Headline Roundup • December 31st, 2024
Putin’s 25 Years as Leader of Russia
Summary from the AllSides News Team
December 31 marks 25 years in power for Russian President Vladimir Putin, drawing media perspectives.
For Context: On New Year’s Eve 1999, then-Prime Minister Putin assumed the presidency when President Boris Yeltsin resigned during his New Year speech. Putin then won the presidential election in March 2000.
Hold On Power: Louise Thomas of The Independent (Lean Left bias) examined Putin’s rise to power, describing him as a savvy politician and bureaucrat who rose to power because of “the West’s failure to grasp that Putin represented swathes of Russians in the 1990s that gave him traction in Russian politics.” Thomas argued Putin’s hold on power in Russia relies on “continuing international tension” because he “is well aware that the relaxation that comes with peace can promote political dissent.”
Changing Ruler: An analysis from German state media DW News (Center bias) described Putin’s transition over the years from a leader the West aimed to work with to one it viewed as an autocrat. BBC News (Center bias) Russia editor Steven Rosenberg shared similar themes in a personal account. Rosenberg noted speaking with Putin in a press conference on December 19 during which Putin told him he has “taken care” of Russia and “pulled (it) back from the edge of the abyss” since succeeding Yeltsin.
NYE Speech 2024: AllSides did not find original analysis on Putin’s tenure from the right, though Russian state media RT (Lean Right bias) ran news coverage on his 2024 New Year address. RT highlighted Putin’s praise of the Russian military and his claim that Russia has managed to stay “independent, free, and strong” as it faced “many tough and historic challenges” over the past 24 years.
Featured Coverage of this Story
AP
When Boris Yeltsin suddenly resigned as Russia’s first post-communist president on New Year’s Eve, 1999, his country seemed to be spiralling downhill into economic and political disintegration. Few gave his largely unknown successor as acting president much chance of reversing the economic implosion or remaining in office for long.
The then prime minister Vladimir Putin’s media operation had already begun to portray the ex-KGB operative in stark contrast to the moribund Yeltsin as an action man. That same year the second Chechen war on the country’s southern border raged. Twenty-five years later, Vladimir Putin is...
Maxim Shemetov/REUTERS
Vladimir Putin came to power as a professed reformer on the eve of 2000, and has since become one of the 21st century's most prolific warlords. DW looks at how EU, US and NATO relations with Putin's Russia have evolved.
In August 1999, Vladimir Putin was appointed the prime minister of the Russian Federation. Months later, as the world prepared to welcome the year 2000, he succeeded the ailing Russian president, Boris Yeltsin. When he took office, Putin declared that Russia was, and would remain, a great power. In Europe and the...
Sputnik / Gavriil Grigorov
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his traditional New Year's Eve address on Tuesday, speaking about the challenges the country has faced since the beginning of this century and what it has achieved.
Many Russian regions have already celebrated New Year's ahead of the time of this publishing in Moscow.
Putin highlighted the achievements of the nation’s military, who have taken on “the warrior's noble mission of protecting” the country, its peace and security, and dedicated 2025 to them.
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