MOSCOW (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin, speaking in Moscow’s Red Square with military generals at his side, said he would promote Russia’s might on the world stage in a patriotic speech on Wednesday glorifying the Soviet victory over Germany in World War Two.

Two days after being sworn in for a six-year term that has drawn protests against his return to the Kremlin, Putin used the address to troops and war veterans at the annual military parade on Red Square to reinforce appeals for national unity.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s lower house of parliament confirmed former president Dmitry Medvedev as prime minister on Tuesday, completing a job swap with Vladimir Putin that has sparked protests against the two leaders’ grip on power.

The approval vote, comfortably won by Medvedev as Putin looked on, ignored growing concern in the country that keeping power in the hands of the same men who have led Russia for the past four years will bring political and economic stagnation.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin asked Russia’s lower house on Tuesday to confirm his ally Dmitry Medvedev as prime minister in a job swap that has angered many Russians and sparked protests against the men’s grip on power.

“I count on your support,” Putin said at the end of a brief speech to the State Duma in which he presented Medvedev, president for the last four years, as an experienced leader who would not let Russia down.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Vladimir Putin took the oath as Russia’s president on Monday with a ringing appeal for unity at the start of a six-year term in which he faces growing dissent, economic problems and bitter political rivalries.

Parliament is expected to approve to his ally Dmitry Medvedev, 46, as prime minister on Tuesday, completing a job swap that has left many Russians feeling disenfranchised two decades after the Soviet Union collapsed.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Vladimir Putin took the oath as Russia’s president on Monday with a ringing appeal for unity at the start of a six-year term in which he faces growing dissent, economic problems and bitter political rivalries.

Outside the Kremlin’s high red walls, riot police prevented protests by rounding up 120 people, including men and women in cafes wearing the white ribbons symbolising opposition to Putin, a day after detaining more than 400 people during clashes.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Vladimir Putin will be sworn in as Russia’s president at a glittering ceremony on Monday, hours after clashes between police and protesters laid bare the deep divisions over his return to the Kremlin for six more years.

The former KGB spy will take his oath before nearly 2,000 guests in the Kremlin’s St Andrew Hall, the former throne room with sparkling chandeliers, gilded pillars and high Gothic vaults, before being blessed by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and taking charge of the nuclear suitcase.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Thousands of people took to the streets of several Russian cities on Sunday to protest against Vladimir Putin on the eve of his return to the presidency, but opposition hopes of staging a “march of a million” fell flat.

At least 20,000 people protested under banners and flags in Moscow, chanting “Russia without Putin” and “Putin – thief”, the day before a lavish inauguration inside the Kremlin at which the head of the Russian Orthodox Church will bless Putin.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian demonstrators carried a black coffin bearing the word ‘democracy’ through the city of Vladivostok on Sunday at the start of protests against Vladimir Putin on the eve of his return to the presidency for another six years.

The opposition also planned a “march of the million” in Moscow and staged smaller rallies in other cities the day before a lavish inauguration ceremony inside the Kremlin at which the head of the Russian Orthodox Church will bless Putin.

MOSCOW, May 4 (Reuters) – One hundred years after its first
edition appeared, the once mighty Pravda newspaper has gone back
to its origins as a struggling opposition newspaper, but is
still defiantly urging the workers of the world to unite.

The paper that for decades was the mouthpiece of the ruling
Soviet Communist Party, churning out propaganda that made a
mockery of its title meaning “Truth”, suffered a humiliating
fall from grace as the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Vladimir Putin will need to show less of his old swagger, master the art of compromise with opponents and restore control over battling clans if he is to do more than just see out his six-year term as Russia’s president.

No longer the all-powerful leader who stepped aside in 2008 after eight years as president, Putin must assert his authority quickly after he is sworn in on Monday if he is to prevent his third spell in the Kremlin being his last.