President Vladimir Putin has been ruling the largest country in terms of the area from last two decades as president or prime minister, he was holding the position of president of Russian Federation from 2000-08 and then he became prime minister for next four years, and he made a huge turn around for Russian economy. Russia regained the respect in his term first time after the fall of USSR, it emerged as one of the biggest global players, it plays a constructive role in United Nations and other international community, the role of Russian Federation in the United Nations Security Council has been excellent. Putin helped the people of Russia to faith in the federal structure who were living in the great uncertainty after falling of USSR, his administration binds together 46 provinces spread in 16 different time zone from Asia to the Middle of Europe and from Pacific to Baltic Sea in Atlantic, and he profoundly strengthened homeland security. Russia has the existential threat from the United States and its allies, NATO has been encircled Russia on the western front, and it has been threatened by the United States and Canada in Pacific and Arctic, they have been imposing sanctions for no reason. But in all fronts, Putin’s Russia has been emerged as a great power and has been excellently competing with the US-led coalition.
President Putin had come into power when the economy was underperforming and all the economic indicators were negative, although it had been almost one decade of the collapse of USSR the fear of disintegration and separatism was still in the air. Separatism was looming across the nation particularly in Chechnya, but his administration brought 150 million people for one Russia and firmly strengthens the federal structure. His first two-term of the presidency had changed the face of Russian federation politically and economically, it had reached to the new height in the economy, he had been bringing several economic reforms, and as a result, GDP grows with an average 7 percent for 8 straight years. He did major changes in the monetary and fiscal system, devaluation of ruble and introduction of 13 percent flat tax were proved to be the major reform, the development work led by his government had brought down poverty line from 30 percent in 2000 to 14 percent in the year 2008, all the economic indicators were exponential, and this boosts the confidence of people of Russia in the administration led by strongman Vladimir Putin.
On the international front, his government’s diplomacy has been unmatchable, he has been trying to regain the USSR power sphere, Russia under President Putin has been established strong relationship with China, continued soviet era diplomacy with India, South American nations, Cuba, and East Asian countries, and it established great relations with nations created out of USSR. Currently, Russia is the only rival to the sole superpower United States and has been challenging it in every forum and conflict zone, it has been vocal against the US and its allies regarding military interventions, sanctions, and unfair trade. Putin’s excellent diplomacy in Western Europe has now tilted many EU Nations toward itself, they are now visiting Masco for arms and trade deal, and this is the serious concern for the United States because it is impossible to tolerate Russian influence in the west.
Increasing Russian influences in Europe, Central Asia, East Asia and South Asia, has made the US and its allies feel uneasy, and the rivalry can be seen in United Nations Security Council where it has been vetoing the decision made by the US-led coalition. Russia was against the US invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, it is against the military intervention in the Korean peninsula, and Russian strongly condemns the NATO’s interference in Syria and supported the Assad regime. West calls it an aggression against allies, they have openly declared Russian as an enemy, and Russian intervention in Ukraine and annexation of Crimea in 2014 had furthered the tension among rivals. Thereafter, US and EU imposed several sanctions which have put the Russian economy on notice and it led to 3 percent GDP shrunk, Russia called it unfair and improper, as a result of it, the cold war environment is now again started building up.
NATO has encircled Russian territory and has deployed thousands of military in the bordering member nations like Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Poland, and Romania, NATO has almost US $ 900 billion defense budget and US $35 trillion economies. However Putin’s Russia still firmly exists with only US $ 70 billion defense budget and ready to take up any challenges of 28 member nation’s military alliance. Russia believes NATO as an existential threat, it had already experienced the bitterness of disintegration in which the US and its allies played an important role and they would never forget to repeat it again if they get a chance, however, Putin has revived the Russian nationalism and had brought them under one nation to defeat its enemy.
Russia is now heading up to take the lead role in international security under the presidency of Vladimir Putin, its military intervention in Syria forced the US-led coalition to take a step back, the Russian economy withstands even during the huge sanction imposed by allies. The territorial integrity and sovereignty have been protected even during unfavorable coalition action and sanction under the Putin administration. Putin had never bowed down even in front of the strongest rival, he made the Russian proud, and now it looks he has become the pride for the Russian people as we have seen it in 2018 general election. Western media has been trying to malign the 2018 general election result, they are calling it as the managed mandate by playing few videos, but in reality, there was every reason for Russian to vote President Vladimir Putin.
