page_title: Political career of Vladimir Putin
section_title: First Presidential term (2000–2004)
hierarchical_section_title: Political career of Vladimir Putin / First Presidential term (2000–2004)
caption_attribution_description: English: ST ANDREW HALL IN THE GRAND KREMLIN PALACE, MOSCOW. The inauguration of President Vladimir Putin. Mr Putin takes the oath to the people of Russia.Русский: МОСКВА, БОЛЬШОЙ КРЕМЛЕВСКИЙ ДВОРЕЦ, АНДРЕЕВСКИЙ ЗАЛ. Торжественная церемония вступления Владимира Путина в должность Президента России. Присяга народу России.
context_page_description: The political career of Vladimir Putin concerns the career of Vladimir Putin in politics, including his current tenure as President of Russia.
context_section_description: Vladimir Putin was inaugurated president on 7 May 2000. He appointed Minister of Finance Mikhail Kasyanov as his Prime minister. Having announced his intention to consolidate power in the country into a strict vertical, in May 2000 he issued a decree dividing 89 federal subjects of Russia between 7 federal districts overseen by representatives of his in order to facilitate federal administration.
  During his first term in office, he moved to curb the political ambitions of some of the Yeltsin-era oligarchs such as former Kremlin insider Boris Berezovsky, who had "helped Mr. Putin enter the family, and funded the party that formed Mr. Putin's parliamentary base", according to BBC profile. At the same time, according to Vladimir Solovyev, it was Alexey Kudrin who was instrumental in Putin's assignment to the Presidential Administration of Russia to work with Pavel Borodin, and according to Solovyev, Berezovsky was proposing Igor Ivanov rather than Putin as a new president.
  Between 2000 and 2004, and ending following the Yukos-affair, Putin apparently won a power-struggle with the oligarchs, reaching a 'grand-bargain' with them. This bargain allowed the oligarchs to maintain most of their powers, in exchange for their explicit support and alignment with his government.
  A new group of business magnates, such as Gennady Timchenko, Vladimir Yakunin, Yuriy Kovalchuk, Sergey Chemezov, with close personal ties to Putin, also emerged.
  Russia's legal reform continued productively during Putin's first term. In particular, Putin succeeded in the codification of land law and tax law, where progress had been slow during Yeltsin's administration, because of Communist and oligarch opposition, respectively. Other legal reforms included new codes on labour, administrative, criminal, commercial and civil procedural law, as well as a major statute on the Bar.
  The first major challenge to Putin's popularity came in August 2000, when he was criticised for his alleged mishandling of the Kursk submarine disaster.
  In December 2000, Putin sanctioned the law to change the National anthem of Russia. At the time the Anthem had music by Glinka and no words. The change was to restore (with a minor modification) the music of the post-1944 Soviet anthem by Alexandrov, while the new text was composed by Sergey Mikhalkov, who previously had authored the lyrics of the two versions of the Soviet anthem.
  Many in the Russian press and in the international media warned that the death of some 130 hostages in the special forces' rescue operation during the 2002 Moscow theater hostage crisis would severely damage President Putin's popularity. However, shortly after the siege had ended, the Russian president was enjoying record public approval ratings – 83% of Russians declared themselves satisfied with Putin and his handling of the siege.
  A few months before the elections, Putin fired Kasyanov's cabinet and appointed Mikhail Fradkov to his place. Sergey Ivanov became the first civilian in Russia to take Defense Minister position.
  In 2003, a referendum was held in Chechnya on the adoption of a new constitution which declares the Republic as a part of Russia. Chechnya has been gradually stabilized with the establishment of parliamentary elections and a regional government. Throughout the war Russia had severely disabled the Chechen rebel movement, although sporadic violence continued to occur throughout the North Caucasus.
caption: Putin taking the presidential oath with Boris Yeltsin looking on (7 May 2000)
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