Date formed 21 May 2012 Deputy head of government Igor Shuvalov No. of ministers 32 | Head of government Dmitry Medvedev Head of state Vladimir Putin Ministers removed
(Death/resignation/dismissal) 12 | |
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Dmitry Medvedev was appointed as Prime Minister of Russia on 8 May 2012. His Cabinet was formed after President Vladimir Putin approved the nominations to the Federal ministries posts.
Contents
- Structural and personnel changes
- New federal bodies and dissolution of some organs
- Overview
- Controversies and reception
- Cabinet members
- References
On 8 May 2012, The State Duma, the lower house of the bicameral Russian Parliament, voted in favor of the appointment of former President Dmitry Medvedev as the head of government, and for the first time in the past 12 years, Prime Minister candidate has not received a constitutional majority. PM Medvedev promised to update 80% of the cabinet, but he would not change its structure.
On 8 May 2013, Medvedev's first deputy Vladislav Surkov was relieved of duty after Putin reprimanded the government for failing to carry out all his presidential decrees from the previous year.
Structural and personnel changes
The Government structure was formed on 21 May 2012, shortly after the Prime Minister returned from his visit to the G-8 Summit at Camp David.
Under Medvedev, only six ministers remain in their previous offices, from 22 Ministers: Anatoly Serdyukov kept the position of the Minister of Defense; Sergey Lavrov kept his position as Minister for Foreign Affairs (and become the Longest-serving minister). Anton Siluanov kept his position as Minister of Finance. Vitaly Mutko kept his position as Minister of Sport and Alexander Konovalov kept his position as Minister of Justice while Vladimir Puchkov was appointed as new Minister for Emergency Situations and Vladimir Kolokoltsev became the Minister for Internal Affairs, responsible for the Russian police reform.
First structural change was the split of the Ministry of Health and Walfare affairs into two completely separate Ministries – The Ministry of Health and The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. He was also formed a new federal ministry: The Ministry for development of Russian Far East.
The Federal Service for Supervision over Health and Social development affairs Under the Ministry for Health was renamed to Federal Service for Supervision over the Health sphere.
The Ministry for Sports, Tourism and Youth policy was renamed to the Ministry of Sports, while the Tourism functions was transferred to the Culture Ministry and the Youth Policy functions was moved to the Ministry for Education.
The Federal Service for Intellectual Property become a part of the Ministry for Economic Development.
In June 2012, Medvedev signed a governmental resolution to subordinate the Federal Service for Fisheries (Федеральное агентство по рыболовству; Росрыболовство) to the Ministry of Agriculture (MinSelKhoz).
On 22 April 2015, during a governmental session, President Putin propose to Agriculture Minister Nikolay Fyodorov a job as Presidential aid for agricultural affairs. He was replaced by former Governor of Krasnodar Krai, Aleksandr Tkachyov.
New federal bodies and dissolution of some organs
According to the Presidential Decree "On the Federal Bodies of the Executive Authority", new governmental offices were formed:
Medvedev announced on 28 May 2012 that he will manage a weekly session with his Deputies every Monday, while the Session of the Government and the Presidium of the Government will be every Wednesday.
On 8 September 2014, Medvedev decided to abolish the Ministry of Regional Development fellowing the creation of the Ministry for Crimean Affairs, Ministry for North Caucasus Affairs and the Ministry for Development of Russian Far East, which perform the same missions. The functions of the abolished Ministry of Regional Development were distributed between the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Construction and Housing and Communal Services, the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice. In addition, President Putin has signed a decree to dissolve the Federal Service for Defence Contracts and the Rosoboronpostavka, Federal Agency for the supply of arms, military and special equipment and supplies, both were under the supervision of the Ministry of Defense.
Overview
Among others, Medvedev's cabinet had to overcome the lowest growth of the economy since the 2008 Russian financial crisis. To do so, Medvedev offered specific measures including a strict control over tariff rises in coming years, the possible canceling of import duties on scientific equipment, regional tax holidays and a series of new measures implemented through the Central Bank for facilitating the appearance of long-term investment. He also urged large Russian companies, including gas giant Gazprom, oil titan Rosneft and aluminum producer Rusal, to create their own universities.
Controversies and reception
In September, Putin openly criticized some Сabinet ministers for failing to fulfill his post-inauguration decrees in what resulted in Regional Development Minister Oleg Govorun resigning.
In 2013 Minister of Education Dmitry Livanov came under heavy criticism and members of the State Duma demanded his resignation. In April 2013 in his first State Duma report speech about the work of the government in the past year, Medvedev began his report just minutes after a video has been leaked to showing President Vladimir Putin scolding senior government officials for their poor performance during a closed-door meeting that he chaired in the Republic of Kalmykia.
Following the 2014 Crimean crisis and the Annexation of Crimea to Russia and the sanctions that were announced by the U.S, Medvedev assured that the Russian government has all necessary reserves to observe the social obligations. He said that "Despite the complicated situation and the situation in the industry, we shall try to stimulate further growth of industries, their modernization, and we shall also pay attention to investments in agriculture".
On November 14, 2016, The Investigative Committee of Russia announced that Minister of Economic Development Alexey Ulyukaev had been detained due to allegations that he received a $2 million bribe for an assessment that led to the Kremlin-controlled oil company Rosneft's acquisition of a 50.08% stake in Bashneft. This followed an apparent string operation following months of surveillance. On the same day, Vladimir Putin dismissed him from the ministerial position.
Cabinet members
Under the Constitution of Russia the Russian President submits nominations to parliament for the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs, Head of EMERCOM and Minister of Defense, and Head of MVD.