Putin signs 'order' on Medvedev's new status

Moscow, Mar 6 (UNI) Incumbent Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed an unprecedented ''order on the new status'' of President-elect Dmitry Medvedev, who will be officially inaugurated on May 7.

''President Vladimir Putin signed order No 295 On the Status of the Newly Elected and Not Yet Serving President of the Russian Federation on March 3,'' leading Russian business daily Kommersant reported today, saying Mr Putin's 'order' is unprecedented in modern Russian history.

''At least now we know what Dmitry Medvedev will be called until May. He is the newly-elected, not yet serving President,'' the daily said.

''Obviously, he has been newly-elected because a few people were elected President of the Russian Federation before him and not because he had been President before and we did not notice,'' it said.

According to Kommersant, the presidential administration was ordered in this document ''for the purposes of regulating the status of the newly-elected and not yet serving President of the Russian Federation to ensure the activities of the newly elected and not yet serving President of the Russian Federation.'' This means that the presidential administration would do what it has done until now, that is, work for the active and not yet active President, it noted.

The Federal Protection Service of the Russian Federation was ordered ''to provide the newly elected and not yet serving President of the Russian Federation state protection for the period until the official announcement of his election as the president of the Russian Federation,'' the order said.

In addition, the Federal Protection Service of the Russian Federation in agreement with the administration of the President of the Russian Federation, was ordered to ensure the provision of an official residence to the newly elected and not yet serving President of the Russian Federation.

''The most interesting thing about the document was that no mechanism for the transfer of power from one person to another has been developed in the modern history of Russia,'' the daily said.

In 1996, Boris Yeltsin stayed in power. In 2000, acting President Vladimir Putin became President. In 2004, Mr Putin won a second term.

At the end of 1999, Mr Yeltsin announced his resignation as the President of Russia but Mr Putin did not have a two-month interval when his indeterminate status required specification by special order.

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