This worldview, which today pervades the Russian establishment, was not developed by Putin himself; it was introduced by a think tank established in December 1999 and headed by German Gref, who would later become Economic Development and Trade Minister under Putin. In anticipation of Putin’s victory, Gref’s Center for Strategic Research invited experts to develop two programs – one focused on the economy and the other on public administration reform – based on one fundamental directive: Don’t complicate things.