The Institute of President as the cornerstone of national political system was introduced into political life of the USSR in late 1980s, during the final years of rule of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). By that time the CPSU has plunged into a deep crisis. The SPSU leader of that time, Mikhail Gorbachev, saw the invention of a new political institution, not directly dependent on the support of the CPSU, as "the last hope" to maintain the Communist regime. USSR President had to be elected by the Soviet Parliament, whose deputies were elected to a great extent from citizens loyal to CPSU officials. Confirming the artificial nature of the Presidential elections in USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev was elected the first USSR President in 1990 practically without competition.
Boris Yeltsin was elected the President of the Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic on June 12th, 1991. Those were the first democratic elections in Russia, still the integral part of the USSR. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991, the President, the Supreme Soviet and the Constitutional Court became the three pillars of the new post-Soviet Russian Federation.
In the current format the institute of President has existed in Russia since December 12th, 1993, when popular referendum approved the new Constitution of the Russian Federation.
The 1993 Constitution was a clear result of victory for Boris Yeltsin and his supporters in the fierce struggle with nationalists' and communists' opposition, headed by Vice President Alexander Rutskoy and the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Russia Ruslan Khasbulatov. The intention of the opposition leaders was to establish in Russia a Parliamentary Republic with a weak, powerless presidency. The new Russian Constitution transformed the country into a super-Presidential Republic with President and Presidential Administration as the absolute centers of political and economic life. The authors of the Constitution were inspired by both the Constitution of France with strong President as the head of state, and Constitution of Germany, the most federalist in Europe. In the late 1993, after the victory over the opposition, Yeltsin totally dominated political life of Russia.
Vladimir Putin was elected the President of the Russian Federation in March 2000. There were several centers of power in the Kremlin during his first term in office: 1) "The Family" - a group of politicians and representatives of big business, inherited from Boris Yeltsin and headed by the Presidential Chief of Staff Alexander Voloshin; 2) the "old Saint-Petersburgers", mostly liberals, headed by Anatoly Chubais - the author of Privatization program in early 1990s and head of the leading Russian energy company RAO Unified Energy Systems (RAO UES); 3) the "new Saint-Petersburgers", a group of former KGB officers, headed by the Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Viktor Ivanov. The first group, headed by Alexander Voloshin, was removed from real power in late 2003-early 2004. Since then Vladimir Putin's policy has demonstrated attempts to combine pro-market strategy of national economy management with the strengthening of the institutions of Presidential and federal powers by diminishing the role of regions, business community, media and civil society institutions.
Soon after being elected the President, Vladimir Putin moved swiftly to address the epidemic of regional resistance to central authority in the late 1990s. In his first State of the Nation Address in July 2000 Vladimir Putin stated that responding to multiple challenges that Russia is facing would be "impossible without strengthening the state". The campaign aimed at bringing regional and local leaders, as well as the legislation, into compliance with federal law and the Constitution has reduced the legal anarchy that emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The reduction of power of regional barons has resulted in the growing role of the Presidential Administration as well as of federal political parties. In May 2000 President Putin established seven federal districts within his Presidential Administration, each encompassing approximately twelve regions of the Russian Federation. This was not a redrawing of formal borders between provinces, but an administrative change. According to it each of the seven districts would be headed by an appointed representative, who was to coordinate the tasks of the federal bureaucracy in particular, as well as to check the overt flouting of central authority on the part of elected regional governors and presidents of the republics inside Russia.
In 2000 Vladimir Putin proposed, and the State Duma accepted a plan to reorganize the Federal Council, Russia's upper house of Parliament, in such a way that regional political leaders (governors, presidents, and heads of regional legislatures) would no longer automatically gain seats. Instead, two appointed representatives - one put forward by a regional governor or a president, and another through vote of a regional parliament - would represent each region in the upper house. President Putin also quickly passed a set of laws in the Duma, that would allow the legal removal of governors and regional legislative authorities on the ground of local legislation contradicting the Constitution and federal laws.
Between 2000 and 2004 Vladimir Putin has implemented several crucial political transformations, which had tremendous effect on the Russian political system:
Currently the President of the Russian Federation is the central element of the Russian political system. He controls all branches of power both at the federal level and in all 89 Russian regions via his Administration. This system allowed Vladimir Putin to be reelected in March 2004 practically without any competition. However, the weakness of the existing system is the fact that it is based solely on the personality of Vladimir Putin and popular support to his personal policy. It means that next Presidential elections in 2008 will become a fierce struggle between the current political elite of mostly Saint Petersburg origin, and the new business and political elites, whose aim will be to try to demonopolise current political system of Russia.