POLITICS-RUSSIA:  Ahead of Presidential Polls Putin Gains Free Hand
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MOSCOW, Sep 15 (IPS) - It happened eight years ago when former Russian  leader Boris Yeltsin ousted his cabinet and unexpectedly  catapulted little known Vladimir Putin to the helm of political  affairs.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin injected himself directly into the election crisis in this former Soviet republic Thursday, strongly attacking the opposition&#39;s central demand for a new presidential runoff and cautioning the West against getting too
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President Vladimir Putin on Friday dismissed suggestions he was taking Russia back to its Soviet past and said he viewed freedom and democracy as key to a stable future.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his first public comment on the dramatic Ukrainian presidential election that the Kremlin-favored candidate lost, said Friday he hopes that the country will move from ...
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The reaction to Vladimir V. Putin's plan to overhaul Russia's political system swept away any doubts about his grip on power.
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Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin has cast doubts over the viability of holding free and fair elections in Iraq, saying he &quot;cannot imagine&quot; how an occupied country can go through a meaningful electoral exercise.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Chechnya ahead of presidential elections next Sunday in the southern republic where rebels are fighting to create an independent Islamic state, Interfax reported.
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Russia's political elite has been showing a striking willingness to take sides in the U.S. election &#151; most notably President Vladimir Putin, whose expression of support for President Bush reflects more than the two leaders' warm relationship.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin on  Sunday set December 2 as the date for parliamentary elections,  seen as a dress rehearsal for the 2008 presidential vote.
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The head of Russia's election commission is removed ahead of parliamentary and presidential polls.
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MOSCOW - Responding to a series of deadly terror attacks, President Vladimir Putin on Monday moved to significantly strengthen the Kremlin's grip on power, with new measures that include the naming of regional governors and an overhaul of the electoral system.    Putin told Cabinet members and security officials convened in special session that the future of Russia was at stake and urged the creation of a central, powerful anti-terror agency...
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Vladimir Putinâs pick for a new premier is likely to become the top candidate for president in the upcoming election.
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7 December 2004 -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a meeting today with Iraq&#39;s interim prime minister that he &quot;cannot imagine&quot; how free and fair elections could be held as planned in Iraq, given the fact that the country is under what Putin
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Â· President makes surprise move ahead of elections Â· Choice of Zubkov a bid to keep power, say critics
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of the ex-Soviet state ahead of a re-run of a poll rigged in favour of the man Moscow backed. to outgoing President Leonid Kuchma, who wanted to hand power to Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, the declared winner.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has taken part in a live phone-in on Ukrainian TV, just days before the country's presidential election.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has placed his two most likely replacements in parallel positions in government to give them an equal chance ahead of expected presidential elections in 2008, Russian newspapers have said.