Mikhail Kasyanov - Political Career

Political Career

The last member of the Russian government closely associated with Yeltsin, Kasyanov was dismissed, along with the entire Russian cabinet, by President Vladimir Putin on 24 February 2004 after more than three years in office.

During this term Kasyanov’s government made serious breakthroughs in launching and successfully finalizing reforms in many areas of the Russian economy and public sector – tax and fiscal reforms, customs reform, pension reform, reorganization of the national infrastructure (energy sector, railways). Inflation was reduced significantly and the Russian economy grew by almost one third. At the same time, the urgent policy of economic diversification had just started and was not fully implemented.

On the first anniversary of his dismissal (24 February 2005) Kasyanov gave a press conference at which he said that he might run for president in the 2008 elections. His bid was tentatively supported by billionaires Leonid Nevzlin and Boris Berezovsky (both in exile after corruption indictments against them in Russia), and also by former chess world champion Garry Kasparov.

In April 2006 Mikhail Kasyanov was elected Chairman of the People’s Democratic Union (PDU), a newly launched NGO. PDU was one of the co-founders of the first "The Other Russia" conference in July 2006 and of the "The Other Russia" coalition that was set up at the conference. Kasyanov and the PDU were actively involved in the coalition's work and took part in the Dissenters' Marches in Moscow and St.Petersburg – the first protest manifestations in many years. On 3 March 2007, Kasparov and Kasyanov spoke against Putin's government to thousands of supporters at the Saint Petersburg Dissenters' March.

At a presentation in International Institute for Strategic Studies 26 June 2006, Kasyanov criticized Putin's administration. He said: "Separation of powers has been effectively demolished and replaced by the so-called ‘Vertical of Power’ which is based on the false idea that all the meaningful social and political processes must be kept under control by the state. The government and parliament cannot function any longer without daily instructions. The judiciary is increasingly servile. Independent TV does not exist any more at the federal level and is being quickly uprooted in the regions. Moreover, the state-owned companies and the state itself increase their grip over the electronic and printed media. Responsibility of the regional level of power is totally destroyed by the abolishment of direct elections for the governors."

By 2007 PDU had regional branches in 75 regions of Russia . In June 2007 Kasyanov was nominated by the PDU as a candidate for the presidential elections. In September 2007 the new political party People for Democracy and Justice (ru:Народ за демократию и справедливость) was established on the basis of the PDU, and Kasyanov was elected its chairman.