MOSCOW — A string of victories in parliament has solidified President Vladimir Putin's authority and appears to be setting the stage for a calmer, more conciliatory era in Russia after the frenzied confusion of the Boris Yeltsin years.
Since taking office as acting president in December, Putin has persuaded once-combative lawmakers to do two things they steadfastly refused to do under Yeltsin: Approve the START II nuclear disarmament treaty and fire Russia's top prosecutor. Lawmakers also approved the nuclear test ban treaty on Friday at Putin's urging.
"He looks invincible. The president's powers are already great, and now it seems the legislative branch is ready to support him — or afraid to oppose him," said Alexei Chaplygin, an analyst with the Center for Civil Society Studies, a Moscow think tank. "It's very popular to like Putin now."
Some analysts say Putin could just be enjoying a honeymoon after his election by a wide margin last month. He could face more bruising debate, for example, when he finally presents his plan for the crucial and touchy issue of restoring Russia's economy.
But overall, observers predict Putin will probably have little trouble getting what he wants — whatever that turns out to be. While he talks of stamping out corruption, reviving Russia's global clout and trimming taxes, he is vague about how he would realize those goals.
Putin has a key advantage that his predecessor lacked: majority support in the lower house of parliament, the State Duma. The Communists and their allies who dominated the Duma for years lost their majority in December parliamentary elections and were replaced by centrists who generally back Putin.
Much of what Putin has done so far is clean up after Yeltsin. It was Yeltsin who signed START II in 1993, then fought with the Duma for years over ratification, and Yeltsin who first tried to fire Prosecutor General Yuri Skuratov a year ago.
"Those were all Yeltsin's issues. Does that mean Putin will continue Yeltsin's policies? Who knows," said Viktor Kremenyuk, deputy director of the Institute for USA and Canada Studies in Moscow.
One policy Putin appears determined to pursue is nuclear disarmament. As soon as the Duma ratified START II, talks began in Geneva on further cuts of warhead stockpiles.
But Putin is treading cautiously. He insists Russia will pull out of any arms control pact if Washington follows through on amending the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty to build a limited anti-missile defense system.
"Russia will ensure its security as it sees fit," said chairman of the Duma's defense committee, Andrei Nikolayev. "The ratification of START II has created a unique situation for maneuvering by the Russian president," both at home and abroad.
Nationalism may prove the strongest common ground between Putin and parliament. Legislators of all political stripes embrace Putin's goal of restoring Russia's international influence.
"Such a strengthening of cooperation could only have come about because of nationalism. The Duma still has a very nationalist majority. Putin will use that nationalism and that majority to exercise pressure on (Russia's) international partners," Kremenyuk said.
Putin is seen as a cool-headed consensus-builder, unlike the temperamental, fervently anti-communist Yeltsin.
Putin met almost no resistance with his request Wednesday that the upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, fire top prosecutor Skuratov. The house generally supports the government, but defiantly refused Yeltsin's repeated requests to fire Skuratov last year.
The council, which is made up of regional governors, appears eager to stay in Putin's favor. Analysts say the governors are worried that Putin will slash regional leaders' powers if they prove too unruly.
Even Skuratov, who says Yeltsin's inner circle was trying to remove him to thwart his investigation into alleged Kremlin corruption, seemed unfazed by dismissal at the hand of Putin.
Still, Skuratov warned that Putin may not tackle high-level graft because of his close ties to Yeltsin's scandal-marred administration. Putin has promised to fight corruption, which plagues every facet of Russian life and is a key obstacle to economic progress.