A Changing of the Guard in Russia
Today, in the pomp and glory of the Kremlin’s St. Andrew’s Hall, Russian President Vladimir Putin officially relinquished his post as the Russian Federation’s top leader. His successor and long-time protege, Dmitri Medvedev, takes the reins of a country that has grown increasingly dependent on its oil and gas wealth to fund its reemergence on the global stage. Russia has also found its stride in confronting the West on a host of foreign policy issues, often using energy as a diplomatic sword.
For now though, the international community and Kremlin-watchers alike remain fixated on how this unlikely power arrangement will play out, with Putin nominated to take up the post of Prime Minister (previously held by Medvedev) and the leader of the dominant United Russia Party. Medvedev, meanwhile, campaigned on continuing the ‘Putin Plan,’ and it remains to be seen how much of his own person he will be.
The first Russian leader to not have any known ties to the KGB or Communist Party, some are hopeful that Medvedev may actually prove to be a very promising leader for Russia. This hope, however, will be largely based on how he meanders through the shark-ridden waters of Kremlin politics during his first months in office.
For now, Medvedev will remain veiled from any major challenge of his authority, as Putin has clearly made it known that he intends to afford his successor all of the support he needs as he works to get himself situated in the Kremlin.
Marshall Goldman in today’s IHT writes about some of the internal politics that Putin will prove useful in shielding Medvedev from…
Initially at least, Medvedev will need Putin, if for no other reason than to protect his flank from being undermined by some of the siloviki (law and order types) who have been brought to Moscow and into the Kremlin by Putin. They think of themselves as the rightful heirs who should have been selected to take over Putin’s office and resent Medvedev’s selection.
While Putin used these siloviki to push out and replace most of the original oligarchs (including Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former head of the Yukos Oil Company who is now serving an eight-year prison term in Siberia), they now have settled in and taken over many of the companies that were privatized in the 1990s. So now these new oligarchs have not only money but KGB and insider connections. This will make it difficult for Medvedev to push them out and replace them with his own supporters as Putin was able to do when the oligarchs only had money to protect their holdings.
The host of challenges confronting Medvedev from ‘Day One’ are enormous. Reuters highlights just a few of these…
They include rampant corruption, rising inflation, a falling population, sickly industry and agriculture and increasingly tense relations with former Soviet neighbors and the West.
Putin has been accused by domestic critics and Western governments of trampling on human rights and reining in freedoms won after the collapse of Soviet communism in the 1990s. He has reasserted the state’s grip on the Russian economy and business.
To say that Medvedev has his work cut out for him is an understatement. Russia is currently entangled in so many issues across the globe that it will take some time for the new President to get a grip on things. For now, Medvedev seems eager to focus on domestic issues facing everyday Russians.
In broad strokes laid out before the guests gathered to hear his inauguration address, Medvedev proclaimed that “…It is very important to understand that availability of justice, the general right to freedom and achievements in fighting corruption are integral to the right citizens have to get true information…We must defend the real independence of mass media, which provides feedback between civil society and various branches of power.”
The question that remains at the forefront of everyone’s mind is, can Medvedev deliver. And if so, how is he going to do it with the long shadow of Vladimir Putin placed firmly behind him and the former KGB apparatus surrounding him.
VOA quotes Yevgenia Albats, a Russian radio talk show host, who says the jury is still out. “It’s really hard to say whether we do, whether we are going to have a new president, whether we are going to have a puppet in the Kremlin and president Putin who will become prime minister will keep a grip over all power structures in this country. I don’t know the answer yet.”
Tags: Dmitri Medvedev, Russia, Vladimir Putin
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