Putin Back to Power

Vladimir Putin Came back as the Russian president after he won almost 64 percent of the vote in an election which international observers and opposition politicians in Moscow claim to have been heavily rigged.

Thousands of people gathered in Moscow in March 10, 2012 for a rally against Vladimir Putin's presidential victory. People, who had been already waging a series of demonstrations against the feared ex-KGB boss's policies, were wearing white ribbons to symbolize their fight for free and fair elections in Russia. Putin won a 6-year third term as president in the recently concluded presidential elections in March. 

At the end of the tightly policed rally, the leftist leader Sergei Udaltsov attempted to lead an unsanctioned march of around 60 people to a central square but was stopped by police. 

Even though international election observers say the election was skewed in his favor, most opposition leaders have been forced by the margin of victory to acknowledge that Putin was the winner. Official results showed the prime minister and former KGB officer won almost 64 percent of votes, while his rival Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov got less than 18 percent. 

"The main slogans of the March 10 rally were 'For honest elections', For honest authorities' and 'Putin is not our president,"' Udaltsov commented. After holding for mass protests over the last three months, and successfully breaking the taboo against opposition rallies in Russia, the movement now faces a huge challenge to decide where to go next. 

Putin, currently prime minister, won 63.6 percent of the vote in the elections and is now preparing for a May inauguration to take back the elections and is now preparing for a May inauguration to take back the Kremlin job he held form 200 to 2008 from his protege Dmitry Medvedev. 

Putin came to Russian center stage under former president Boris Yeltsin, who made him prime minister in 1999, after serving in influential national security and intelligence offices. At the time of his resignation,Yeltsin named Putin acting president in 2000, Putin easily won the election in March 2000, followed it up by getting reelected in March 2004. Due to a constitutional bar, Putin nominated Dimitry Medvedev as his successor in 2008. Medvedev in turn nominated Putin as the prime minister.

It was Putin's war on Chechnya that made Russia resemble an Orwellian style police state, for the first time after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Allegedly, sometimes the price one had to pay for being critical on the war on Chechnya was one's life. 

Chechnya declared independence as a Republic in 1992 during the breakup of the Soviet Union. The first Chechen War began in 1994 when Russian forces entered Chechnya, occupied it and unleashed a reign of terror in which more than 100,000 people, mostly Chechen Muslims, died. it was followed by years chat-and-mouse chase between Islamist fighters under Shail Basayev against the might Russian army. Chechen fighters lead an attack on Stagehand in 1999, which became the trigger pint for Russian nationalist to rally support for an all out invasion. 

Unconfirmed accusations against Chechen separatist blamed fora series of Moscow bombings finally led to Putin's popularity and support for a full scale war. Russian established direct rule over Chechnya in May 2000. It was the same year Russian also drew international condemnation for its widespread violation of human rights.

Russia is expected to play an influential role in world politics under Putin. Under a wave of newly freed Arab republics riding on NATO firepower, Russi will need to keep old alliances alive, hopefully with the right atae actors.