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On March 14, 2004, the Presidential elections were held and Putin won the re-election to the Presidency for his second and final term with 71% of the votes. Again there had been massive campaigning by Russian national TV, but again the election itself was fair. He is not permitted under the Constitution of Russian Federation to run for a third term (following the 2003 parliamentary elections he gained a sufficient majority to change the Constitution, but so far he hasn't announced any intention to do so.)
On September 13th, 2004, following the Beslan school hostage crisis, and nearly-concurrent terrorist attacks in Moscow, Putin launched an initiative to replace the election of regional governors with a system whereby they would be directy appointed by the President and approved by regional legislatures. Opponents of this measure, including Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin and Colin Powell, see it as a step away from democracy in Russia and a return to the centrally run political apparatus of the Soviet era. Also on that day, Putin publicly backed a plan by the Central Elections Commission for voters in Duma elections to elect parties rather than individual candidates. Half of the 450 deputies in the Duma get elected based party votes, while the other deputies are elected individually in single-mandate districts. This measure is also seen as an attempt by the President at consolidating power.
While President Putin is criticized as an autocrat by some of his Western counterparts, his relationships with the American President George W. Bush, the German chancellor Gerhard Schröder and the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi are often said to be friendly. Some consider his Chechen policy as a vital part in the war on terror, while more critical voices denounce what they see as Russia's disastrous human rights record in the breakaway republic and the short-sightedness of the military solution envisioned by Putin.
"I looked the man in the eye. I was able to get a sense of his soul." by US President George W. Bush, June 16, 2001, evidently finding Putin to be trustworthy and straight forward.
| Preceded by: | President of Russia | Succeeded by: (Still in office) |
| Preceded by: Sergei Stepashin | Prime Minister of Russia | Succeeded by: Mikhail Kasyanov |
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