A few hours ago, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced the collective resignation of Russian government, according to CCTV News and Xinhua News Agency.
The news broke like a bolt from the blue, flashing the headlines of the world`s media.
For the post-95s, it was the first time that the government of such a big country had collectively resigned.
What the hell is going on?
Let`s take a look at the CCTV news report:
Students with knowledge of Russian politics may have read what happened.
For now, the collective resignation of russian government is not a coup or civil strife, but rather a process of political process.
But to be sure, the challenges that Putin now faces are unprecedented.
After Putin`s re-election as president in 2018, he will meet his campaign`s promises for the rest of the year – halving poverty, reforming and unleashing politics, economic dynamism, increasing infrastructure investment, and improving social welfare.
Russia`s economics grew 1.4% the year before, but most estimates say it is unlikely to make a big difference, thanks to a recovery after a sharp fall in gdp, with structural problems still prominent, and the energy-export-led economic model has struggled to provide the momentum needed for rapid growth.
In the past, mr putin has painted a grand blueprint for russian economic development.
When he was running for president in 2012, he wrote that russia needed to move away from its dependence on the raw-materials export and energy industries and develop innovative economics to become "the world`s economic leader ".
By 2020, Russia`s economic aggregate will be in the top five, with a per capita GDP of $35,000. These goals are very different from what is happening in Russia.
In his state of the union address in march 2018, mr putin`s goal was conservative, saying russian economic growth should exceed the world average in the next six years, raising per capita gdp by 50% by the mid-1920s.
In recent polls, rising prices, poverty, and rising unemployment are seen as the three most serious social problems. The solution to these problems will no doubt depend on economic development.
To make matters worse, russia`s innovation industry is clearly lagging behind today as new technologies continue to flourish and big powers compete. In the production of high-tech products and high-value-added products still cannot catch up with the western developed countries.
Despite its achievements in the fields of aviation, space and weapons, russia is underdeveloped in areas such as electronic information, which makes it unlikely that it will be able to win quickly and with small losses in the face of military conflict.
Moreover, the constitution does not allow him to remain president after being elected twice, so mr putin will not be able to re-elect him six years later.
Putin will turn 72 by 2024, and the current law framework doesn`t allow him to be re-elected, but he can`t be a hands-off.
Putin needs to make an arrangement for Russia`s future over these six years, the task of nurturing a new generation of political elites in this presidency.
In recent years, many russian scholars have argued that the world is in the midst of unprecedented change, that great powers have entered a period of diplomatic and military confrontation, and that the uncertainty of international political development has increased.
In such a world, Russia has a special role to play: on the one hand, to maintain its status as a great power and become an "independent world pole "; on the other hand, to contribute to the balance and stability of world forces and to become a" balancer "of the international order.
So, for the rest of his term, Putin`s challenges include easing the Russian-American relationship, seeking to lift sanctions against Russia, and restoring normal relations between Russia and the West.
Kurtoff, editor-in-chief of russia`s national strategy magazine, said the us was becoming more assertive towards russia as its main geopolitical rival in terms of its diplomatic relationship.
The United States, fearing its own global leadership and hegemony at the redat, is waging a political military confrontation with Russia. In response to this situation, Russia may spend heavily on defence.
The russian-american relationship could continue to deteriorate in the short and medium term, kurtov said.
Russian-European Union Summit in 2018
However, while politicians, including some EU leaders, have repeatedly called for Russian interests to be taken into account and easing sanctions against Russia, the sanctions continue.
This suggests that american foreign policy remains a top priority for the eu, so the russian-european relationship is hardly substantially changed for the foreseeable future.
In his fourth term, Putin`s overall diplomatic thinking will not change much.
On the one hand, russia will continue to intervene in syria, ukraine and other neighboring hot spots through diplomacy, military and other means to maintain the influence of big powers.
At the same time, if domestic politics is in crisis or other need for a large supply of legitimacy, mr putin may well find a new entry point to strengthen domestic consensus.
Russia, on the other hand, must focus on maintaining its strategic balance with the United States to ensure its ability to destroy each other.
With this balance, Russia remains a great power.
But with limited national capacity, russia cannot compete with the u.s. in all directions, focusing on asymmetric responses, while continuing to consolidate traditional nuclear forces, while developing weapons that can break through american anti-missile systems.
Taken together, Putin`s fourth term will be challenging and challenging, and it will be the key six years that will affect Russia`s future.
Despite the difficulties, mr putin, known as the "tough guy," was confident before the election that" with the people "he would be able to lead russia" to a brilliant victory for the next 10 years "in his next term.
How will Putin respond? Where will Russia go? We`ll see.
Putin of the KGB Secret Service era
Since winning Russia`s presidential election in 2000, Putin has served as three presidents and one prime minister. Experts say mr putin has taken over the presidency and russian society has entered a new era.
His presidential path is almost equal to Russia`s "road to renewal."
At the end of 1999, Putin was Russia`s acting president and was formally elected president in March 2000. (4-year term)
On March 14,2004, Putin won re-election by a 71 percent vote. (4-year term)
Putin was prime minister from 2008-2012. (4-year term)
In 2012, Putin was elected president. He was sworn in on May 7 of that year. (6 years)
On December 6,2017, Putin announced his candidacy for a new Russian presidential election. For more than a decade, Putin has maintained an ultra-high popular support at home.
On March 18,2018, according to the election results announced by the Russian Central Election Commission,65-year-old Putin won by 76.69 percent and was successfully re-elected.
Putin served as Russian prime minister in 1999 and 2008, respectively. Arguably, for more than a decade, Putin has largely influenced and changed Russia.
And mr putin may need more time to complete the task of exchange russia.
To sum up, the collective resignation of russia`s government is not a coup or civil strife, but rather an orderly and planned political action.
In the next few days, or even in a few decades, we will finally learn what Putin and Medvedev`s intentions are. Let`s stay focused.
