Vladimir Putin has accepted the leadership of the ruling United Russia Party. Dmitry Babich, a political analyst with Russia Profile magazine, says the position of chairman is extremely powerful.
“The post of Chairman of the Party is of course a very powerful institution, because the chairman could be removed by two-thirds of the vote at a congress, the Chairman can remove any person from the Party’s Central Council. Basically, not even the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR had such powers,” Dmitry Babich, political analyst from the Russia Profile magazine, said.