Russian President Vladimir Putin recently signed successive orders to send special birthday gifts to two confidants, who also reciprocated and helped Putin stabilize the presidency.

Russia's annual local administrative and parliamentary elections have just ended, and 21 state-level local government leaders and tens of thousands of parliamentary members at all levels have been elected.

The counting of votes in parts of Russia has not yet officially ended, but the current results show that the candidates nominated by the ruling party "United Russia" have taken the positions of 20 state-level local government leaders.

The only exception was the Chuvash Republic, where the region¡¯s successfully re-elected leader, Oleg Nikolayev, was elected as an independent candidate.

Considering that Nikolaev was first appointed as the acting president of the Republic by Putin, and the United Russia Party did not nominate its own candidate locally, Nikolaev is actually a representative supported by the United Russia Party.

Under the condition that it is basically determined to maintain the leadership of 21 state-level local governments, the United Russia Party held a video conference attended by representatives of various regional branches.

Medvedev, one of Putin¡¯s closest allies, said at the meeting that a country would face many difficulties if it did not fall into a situation of collapse of power, Russia experienced such things in the 1990s, and ¡°power from the bottom up¡± ¨C starting at the regional level of the city, state, especially from the heads of the regions.

Medvedev¡¯s remarks can be seen as a relatively low-level celebration of the continuation of the Uni-Russian Party¡¯s unique position in Russian politics, ensuring the party¡¯s control over local governments, while helping Putin, consolidating the presidential power, and ensuring Moscow¡¯s control over the region.

Indeed, the party could win in this election, to a certain extent because after Putin took power for more than 20 years, the Russian politics has not been able to challenge the strong opposition of the party, but the party can maintain a high reputation in most regions, so that the majority of candidates can high votes to be elected, Medvedev is still a must-have, completed the important task entrusted to him by Putin.

In fact, after Medvedev resigned as prime minister, there were only two major tasks: one was to lead the Unitary Party to help Putin secure control over the regions, and the other was to assist Putin as the vice chairman of the Federal Security Council to take control of the national security system.

Putin¡¯s appointment of Medvedev, who belongs to the St. Petersburg gang, as deputy chairman of the Security Council should mean limiting the ¡°Shilavik¡± group, which is dominated by powerful sectoral figures.

In recent years, Medvedev has worked hard, effectively fulfilling his duties in both positions, helping Putin secure his presidency, while Putin has given Medvedev the honor he deserves.

On the final day of the local election, the 60th birthday of Medvedev, Putin signed a presidential decree on that day, awarded Medvedev a fourth-level Medal of Fatherland Merit, recognized Medvedev's "contribution to consolidating the Russian state and safeguarding national security", and sent a birthday gift to Medvedev.

This is Medvedev's fourth Medal of Merit to the Motherland, and Putin also chose Medvedev's birthday in 2015 and 2020 to award him the Medal of Merit to the Motherland.

Additionally, choosing to sign the order on the birthday of the subordinate, honoring the subordinate's achievements and sending a birthday gift at the same time, seems to have become a customary model for Putin.

A few days before awarding Medvedev the new medal, Putin awarded the Russian general a Medal of Courage on the 70th birthday of Gerasimov, the chief of the Russian General Staff, and asked Gerasimov to continue to lead the Russian army.

Putin's move is naturally to ensure the continuation of military operations against Ukraine. Gerasimov's combat command may not be satisfactory, but the risk of changing generals in the face of battle is higher. At this stage, only Gerasimov has enough qualifications and reputation to balance the interests of various hilltops in the army and ensure the smooth operation of military operations.

This mode of selecting the other party's birthday decoration enables Putin not only to reward his loyal subordinates, but also to show his attitude of clear rewards and punishments and compassion for his own people to Russian political forces such as St. Petersburg represented by Medvedev and Shilavik Group represented by gerasimov, and strengthen the cohesion of the whole inner circle of power.

While the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has not yet ended, the United States and Europe continues to exert external pressure on Russia, and the Russian economy faces many difficulties in the context of Western sanctions, Putin further consolidates the core circle, and ultimately can also provide stronger internal safeguards for its response to the increasingly complex domestic and foreign situations.

In a word, the successful conclusion of this local election and the timely awarding of medals to key figures not only reflect the solid advantages of the "United Russia" party at the local level, but also reflect Putin's strategy of consolidating the core power structure through personnel arrangements and political rewards.

In the context of continued external pressures and intertwined domestic and external challenges,ining high-level loyalty and factional balance remains the key to the continuity of the Kremlin¡¯s security policy and national stability.

The honor and trust gained by Medvedev, gerasimov and others, as well as Putin's balance of power over the different political forces behind them, are also destined to continue to play an important role in Russia's future political and security agenda.