List of presidents of Russia

Official standard of the President of the Russian Federation

Kremlin Senate - the official residence of the President of Russia

This is a list of Presidents of the Russian Federation formed in 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union. This list includes only those persons who were sworn into office as President of the Russian Federation following the ratification of the Russian Constitution, which took effect in 1993. For a longer, but less detailed list, go to List of heads of state of Russia

History

Boris Yeltsin came to power with a wave of high expectations. On June 12, 1991 he was elected president of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic with 57% of the vote, becoming the first popularly elected president.^[1] But Yeltsin never recovered his popularity after a series of economic and political crises in Russia in the 1990s. The Yeltsin era was marked by widespread corruption, economic collapse, and enormous political and social problems.^[1] By the time he left office, Yeltsin had an approval rating of two percent by some estimates.^[1]

Throughout his presidential terms and into his second term as Prime Minister, Putin has enjoyed high approval ratings amongst the Russian public. During his eight years in office, the economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase sixfold (72% in PPP),^[2] poverty cut more than half^[3] and average monthly salaries increase from $80 to $640, or by 150% in real rates.^[4] At the same time, his conduct in office has been questioned by domestic dissenters, as well as foreign governments and human rights organizations, for his handling of internal conflicts in Chechnya and Dagestan, his record on internal human rights and freedoms, his relations with former Soviet Republics, and his relations with the so-called oligarchs: Russian businessmen with a high degree of power and influence within both the Russian Government and economy. This was seen by the Kremlin as a series of anti-Russian propaganda attacks orchestrated by western opponents and exiled oligarchs.^[5]

Medvedev was appointed First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian government on November 14, 2005. Formerly Vladimir Putin's chief of staff, he was also the Chairman of Gazprom's board of directors, a post he had held, for the second time, since 2000. On December 10, 2007, he was informally endorsed as a candidate for the forthcoming presidential elections by the largest Russian political party, United Russia, and officially endorsed on December 17, 2007. Medvedev's candidacy was supported by former President Vladimir Putin and pro-presidential parties.^[6] A technocrat and political appointee, Medvedev - Putin's former Chief of Staff and one-time rival to Sergey Ivanov - had never held elective office before 2008. Medvedev chose Putin as his Prime Minister; in 2012, Putin ran for the Presidency again, won a third term, and appointed Medvedev as Prime Minister.

Presidents

For Russian leaders prior to this ratification, see List of leaders of the Soviet Union, and List of leaders of the Russian SFSR

President				Term of office	Affiliation	Term	Previous office	Prime Minister(s)
Democratic Russia   Unity   United Russia   Non-partisan
1			Boris Yeltsin Борис Ельцин February 1, 1931 – April 23, 2007 (aged 76)	July 10, 1991[A 1] – December 31, 1999 [B 1]	Nonpartisan (Supported by Democratic Russia movement)	1 (1991)	10th Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Russia (1990–1991)	I. Silayev Himself V. Chernomyrdin S. Kiriyenko Y. Primakov S. Stepashin V. Putin
	Nonpartisan	2 (1996)
2			Vladimir Putin Владимир Путин Born: October 7, 1952	May 7, 2000 – May 7, 2008	Unity	3 (2000)	34th Prime Minister of Russia (1999–2000)	M. Kasyanov M. Fradkov V. Zubkov
					Nonpartisan
	Nonpartisan (Supported by United Russia)	4 (2004)
3			Dmitry Medvedev Дмитрий Медведев Born: September 14, 1965	May 7, 2008 – May 7, 2012	United Russia	5 (2008)	First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia (2005–2008)	V. Putin
4			Vladimir Putin Владимир Путин Born: October 7, 1952	May 7, 2012 – Incumbent	United Russia	6 (2012)	38th Prime Minister of Russia (2008–2012)	D. Medvedev

1. Served as President of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic de jure within the Soviet Union (but after state sovereignty and referendum) from 10 July 1991 – 25 Dec 1991 after which the office became President of Russia after renaming of country. There is no difference between these office names. 1st presidential term of Yeltsin started in July 1991 and ended in 1996.

1. Resigned

Acting Presidents

  Non-partisan   Our Home – Russia   Unity

Portrait		Name	Affiliation	Term of office		Main post	Notes
		Alexander Rutskoy Александр Руцкой Born: September 16, 1947	Non-partisan	September 22, 1993	October 4, 1993	Vice President	De facto, been acting President, during the 1993 constitutional crisis, at the same time with Boris Yeltsin.
		Viktor Chernomyrdin Виктор Черномырдин April 9, 1938 — November 3, 2010 (aged 72)	Our Home – Russia	November 5, 1996	November 6, 1996	Prime Minister	Acting President during heart surgery Boris Yeltsin.
		Vladimir Putin Владимир Путин Born: October 7, 1952	Unity	December 31, 1999	May 7, 2000	Prime Minister	The acting president when Boris Yeltsin resigned early.

Timeline

Living former presidents

As of December 2016, there is only one living former president (except Vladimir Putin, who was president from 2000 to 2008, and became president again in 2012). The most recent death of a former president was that of Boris Yeltsin (1991–1999) on April 23, 2007, aged 76. Images:

• 

  Dmitry Medvedev
  (2008–2012)
  September 14, 1965

(From Left:) President Putin with former president Dmitry Medvedev in Tuva. July 2013

See also

• President of Russia
• Politics of Russia
• Government of Russia

References

1. "Transcripts of 'Insight' on CNN". CNN. 2002-10-07. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
2. GDP of Russia from 1992 to 2007 International Monetary Fund Retrieved on 12 May 2008
3. Putin’s Eight Years Kommersant Retrieved on 4 May 2008
4. Putin visions new development plans for Russia China View Retrieved on 8 May 2008
5. Sergey Morozov, "Putin's Diplomacy: Russian Judo on World Tatami". – Saint Petersburg, publishing house "Krylov", 2008. – 288 pp. ISBN 978-5-9717-0630-4. Chapter "Dracula, Rotten Meat and Dr. Evil", p. 130: "... in the Kremlin they thought that Russia has become a subject of a series of political propaganda attacks orchestrated by the West and exiled oligarchs.", p. 139, Dmitry Peskov: "Things we observe in the British media relate more to a usual human hysteria rather than to journalism... President regards this calmly, understanding at the same time that this has nothing to do with journalism and analytics."
6. Putin sees Medvedev as successor BBC News

External links

• Central Bank of Russia
• Energy Statistics for Russia – From the Energy Information Administration
• Federative Council—Official site of the parliamentary upper house
• Russian News Agency Ria Novosti