|
|
Putin Will Seek Second Stint as Russian President in 2012
President Dmitri A. Medvedev announced Saturday at a party convention in Moscow that he would step aside for Mr. Putin, who served as president from 2000 to 2008 but was limited by the Constitution to two consecutive terms. Mr. Medvedev is to take his place as prime minister after presidential elections in March, which Mr. Putin is assured of winning. At the announcement, wave upon wave of applause washed over the hall, where 11,000 members of Mr. Putin’s party, United Russia, had gathered. Mr. Medvedev’s face was projected on a giant screen above the stage, and he gave a flickering smile as the crowd roared, rose and swung its attention away from him toward Mr. Putin, who was sitting in the audience. The announcement brings an end to years of uncertainty, inside and outside Russia, about whether Mr. Putin intended to loosen his grip on power. Neither leader offered any reason for the decision, but Mr. Putin said the deal had been made years ago. If that is true, Mr. Medvedev’s presidency, and the tension that accompanied its end, now looks like an orchestrated political drama that drew in much of the world. “I want to say directly: An agreement over what to do in the future <a href="http://www.jordansneakersair.com/jordan-ol-school-iii-c-45.html"><strong>Jordan OL School III</strong></a> was reached between us several years ago,” Mr. Putin said. Mr. Medvedev also said there had been no conflict, though his account was less definitive. “What we are recommending to the convention, it is a deeply thought-out decision,” Mr. Medvedev said. “Moreover, we really discussed this possible development of events at the period, when we formed our comradely union.” As the news filtered into the street, most Russians expressed little surprise. Mr. Putin’s rise to power accompanied an oil-fueled rise in income, and ended the chaotic and sometimes violent political pluralism of the 1990s. Opposition to Mr. Putin’s government has grown strongest in places like Moscow, whose residents are not as reliant on government transfers and state-controlled television. “I don’t know what feelings I have about it because on one hand, it seems like we don’t have any alternative, we have to accept that Putin will be president,” said Yulia Belova, an advertising manager. Ivan V. Chaikin, 71, was similarly philosophical, saying his own hopes for democratic reform had withered a decade ago. “They decided between themselves who will hold which job,” he said. “It’s like a swap in chess — my bishop for your rook.” There is little <a href="http://www.cheappumas-shoes.com/puma-complete-velosis-c-24.html"><strong>Puma Complete Velosis</strong></a> evidence that the change will portend dramatic policy shifts. Mr. Medvedev has called for political and judicial reforms that would decentralize power away from the Kremlin, and his rhetoric won him the backing of many in the West and in progressive circles. But he did not push through substantial political or judicial reforms during his presidency and was widely viewed as a weak executive. Mr. Putin, meanwhile, has signaled in recent months that he may restyle himself as an economic reformer, wrapping himself in the mantle of the tsarist Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin. Mr. Putin is expected to face painful and unpopular decisions over the coming years as oil production levels off and the rise in Russians’ standard of living will slow. In 2014, Russia’s oil production will no longer offset imports of consumer goods, forcing the government to be increasingly dependent on foreign investment. The governing United Russia Party has been gradually losing popularity, dropping 9 points since January, according to the Public Opinion Foundation. And back-to-back elections in December or March, neither of which offers an alternative to the current government, will strain the state’s coffers and voters’ patience. Over recent months, Mr. Putin, who turns 59 in October, has left little question that he intended to remain the dominant partner, making televised appearances on a Harley-Davidson, deep-sea-diving and engaging in soulful dialogue with ordinary people. After Mr. Medvedev delivered a major speech in Yaroslavl this month, the analyst Lilia Shevtsova, of the Moscow Carnegie Center, titled her blog post on the subject “The Last Act of the Play.” “How difficult it has become for Medvedev to fill the time,” she wrote. “It was not long ago that he practically reveled in his function. He clearly believed in its seriousness. But now the moment has come, when it became clear — he has to get his things together.” Mr. Medvedev had developed a circle of supporters during his presidency, and there was palpable disappointment from those people on Saturday. One of Mr. Medvedev’s closest aides, Arkady V. Dvorkovich, vented via Twitter during the United Russia event, remarking, first, “there is no reason for happiness,” and then “now it is time to switch to the sports channel.” The influential political consultant Gleb O. Pavlovsky, whose longstanding contract with the Kremlin was severed this spring, gave one of the sharpest comments. “The fact that the president, as a politician, betrayed those who believed in him — that is political self-annihilation, and he has the right to do it,” Mr. Pavlovsky said. He called the move “a blow to the prestige of the institution of the presidency in Russia.” Various political experts questioned Mr. Putin’s <a href="http://www.cheappumas-shoes.com"><strong>puma benecio</strong></a> assertion that the decision was long since set in stone. The economist Mikhail G. Delyagin, a former government aide, said Mr. Medvedev had “exhibited a degree of independence,” and, if elected to a second term, could have tried “to become a real president and not a technical one.” “I know that Putin and Medvedev had to clarify their agreement several times and that at times these conversations were difficult,” said Mr. Delyagin, director of the Institute of Globalization Issues. “There were moments where there was absolutely a sense that Medvedev spat on this agreement and tried to play his own game. But in the end he turned out to be weak.”
|
Linear Mode
