What was the biggest challenge before Putin when he took over as president of Russia?
The central problem before Putin was to make the State an effective functioning structure. What (former president Boris) Yeltsin did after the collapse of the USSR was to break up the nation by breaking up the Communist Party. The Communist Party’s demise is not the same as the decline of a party in a democratic system. Moreover, in the Soviet situation, the breakdown of the State led to the break-up of the country’s economy. There was a massive flight of capital from Russia that bled the economy. Would you say President Putin, being a former KGB agent, is an able administrator? This thing need not be stressed too much. (Former US president) George Bush was the head of the CIA. A person with a background in intelligence has no less or more significant experience than does any other person. Putin’s leadership capacity is borne out by how well he has been reconsolidating the Russian State. This he is doing by controlling the financial mafia, reintegrating the regions, and, most important
