Thread: Explanation of Putin and Medvedev's Roles

It depends on what you actually want to know.
What power does Putin have? According to our constitution, the president is the supreme leader of all the military forces of Russia. Also, he approves the goverment gathered by the prime minister appointed by him. The president can write laws and propose them to Duma which it may or may not approve. On the other side, the president can block any law that Duma might want to issue. The president can disband the goverment to gather new one if he wants. For example, Yeltsin used to swap prime ministers several times per year. The president can be removed from his position by the desicion of Duma. Yet, the president has the option to disband Duma and re-elect it anew.
So we can conclude that he has the powers similar to an emperor, aside from the need to be re-elected now once per six years (until 2012 once per four years) not more than 2 terms in a row.

Originally Posted by DrBaldhead

On the other side, the president can block any law that Duma might want to issue.

Just temporal veto, документ отправляется на доработку, but if Duma insist (2/3 of votes) he can't refuse.

Originally Posted by dtrq

Just temporal veto, документ отправляется на доработку, but if Duma insist (2/3 of votes) he can't refuse.

Indeed it is. Thank for the important detail.

And it doesn't surprise me that although "Russian Federation" is the official name, most powers are still quite centralized.