ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses the leadership characteristics of Yeltsin and Putin, before discussing the institutional arrangements of executive power. The Russian presidency assumed some of the features of the Tsarist or Soviet systems, with weak prime ministers responsible mainly for economic affairs, a minimal separation of powers and with politics concentrated on the leader. The experience of Ukraine following the introduction of the constitutional amendment of December 2004, enhancing the power of the Verkhovna Rada through the creation of a government of the parliamentary majority, reinforced the case of those in favour of strong executive leadership in Russia. Such a division of powers within a dual executive is one that was much debated in Yeltsin's final years and into the new presidency, until Putin firmly shut the door on such an innovation.
