President Putin vows to restore stability

With a firm promise not to deceive the people, Mr Vladimir Putin took office as president of the vast Russian Federation in a lavish ceremony in Moscow's Grand Kremlin Palace yesterday. He went on to nominate the Finance Minister, Mr Mikhail Kasyanov, as Prime Minister and to confirm that most members of the cabinet would retain their posts.

The clear message to Russia and the rest of the world was of a vigorous but stable young administration taking power after years of chaotic management of the country's affairs. Nowhere was this more obvious than in the comparison between Mr Putin's inaugural speech and the address from former President Boris Yeltsin which preceded it.

An expressionless Mr Yeltsin stumbled through an oration punctuated by long pauses, mispronunciations and missing words. Mr Putin made his speech in a strong and purposeful voice, calling on Russians to be proud of their country and stating that it was his duty "to bring together the Russian people, to unite the people around clear tasks".

His aim, he said, was to build a Russia that was "free, prosperous, rich, strong and civilised, which its citizens can be proud of and which is respected throughout the world". He did not elaborate on the policies he would employ to achieve this.

The inauguration took place in the Saint Andrew's Hall of the extravagantly and controversially restored Grand Kremlin Palace in the presence of all members of Russia's two houses of parliament, the State Duma and the Federation Council. While the ceremony was strictly civil in nature, representatives of Russia's major religions, including the Orthodox Patriarch Alexi II, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Moscow, Dr Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, and the pro-Russian Mufti Kadirov of Gudermes in Chechnya, were present.

After the ceremony the Patriarch presented Mr Putin with icons of Russia's national hero, Saint Alexander Nevsky, and of Saint Nicholas the Miracle Worker.

Mr Putin arrived at the Kremlin in a western Mercedes limousine rather than the Moscowmade ZIL used by Soviet leaders in the past. He walked alone from the entrance along a red carpet through the halls of Saint George and Saint Alexander to the Saint Andrew's Hall which was once a Tsarist throne room.

Hussars dressed in uniforms of the style worn by the Imperial armies which defeated Napoleon in 1812 gave the occasion something of the atmosphere of a period drama before the head of the constitutional court, Mr Marat Maglai, administered the presidential oath.

Russia's national anthem, an excerpt from Glinka's opera, A Life for the Tsar, was then played and the presidential standard raised over the Kremlin.

At a meeting at the government buildings in the Moscow White House later in the day, Mr Putin appointed Mr Kasyanov acting Prime Minister. The presidential nominee must be confirmed by the State Duma and this is likely to be later this week.