kremlin Place.
Putin has made room for Anatoly Rakhlin, his former judo instructor whom he has credited with having a great influence on him as a boy. Putin is a judo black belt and still finds time to practice.
He also invited elementary school teacher Vera Gurevich and boyhood friend Sergei Roldugin, who according to a recent Putin biography cruised the streets of St. Petersburg with Putin in the future president's mufflerless Zaporozhets jalopy, singing loudly over the engine noise.
What happens after the inauguration is less clear. This is the 47-year-old Putin's first experience in elected office, and nobody is sure how he will handle the massive task before him. Although he has had all the presidential powers since Dec. 31, Putin has given few signs of what he intends to do.
Yeltsin unexpectedly named Putin prime minister last August. Ailing and unpopular, Yeltsin then quit and named Putin acting president, prompting early presidential elections in March that Putin easily won.
Putin's biggest task will be fixing the economy. He has yet to release an economic program, though he says he is committed to market reforms.
The failed system of Soviet central planning was replaced by a distorted capitalist system under Yeltsin in which corruption and bureaucracy reign. A few politically connected tycoons have amassed fortunes while nearly everyone else has seen their living standards plummet.
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