Posts Tagged ‘medvedev’
Putin’s Shadow and Shoelaces
There was a great joke that was popular after Dmitry Medvedev became president in 2008: Prime Minister Vladimir Putin gave Medvedev a car without a steering wheel. “But where is the steering wheel?” asks Medvedev. “Don’t worry,” answers Putin. “I’ll be doing the driving.”
On April Fools’ Day, Putin played this joke out in reality. He drove a Yo-Mobile, the new hybrid automobile, to Medvedev’s residence. Posing for television crews from every national channel, Putin picked up Medvedev and drove for a while with the president in the passenger’s seat.
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The Status Quo Fatigue
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
In Moscow, a striking contrast exists between signs of economic revival after the 2008-2009 crisis and the general pessimism among intellectuals, opposition leaders, top analysts, entrepreneurs, and media figures. An investigation of this paradox points to several explanations. Unlike a few years ago, there is a pervasive sense that the political and economic model Vladimir Putin offered the country–stability in exchange for “guided/sovereign democracy,” sustained by state-guided oil- and gas-driven growth–is nearly exhausted. Disillusionment with President Dmitri Medvedev’s ability to translate liberal rhetoric into action and implement meaningful reforms adds to the despondence. The presidential election of 2012, which some view as no more than carefully scripted political theater, offers no hope for change.
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No more Western hugs for Russia’s rulers
This year started quite symbolically in Russia. In the last days of 2010, government authorities decided to demonstrate their power and their intolerance for being challenged: The verdict issued at the farcical trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev had no relation to jurisprudence; leading opposition figures were detained for as many as 15 days on purely political grounds.
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For Yeltsin, Kremlin Seeks Yukos Review
President Dmitry Medvedev paid tribute to late President Boris Yeltsin on what would have been his 80th birthday Tuesday by enlarging the Kremlin’s human rights council and ordering it to examine the cases of Sergei Magnitsky and Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
It was unclear whether the changes, announced at the unveiling of a Yeltsin monument in Yekaterinburg, capital of Yeltsin’s native Sverdlovsk region, would add clout to the previously largely toothless council.
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In Russia, seeing only repression
In Moscow Russia has set off on an ever more authoritarian path as it heads toward a presidential election next year, sending ominous signals to the already weakened opposition and confronting the United States and Europe with vexing new political challenges.
President Dmitry Medvedev, who positions himself as Prime Minister Vladmir Putin’s liberal alter ego, repeatedly assures the West that just the opposite is true. At the Davos World Economic Forum this week, he said Russia was fighting corruption, developing rule of law – if slowly – and becoming increasingly democratic. “Russian citizens believe they live in a democratic state,” he said.
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Medvedev Takes Pass in Davos on Rule of Law
President Dmitry Medvedev went to the World Economic Forum in Davos last week to woo global investors to Russia with claims of significant economic improvements on his watch.
He outlined an ambitious 10-step strategy to improve the investment climate in Russia. The laundry list of economic plans unveiled by the president included efforts to privatize dozens of state-owned companies, to create an international financial hub in Moscow and to set up a sovereign fund to reduce investor risks. Medvedev’s strategy is well-intentioned and competently crafted.
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New ski resorts — in Russia’s restive Caucasus
The timing couldn’t have been worse. Russia’s government unveils a plan to build five ski resorts in the majestic, largely uncharted slopes of the Northern Caucasus. And asks executives at the World Economic Forum to join in the $15 billion investment.
The problem: The Wednesday night presentation came two days after a bomb blast pummeled the international arrivals terminal of Moscow’s largest airport, killing 35. Suspicions immediately fell on extremists from the Northern Caucasus — including Chechnya, which fought two wars with Moscow over the last 16 years, and the neighboring Russian republic of Dagestan, future home to one of the new resorts.
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Medvedev to Face Khodorkovsky and Magnitsky in Davos
President Dmitry Medvedev will arrive late for the 41st annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he is scheduled to give the Wednesday keynote speech.
The announcement of Medvedev’s delayed departure from Moscow was made on Monday as he dealt with the aftermath of the explosion at Domodedovo Airport — but his trip has not been canceled.
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Davos Man and Khodorkovsky
The Russian phrase for it is pryamoi razgovor, and it’s rare to hear from Russia’s political elite: straight talk. But that’s what a senior adviser to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev delivered last week about the latest show trial of former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Mr. Khodorkovsky was Russia’s richest man until he earned the ire of Vladimir Putin by supporting liberal political causes and attempting to open his oil company to the West. Imprisoned in 2003 on charges of tax evasion, he was set to go free this year. But he was retried last year for different crimes and sentenced to six more years in Siberian prison.
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