Putin's first campaign speech?
Russia watchers have been commenting, writing, blogging, and tweeting about nearly every statement and action of President Medvedev and Premier Putin. They are watching for signs of a split between the two and signs of their intentions about running of president in 2012.I'll join in and suggest, from this report, that Putin has given his first campaign speech. It's full of lofty and goals and empty of details. Is this a sign of real political competition?
Vladimir Putin pledges to spend £32bn on increasing Russian life expectancy
Vladimir Putin has promised to spend £32.5bn on increasing life expectancy and boosting Russia's flagging birthrate by up to 30% in the next four years.
The prime minister made the pledge in a bold address to parliament on Wednesday in which he appeared to make a play for his return to the presidency.
During his two-and-a-half-hour annual speech to the state duma, Putin boasted of the country's economic recovery and promised rapid military expansion while announcing many populist measures aimed at elderly and provincial voters…
Putin employed his traditional statist rhetoric to promote a strong, confident Russia, able to see off its enemies but unfettered by democratic change.
"This country requires decades of steady, uninterrupted development," he said. "Without sharp changes in course or ill-thought through experiments based so often in either unjustified liberalism, or on the other hand, social demagogy."...
[Did I detect a couple jabs at Medvedev?]
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Labels: elections, politics, Russia
posted by Ken Wedding @ 6:06 AM
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