Who's on first?
Questions Consume Kremlin-Watchers As Putin Steps Aside"On Wednesday, Dmitry Medvedev will walk through three gilded halls in the Grand Kremlin Palace to a rostrum where he will be sworn in as Russia's third president...
"The following day, with much less ceremony and more dispatch, his popular and powerful predecessor, Vladimir Putin, will almost certainly become Russia's new prime minister...
"Since the moment last year when Putin announced his willingness to become prime minister, Russia has been gripped by questions: Who will rule Russia? Why is Putin assuming a seemingly subordinate role to Medvedev? And how long will this tango last?...
"Putin has also been named chairman of the dominant United Russia party, beginning Thursday. The party rewrote its rules to allow its new chairman to dismiss any functionary and suspend any party activity...
"Through the party, Putin will control both houses of parliament, which can impeach the president and regional governors. He will also be master of Russia's vast bureaucracy and state-controlled companies whose ranks are full of his loyalists...
"'With two drivers, there will be conflict, even paralysis,' Lilia Shevtsova of the Moscow Carnegie Center said. 'Medvedev has to show he has the guts, courage, vision and charisma to consolidate his own position.'"
Labels: leadership, politics, Russia
posted by Ken Wedding @ 6:41 AM
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