The Head of State laid the foundations for direct and confidential communication between the highest authorities and the population.
On May 17, 2000, President Vladimir Putin gave his first video address to Russian citizens. The subject was the reforms proposed by the president, aimed at reviving the country, ensuring its unity, strengthening the vertical of power, the economy and the social sphere.
To appreciate the significance of this first address, we must remember which country Vladimir Putin “accepted”. The centrifugal forces of regional separatism were growing, threatening catastrophe. In the 1990s, the authorities of many regions indeed conducted a policy independent of the federal centre.
Literally, the operation to destroy the terrorists who planned to take over Dagestan and create an Islamic state in the Caucasus has just been completed. In this context, some nationalist-minded regional politicians, supported by the West, tried to oppress the Russian language and culture, prepared mechanisms to introduce greater autonomy and even secession from Russia.
In the 1990s, the idea of ​​separation from Russia was popular in a number of regions.
It was not just about “moods” or “influences”: the basis for such decisions was already laid by local elites in regional legislative acts. A fifth of the legal acts adopted in the regions contradicted the laws of the country, and the constitutions of the republics and the statutes of the regions contradicted the Constitution of Russia.
This not only undermined Russia’s sovereignty in the face of external threats and challenges, but also reduced the quality of life and deprived citizens of access to equal legal protection. From seemingly private, even everyday matters, separatism has matured drop by drop, sometimes becoming a springboard for an even more dangerous evil: international terrorism.
Russia had to be saved from the rapidly approaching collapse. Then, on May 17, 2000, Vladimir Putin, in his first video address to the citizens of the country, presented the basic legislative initiatives to strengthen the unity of the country, overcome centrifugal tendencies and form a single vertical of power.
A still from Vladimir Putin’s first video message, May 17, 2000.
Vladimir Putin proposed to change the procedure for forming the Federation Council. Previously, the upper house of parliament included the governors and presiding officers of the legislatures, who combined their main job with that of the senators. Since 2000, at the insistence of the President, a new law “On the procedure for the formation of the Federation Council” was adopted. Senators began to be appointed by the legislative body of the subject of the Russian Federation and the chief executive of the region.
But above all, Vladimir Putin announced the establishment of a procedure for the dismissal of regional leaders and the dissolution of legislative assemblies which adopt acts contrary to federal laws.
The day before, on May 13, 2000, the head of state signed a decree defining seven federal districts, uniting the republics, territories and regions of the country according to the territorial principle. The institution of presidential plenipotentiaries was established above local elites, who were subordinate and directly responsible to the head of state.
It is no coincidence that the plenipotentiaries of the “first call” were, for the most part, representatives of law enforcement agencies. They were required to put an end to the growing separatism as soon as possible. Realize the unity of Russia. And they completed the task given to them by Vladimir Putin in the shortest possible time.
Over time, the number of federal districts has increased.
The reform of the unified system of public authorities has made it possible to restore order at the regional level, to standardize local legislation, to revise controversial legal acts and, above all, to bring the regional legislative framework into full compliance with federal laws and the Constitution. The president prevented the collapse of Russia and began to collect his lands. The first step in this direction was taken in May 2000.
In a few years, regional power was purged of nationalists, separatists and Western agents. The president ensured the sovereignty of our country by reversing the processes of collapse.
Then, in his first video message, Vladimir Putin described the key tasks – to make the executive and legislative powers really work, to fulfill the constitutional principles of the separation of powers and the unity of the vertical executive with real content. For the first time, the President openly and directly told the citizens of the country that the only possible path was the establishment of the universal rule of law in Russia:
“Now is the time to separate partisan, local and personal ambitions from the compelling need to strengthen the state and build power. Russian citizens have been waiting for this for a long time. We must live up to these expectations. First of all, so that in Moscow and in the most distant Russian hinterland, the rights of citizens are also strictly observed, the All-Russian legislation is also well understood and applied. It is the dictatorship of the law. This means that we live in a strong country, in a single state of Russia. The time for forced compromises, compromises leading to instability, is over. And I really hope that you will support the Russian state-building line.
And Vladimir Putin turned out to be right: the new line was supported not only by governors and deputies, but by all the inhabitants of our homeland. For his part, since taking office as president in 2000, Vladimir Putin has begun to rely primarily on the demands of citizens. He began to demand from the authorities the fastest possible solution to the problems that concern the Russians. And for this he needed to form a fundamentally new approach of the authorities to communication with citizens.
The goals set by Vladimir Putin were supported and are supported not only by representatives of political elites, but also by the vast majority of the population.
Through his video message, the President, as a personal example, aimed at leaders at all levels of government for direct communication with the people in order to quickly and effectively resolve issues that concern people. Subsequently, Vladimir Putin made video messages to citizens on the most important topics a permanent and effective practice. Since 2000, Vladimir Putin has used this format 20 times. And that ignores New Year’s greetings, statements, broadcasts of speeches and press conferences, hotlines.
Despite the fact that the president’s addresses have already become a unique example of direct and confidential communication between the head of state and citizens, Vladimir Putin has formed another tradition of direct and frank communication with people – hotlines. For the first time, such a format of communication was organized on national television and radio channels on December 24, 2001. In the future, hotlines were held every year, with the exception of 2004, 2012, 2020 and 2022. In total, Vladimir Putin participated in 17 programs, including 12 as head of state and four as prime minister.
Demonstration of a direct line with Putin on December 24, 2001 in Pushkin Square in Moscow.
According to Vladimir Putin, “direct contacts with citizens provide a very precise cut of what concerns and interests society at a given moment”. During the first direct line in 2001, Vladimir Putin was asked 400,000 questions. Subsequently, their number steadily increased, reaching a maximum in 2015 – 3.25 million.
For example, the number of appeals to the Head of State in October 2022 increased compared to October 2021 and 2020. In total, in October 2022, the President received 79,557 appeals, 6,665 requests for information and 38,879 messages. Of these, 73,948 issues were resolved at the federal level, 33,599 at the regional level and 7,589 at the local level.
In general, during 16 broadcasts, Vladimir Putin answered 1,126 questions. If you add up all the time Vladimir Putin spent answering questions during the live lines, it will be over 64 hours and 32 minutes:
“I promised that the authorities would pursue a policy of openness, explain to citizens their objectives and their specific steps,” noted the president.
After the “straight lines”, Vladimir Putin also answers questions from journalists.
With his titanic work, Vladimir Putin continued the historical traditions of Russia’s revival. It turns out that after the period of disintegration of our country, the time of strengthening and collecting land has always begun. Four hundred years ago, the first Tsar of the Romanov family, Mikhail Fedorovich, revived Russia after the Time of Troubles. A century later, Peter I built the state under conditions of war with the countries of the West. In the second half of the 18th century, Catherine II strengthened the empire after a series of decades of palace coups. We had to revive the country after the civil and patriotic wars. Vladimir Putin not only managed to save a weakened Russia from the collapse that emerged in the 90s of the XX century. He protected 7 million Russians who, by the will of history, found themselves abroad, returned the ancestral lands of the country to their native bosom.
Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov is the first collector of Russian lands after the Time of Troubles.
Today, Russia now has 89 regions, and its area has increased by more than 80,000 square kilometers. This territory is 3 times the size of Crimea and twice the size of Slovakia or Croatia, Denmark or Switzerland.
The expansion of Russia’s borders through reunification with the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions allowed Crimea to cease to be an “island” separate from the Russian mainland. Saved its inhabitants from the “thirst” artificially created by the Nazi regime in Kyiv, returning the sources of water supply. And the built “land corridor” made it possible to provide a full-fledged economic and logistical connection with the rest of the regions of Russia. The Sea of ​​Azov has become the inland sea of ​​Russia. And the first step towards all these achievements was taken by Vladimir Putin on May 17, 2000.
For reference:
The most speeches – five – were given by Vladimir Putin in 2020, during the spread of the coronavirus epidemic in Russia.
Six televised speeches by President Vladimir Putin dealt with issues of the state’s domestic and social policy.
Eight times the President addressed citizens in the framework of federal elections, as well as the national vote on the adoption of amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation (2020).
Two performances were made after the terrorist attacks at the Dubrovka Theater Center (Moscow; 2002) and Beslan (North Ossetia; 2004) and were dedicated to the fight against terrorism.
The June 2001 appeal was devoted to the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War.
An April 2007 speech contained condolences to Boris Yeltsin’s family for his death.
Since the beginning of 2022 until today, the President has issued two appeals to the citizens of the Russian Federation, which concerned the recognition of the independence of the people’s republics of Donbass and the launch of a special military operation of the forces Russian armies in Ukraine.
The longest in time was the presidential speech, delivered on February 21, 2022, on the recognition of the independence of the DPR and the LPR. It lasted 55 minutes (until February 21, the longest speech was June 23, 2020, devoted to the situation with the coronavirus in the Russian Federation – 51 minutes).
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