At the helm: 20 years ago, Putin was elected as Russia’s president for first time

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<span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">26 MAR, 03:55</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #351c75; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://tass.com/politics/1135625">At the helm: 20 years ago, Putin was elected as Russia’s president for first time</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #351c75; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Keeping a broad range of issues under strict control has become Putin’s
way of life<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75;"><img alt="Russian President Vladimir Putin Mikhail Metzel/TASS" height="407" src="https://phototass4.cdnvideo.ru/width/1020_b9261fa1/tass/m2/en/uploads/i/20200326/1259191.jpg" width="640" /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #351c75; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">Russian President Vladimir Putin</span></b><span style="color: #351c75;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #351c75;">© Mikhail Metzel/TASS<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #351c75;">MOSCOW, March 26. /TASS/. Russia’s four-time President Vladimir Putin
marks a political anniversary on March 26: 20 years ago, he was elected for his
first term as the head of Russia. However, the president will apparently have
neither free time nor the desire to celebrate: Putin is reluctant to marking
personal dates, and, under present conditions, he will simply have no chance to
take a pause in his hectic work schedule.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #351c75;">Work schedule<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #351c75;">Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that on Thursday the president would
meet with a group of entrepreneurs from Russian regions. Another important
event on Putin’s agenda today will be G20 summit, to be held in the format of a
video linkup to discuss the novel coronavirus pandemic and ways to mitigate its
impact on the global economy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #351c75;">In charge of everything</span></span></b><br />
<!--more--><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #351c75;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #351c75;">Keeping a broad range of issues under strict control has become Putin’s
way of life. Each of his 20 years at the helm of the Russian state (15 years as
president and five as the prime minister) was turbulent in its own way, posing
new questions and problems: international conflicts and terrorism, economic
troubles and natural disasters were only the tip of the iceberg of problems
that required a prompt and weighted response.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #351c75;">However, those turbulent periods failed to stop Russia’s steady
development, including changes in the vertical power structure, political party
system reforms and measures to boost Russia’s defense. In his TASS interview
for the project entitled "20 Questions with Vladimir Putin", the head
of state asserted that a tsar merely issues orders, while the president works
every day. "A tsar is one who just sits there, looks down from above and
says: ‘They will do as I order’, while he just tries on a cap and looks at
himself in the mirror," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #351c75;">Putin’s hectic schedule, which he compared to the work of a galley slave
after the first two terms in office, is widely known both in Russia and abroad.
For more than two decades, he has been keeping both his friends and enemies
surprised at how one person can handle it all. In an interview with TASS, Putin
confessed that the idea of having a body double was floated for the sake of
ensuring the safety of the head of state in the early 2000s, but the idea was
rejected once and for all.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #351c75;">Creating trends<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #351c75;">Although his post envisages maximum publicity, Putin prefers to keep
personal things, including those related to his family, out of the public eye.
His official biography only mentions two adult daughters, and the president
spoke of having grandchildren, too. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained
that putting everything on a display is ruled out as far as the head of the
Russian state is concerned.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #351c75;">Putin is very upbeat on scientific and engineering progress, but still
prefers the special hotline phone to any of the modern gadgets. The reason is
simple. "It is far easier for me to use a special phone line to be
connected to any number," the president explained in an interview with
TASS.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #351c75;">Following modern trends is not Putin’s style. He prefers to create them
on his own, be it healthy lifestyle (which encouraged thousands of Russian boys
to practice judo and sambo wrestling) or the choice of a remote location in
taiga for his two-day vacation (after which tourists flocked to Russia’s Tuva
region).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #351c75;">The same applies to the Russian leader’s foreign policy as well.
Opposing the start of the war in Iraq in 2003, Putin managed to win the support
of powerful allies, such as then French President Jacques Chirac and German
Chancellor Gerhard Schroder. In 2007, Putin made his famous Munich speech,
speaking out loud about Russia’s position on the international arena and
expressing ideas that were ahead of their time. Almost a decade and a half
later, other states started to refer to the same notions in their international
affairs. A strong and confident Russia, which is no longer trying to catch up
with others, has reclaimed the global recognition of a key player on the global
arena, whether others like it or not.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #351c75;">Putin, who has always called for a diplomatic solution of any conflict,
says firmly and unambiguously that Russia is not going to fight against anyone
and it is laying the groundwork so that other countries, too, will not have the
slightest urge to unleash an armed conflict with Moscow.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #351c75;">Serious work ahead<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #351c75;">Putin has accumulated vast experience of a state leader, which has
surpassed that of his incumbent counterparts from other major world powers,
including Chinese President Xi Jinping (in office since 2013) and German
Chancellor Angela Merkel (since 2005). As far as the ex-Soviet space is
concerned, Putin’s time at the helm is second only to Belarusian President
Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power for almost 26 years.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #351c75;">In an interview to TASS, Putin confessed it had never occurred to him
that his stay at the helm of power would last so long.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #351c75;">"It never crossed my mind. I never thought that I would wind up
here. That never would have occurred to me," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #351c75;">About the possibility of dropping out of the race at some point, Putin
said he felt "responsible for what is going on, and for what will happen
in the future."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #351c75;">He added that in 2008, he did not have the slightest idea that in four
years’ time he would occupy the presidential office again, although he did not
exclude that possibility altogether.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #351c75;">However, Putin believes that it is too early to raise the question of
his status when his term expires in 2024.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #351c75;">When leaving Kremlin on December 31, 1999, and appointing Putin as his
successor, former Russian President Boris Yeltsin told Russians: "I wish you
to be happy. You deserve happiness. You deserve happiness and
tranquility."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #351c75;">During the March 26, 2000 presidential elections, in which 11 candidates
took part, the most Russians cast their ballots for Putin, and have since
confirmed their choice thrice.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #351c75;">On March 27, 2000, the day after being elected as the president of
Russia for the first time, Putin said: "There is a lot of serious work
ahead. A lot remains to be explained. Many things that might cause disputes are
still to be done. But I have the idea of what should be done next."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #351c75;">The world and the country changed drastically since then, but those
words still remain true today. Putin chooses to focus on what remains to be
done rather than on what was done. This is what he sees as his main motivation
in steering the country.</span></span></div>
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