Putin faces Trump after 25 years

Putin faces Trump after 25 years

On December 31, 1999, Russian President Boris Jelzin surprisingly took the cameras and announced that he would step down and his Prime Minister Vladimir Putin would leave the presidency.

The reason for Yeltsin's resignation

"Why should I hold on to power for six more months if the country has a strong leader, the president can be a man whom almost all Russians put their hopes for the future?" said the pain that the collapse of the Soviet Union had added to the normal Russians. "Why stand in his way?"

This strong leader was a political unknown: a former KGB officer named Vladimir Putin. On New Year's Eve, when Putin appeals to the Russians, he will celebrate a quarter of a century as the first figure in Russia, both as a president and during a four-year-olds " Interregnum as a powerful prime minister.

Putins will make

With the end of 2024, Putin's grip for power seems safer than ever. On the battlefield in Ukraine, the Russian armed forces made progress in Donbass in a grueling war of wear and advanced . At home, the political landscape of Russia became after the death of the most prominent opposition leader alexey " Navalny freed from competition.

Wahlen und Unsicherheiten

A month after Navalny's death in a remote prison north of the Arctic Circle, the Kremlin leader sailed in a race to re -election, which was a overwhelming mandate , regardless of whether the fairness of the choice may be in question.

The challenge by Donald Trump

Putin may radiate self -confidence, but fresh uncertainties are just around the corner. The elected US President Donald Trump has promised to end Russia's war against Ukraine. While his path into a negotiated solution to the conflict remains unclear, Trump has made one thing clear: it has to go quickly.

"(it is) one of the things I want to do and quickly implement - and President Putin said that he wanted to meet me as soon as possible," said Trump at a last event in Arizona. "We have to wait, but we have to end this war."

Putin's reactions and geopolitical dynamics

It is no wonder that in Moscow according to Trumps no champagne corner. Putin put everything on the war in Ukraine: he has the economy of his country on a war ÖKONIMIE changed, closer alliances with North Korea to keep the war machine and on the list of Setful of the International Criminal Court set, everything in the pursuit of the Maxidistic goal, to dismantle the vatility of Ukraine as a state.

an uncertain outcome

Trump and Putin have Common points of contact . The summit in Helsinki 2018 showed that Trump was ready to ignore long -established standards in foreign policy, just like Putin. Trumps explained admiration for Putin strong character concerned with authoritarian tendencies in their own country. But Trump's unpredictable approach in foreign policy could force the Kremlin to prepare for unpredictable negotiations.

Putin also remains optimistic in his communication to the economy, although the simple Russians under rising food prices and a decaying ruble Leiden . A current analysis by Alexandra Prokopenko, an employee of Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, a Think Tank based in Berlin, suggests that the overstimulative war economy may be on a crisis point headed.

"With every past month, the pressure increases," she wrote. "The Kremlin is approaching a turning point at which the social contract between the state and the people will inevitably change. The Russians are increasingly asked to accept growing inequality and a decline in quality of life in exchange for short -term stability and symbolic pride for the idea of a 'fortress nation'. But even this compromise is becoming less and less sustainable."

Putin came to power 25 years ago with the promise of a strong rule after a decade of collective trauma in the Yeltsin era. He and his country now have to face Trump in a new difficult time.