In a ceremony in the Grand Kremlin Palace tomorrow, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin will be formally installed as President of Russia. The inauguration will take place against the controversial background of allegations that Mr Putin is about to establish authoritarian rule.
The business newspaper, Kommersant, in a series of articles has claimed it possesses Kremlin documents in which a plan to give the presidential administration powers similar to that of the Communist Party in Soviet times, is outlined. The plan puts forward the concept of an administration in which the KGB's successor agency, the FSB, will play a role in establishing what it describes as "control over political processes".
The document, according to the newspaper, speaks of "the strategic necessity of the FSB and other special services to join the activities of the Political Department of the President of the Russian Federation". It should be noted, however, that Kommersant, once one of Russia's most reliable newspapers, is now owned by Mr Boris Berezovsky, who has been at the centre of Kremlin intrigues for years. The plan, which may be one of a number being put forward, would favour some of Mr Berezovsky's business rivals.
Russian television viewers will be reminded of past Kremlin intrigues when they watch the inauguration live. In a break with tradition, the main ceremony will take place in the Andreyevsky Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace. President Yeltsin's two inaugurations were held in the modern glass-and-concrete Palace of Congresses.
The Grand Kremlin Palace, dating from the Tsarist era, was renovated under the direction of a Swiss company called Mabetex, under the direction of the former administrator of Kremlin property, Mr Pavel Borodin. After a series of investigations, the Swiss authorities issued an international warrant for Mr Borodin's arrest on charges of fraud. Mr Borodin brought Mr Putin to the Kremlin from the relative obscurity of provincial St Petersburg.
The appearance of Mr Yeltsin, who will present a medal to Mr Putin at the ceremony, will be his first major role in public life since his surprise resignation on December 31st, 1999. The ceremony will begin with the reading of the official result of Mr Putin's election after which Mr Marat Baglai, chairman of the Constitutional Court, will administer the oath of office. Mr Putin will take the oath with a copy of the Russian Constitution in his right hand as a mark of the secular nature of the Russian state.
In Mr Yeltsin's second inauguration in 1996 the Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Patriarch Alexy II, played a major role but tomorrow's ceremony will be civil in nature.
Another difference from 1996 will be the presence of the former Soviet president, Mr Mikhail Gorbachev. Mr Yeltsin refused to invite him four years ago.
