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10.12.07
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Venus Bests Mars
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By Dmitry Babich
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Dmitry Medvedev Wins Putin’s Approval
Dmitry Medvedev, the 42-year-old first deputy prime minister of Russia, became the most likely winner of the upcoming presidential race on Monday after an unexpected unanimous endorsement of his candidacy by President Vladimir Putin and four of Russia’s leading parties.
The announcement was made at a meeting in the Kremlin of President Putin and the leaders of two parties that will take seats in the new State Duma - United Russia’s Boris Gryzlov and Just Russia’s Sergei Mironov. United Russia received 64 percent of the vote at last Sunday’s election, while Just Russia came fourth with almost 8 percent of the vote. Vladimir Plotnikov, the leader of the Agrarian Party, which recieved 2.6 percent of the votes and Boris Barshchevsky from the Civic Force were also present.
President Putin stressed that this was the first time in the country’s history when a presidential candidate was nominated by four parties representing about 80 percent of those Russians who chose to vote in the last elections.
“This indicates that we have a chance to form a stable system of power in Russia after the March elections, a power that will promote the same policy that has been reaping good results for us over the last eight years,” Putin said.
Yekaterina Azarova, a correspondent with Russia Today television channel who was present at the meeting said that Medvedev, who was sitting next to the four party leaders during the talk, did not look surprised or moved by his nomination. Medvedev’s candidacy had been discussed by Russia’s expert community for the past two years, as extensive television coverage of his tours around the country and his proximity to Putin made him a very likely candidate. Medvedev first met Putin in the early 1990s when both men were working in the office of St. Petersburg mayor Anatoly Sobchak. Putin supervised the city’s foreign economic ties while Medvedev, fresh from the law faculty of St. Petersburg State University, worked as a lawyer in the mayor’s office.
Leaders of the Russian opposition parties said Medvedev’s nomination was expected and did not mean an immediate change of the political situation in the country. The Communist Party’s Gennady Zyuganov called Medvedev “Putin’s most trusted man,” and said he expected Putin to become the president of the so-called Union State of Russia and Belarus after he steps down. Nikita Belykh, the leader of the Union of Right Forces (SPS), said sarcastically that Medvedev would not only win elections in the first round of voting, but could also win “without any elections.” In general, experts do not expect a tough fight during the presidential elections, which have been scheduled for March 2 and in which both the Communists and the SPS promised to field candidates.
“Medvedev’s candidacy is good news for the West,” said Alexander Rahr, an expert with the German Society for Foreign Policy and the author of a book about Putin. “He is seen as a defender of private property and as a supporter of social-democratic market principles.”
Medvedev, unlike the Kremlin’s other potential candidate, former defense minister Sergei Ivanov, never served in the security services and has not made the hawkish foreign policy statements attributed to other contenders. Analysts mockingly referred to Medvedev as “Venus,” contrasting him to Ivanov as “Mars.” However, Medvedev was not always considered the less threatening option. For example, he was chairman of the board of Gazprom during the “gas wars” with Ukraine and Belarus in 2005 and 2007, a position he continues to hold. The news of Medvedev’s endorsement led to an increase of activity at the Moscow stock exchange (MICEX) and led to an increase in the value of Gazprom shares.
However, at a meeting with foreign journalists at RIA Novosti two weeks ago, Medvedev said he thought Gazprom should not be a monopolist on the fuel market and promised to defend the property of foreign companies in Russia.
“Gazprom will not be able to ‘digest’ all of Russia’s energy resources,” Medvedev said, “And thank God for that – otherwise Gazprom would become the ministry of energy – and we have been trying to peddle away from this state of affairs for eight years at least.” At the meeting, Medvedev is also reported to have said that British Petroleum (BP) could get a license to participate in the development of the Kovykta gas fields. Speaking to foreign reporters, Medvedev stressed that the state should get involved in economy “only where it was needed,” including the utilities sector and strategic industries. He also said he did not like state corporation, preferring open joint-stock companies.
If there is a consensus on Medvedev’s liberal views, it is not clear what his real powers will be.
If elected president, Medvedev will have the right to appoint the prime minister and key government figures. He will also be able to nominate candidates for governor in the country’s 87 regions, who are then almost guaranteed approval by local legislatures under Vladimir Putin’s system of government. Analysts do not expect quick changes in personnel, as Medvedev belongs to the St. Petersburg clan of Russian politicians and has a long history of loyalty to its key representatives.
As for his views on Russia’s democracy, at the meeting in RIA Novosti, Medvedev said he supported a multi-party system, but with large stable parties, He described the 1990s, during which Russian political parties mushroomed and died every year, as “chaos” and vowed there would be no return to this period.
“However, I don’t think we can introduce a two-party system in the form that is has taken in the United States,” Medvedev told reporters. “In the United States, parties are electoral machines, focusing on certain issues and not caring too much about ideology. Russia, because of its European identity, can’t do without ideology – at least not now.” |
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