Russia. A History

In other spheres, however, Putin’s record was less impressive and, in some cases, such as reform of the judiciary, positively disappointing. Putin himself indulged in rhetoric about a ‘dictatorship of law’—a Rechtsstaat

based on the rule of law. He did make some improvements, including increased funding for the judiciary (a fourfold increase in the salaries and 18 per cent increase in the number of judges) and decriminalization of minor offences (replacing incarceration with fines, thereby reducing the prison population from 1,084,000 inmates in 2001 to 878,000 in 2007). Much else remained on paper, including the lofty principles embodied in the Criminal Procedural Code of 2002, which enhanced the rights of defence lawyers, limited preliminary detention to 48 hours, affirmed habeas corpus,

and guaranteed the accused a two-hour meeting with an advocate prior to any interrogation. In reality, as the Khodorkovskii case demonstrated, the Kremlin still resorted to ‘telephone justice’, with calls from above ensuring the ‘right’ verdict. Not only did the promise to expand the jury system to all eighty-nine administrative districts fail to have the desired impact, but the regime severely limited its competence in December 2008, specifically excluding the jury from cases involving terrorism, hostage-taking, illegal armed units, treason, attempts to overthrow authority, sabotage, and organizing massive disorder or revolt.

Nor did Putin’s team succeed in trimming the bureaucracy and improving its quality. On the contrary, the civil service became bigger if not better, growing by 50 per cent (from 1.0 to 1.5 million in 2000–6). Putin himself complained that state officials were ‘ill-prepared for working out and implementing the decisions appropriate to the country’s present needs’, and on another occasion declared that ‘we should limit the power of bureaucrats, make them comply with laws, and provide for the transparency and openness of bureaucratic procedures’. Despite some flowery rhetoric, Putin also failed to eradicate corruption; as he admitted himself in May 2006, little had been achieved in eliminating a ‘major obstacle’ to development—corruption.

Military reform proved equally elusive. The tragic sinking of the nuclear submarine Kursk

in August 2000 symbolized the pitiable state of the military: the sole recovery vehicle of the Northern Fleet was inoperative, having been cannibalized for spare parts. The increase in state revenues did, however, enable the government to increase the military budget from 7 billion dollars in 2001 to 30 billion in 2006. That spending enabled the development and testing of a new ICBM, the RS-24 (with a 10,000-kilometre range and MIRV capability) and the renewed production of nuclear submarines (with the launching of several in 2007—the first in seventeen years). That same year the government adopted a seven-year, 200 billion dollar rearmament plan to create a new generation of missiles, planes, and aircraft carriers. However, as Putin emphasized in May 2006, ‘we must not sacrifice the interests of socio-economic development to develop our military complex’. As a result, the Russian military budget remained comparatively small (that of the United States being twenty-five times greater) and did not even suffice to achieve an acceptable level of combat readiness. As the chief of the general staff declared in December 2008, only 17 per cent of the military units were combat ready, half of the warships were at anchor, and the like. Finally, still more problematic was the transformation of the military from a conventional force into one better suited to fight insurgencies and respond rapidly to crises. In particular, the government failed to abolish conscription and create an all-volunteer professional army, partly because of the spectre of high costs (exaggerated by military opponents of the change) and partly because of the low rate of re-enlistment by contract soldiers. As a result, Putin left the military slightly improved, but much as he found it—underfunded, unprepared, and untransformed.

Society and Culture