To consolidate power?

Putin’s fellow student becomes chief justice

Russia's President Vladimir Putin(Bild: Sputnik)

A former fellow student of the Russian president is to take over the post of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in Moscow. The suspicion is that Vladimir Putin wants to consolidate his power by appointing 70-year-old Irina Podnosova.

A Kremlin commission, which deals with the appointment of judges among other things, was informed of the candidacy on Thursday.

Studied together with Putin in St. Petersburg
Podnosova was born on October 29, 1953 in Pskov and graduated from the Faculty of Law at Leningrad State University - now St. Petersburg State University - in 1975. She studied there together with Putin, as reported by the Russian state news agency Tass.

A picture of Podnosova is shown in this article:

Putin already protected from prosecution
In the past, 71-year-old Putin has repeatedly elevated friends and companions from his time in St. Petersburg as well as relatives to lucrative positions. Critics of the Kremlin complain of a widespread system of friendship and favoritism, which the president has long used to secure his power. In the past, Putin has also had the Russian constitution amended to protect him from prosecution. Podnosova should provide additional assurance that the judiciary in Russia is acting in the interests of the Kremlin leader.

Russia resigned from the Council of Europe after the Ukraine invasion
Internationally, Putin, who is the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the International Court of Justice in The Hague for alleged war crimes, has been criticized for turning the judiciary into an instrument of political arbitrariness. In recent years, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in particular has repeatedly criticized Russian judgments, upheld plaintiffs and sometimes awarded them compensation for pain and suffering. In the course of its war of aggression against Ukraine, Russia withdrew from the Council of Europe in 2022 after 26 years of membership - meaning that Russians who want to take legal action against judgments in their home country can no longer turn to the court in Strasbourg.