PUTIN REBUILDS A UNITARY STATE IN RUSSIA

By Aleksandr Tsipko

Provincial Russians cannot as yet see the results of Putin’s restructuring of the power hierarchy. For them–ordinary Russians–the governor is still the highest authority, just as in the Yeltsin era. The head of the local administration still decides where to build new hospitals, schools and roads, where to supply gas, which federal projects to implement and which to shelve.