The new old
Immediately after the inauguration, President Putin signed a decree establishing national development goals for his six-year Presidential term. Although the previous decree signed in 2012 was not fully fulfilled, it became an important performance management instrument for the government. With ambitious goals and corresponding public sector investment ahead of them, the new government is expected to start its term with unpopular pension and tax reforms to cut expenses and increase the budget.
Dmitry Medvedev remained the Prime Minister but the government composition reflects his decreased influence as he lost some of the old key allies and only managed to bring in a limited number of team members of his own. Although Alexei Kudrin remained out of the government, his influence has increased with more Finance Ministery alumni in the Cabinet and himself getting Head of the Accounts Chamber position.
Various branches of the Russian government continue to search for ways of fighting back the Western sanctions but there are not many options available. The State Duma passed a bill giving the Government an opportunity to block any imports from countries imposing sanctions against Russia and even started considering criminal prosecution for complying with anti-Russian sanctions.
An overwhelming majority of Russians consider opening of a bridge from continental Russia to the Crimean peninsula a very important development. Younger generations are a little bit less prone to overstating the event’s importance yet over 50% of them think it is very important for the whole of Russia.
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