Vladimir Putin was sworn in for his fourth six-year term as the President of Russia in a lavish Kremlin ceremony on Monday.
“I consider it my task, and the purpose of my life, to do everything I can for Russia, for its present and its future,” Putin said.
He was elected in March, having won 76.7 percent votes, which is his best election result since he came into power. Putin has been in power in Russia since 2000, whether as president, or prime minister.
According to the Russian constitution, this term, expected to last until 2024, will be Putin’s last as President of Russia.
“I am very much aware of my great responsibility to each of you, to Russia,” Putin said at the ceremony, adding he would do everything to increase the strength, prosperity and the glory of Russia.
“All our strength and beauty lies in our cultural authenticity and our unity,” he said.
A former member of the Soviet secret service agency KGB, Putin came into power in 2000, replacing Boris Yeltsin as president of the then unstable and economically weak Russia. Many Russians praise him for bringing stability and progress to the country. His critics disapprove of his restricting human rights and media freedoms.
On the international stage, he worked to renew Russian influence in the world, weakened after the chaotic years of Boris Yeltsin’s presidency from 1991 to 1999, as well as the downfall of Soviet Union, which he called “the greatest political disaster of the 20th century”.
During his last term, Putin has come under criticism for seizing Crimea in 2014, and, more recently, for the Cold-War reminiscent rhetoric toward the West. Russia’s alleged involvement in the US 2016 presidential election is still the subject of much controversy, as well as the poisoning of the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in March 2018 in the English town of Salisbury.
After his election victory in March, Croatian President. Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, officially invited Putin to visit Croatia. Putin has accepted the invitation, but the exact date of his visit remains to be determined.
