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Main page > Products > Politics in Russia: power, lobby, conflicts - The weekly bulletin > Politics in Russia: power, lobby, conflicts. Issue No (7) 695 Politics in Russia: power, lobby, conflicts. Issue No (7) 695February 4-10, 2008 Main political trends of the weekLast week the intrigue of the Russian presidential election campaign finally paled into insignificance. Public attention is focusing on the government reshuffle that has fueled political infighting. The key event of the week was the speech of the incumbent president Vladimir Putin that sounded like instructions to his successor. Although we didn’t hear sensations, the speech contained important guidelines of the country’s development for the next 12 years. In particular, the president named transition from extensive to intensive development a main goal, for which one must develop “human capital.” Putin’s liberal initiatives in the domestic policy and economy spheres sharply contrasted with uncomplying foreign policy line, which is a part of the “liberal empire” ideology. However, we see this only as an outset of the main intrigue, the upshot of which will happen at the end of this week, on Friday. Comparison of Vladimir Putin’s and Dmitry Medvedev’s speeches will show the extent of independency the successor wants to have after election. The imminent shakeup of the elite is the reason for spreading rumors of changes in the government. Although the majority of those rumors are far from reality, we can clearly see that social, finance-economic and security spheres of executive branch will be affected the most. One of the leaders of the “financiers” group is the Minister of Regional Development Dmitry Kozak. New leaders of the security group are yet to be revealed. In the mean time, it is almost definite now that the Ministry of Defense will be the least affected by reforms. The elite are currently receiving controversial signals regarding their future. On the one hand, the published list of candidates for state companies’ boards of directors seems to show 100% succession. On the other, developing anti-corruption theme suggests that a thorough “purge” in the state machinery is being prepared. Such uncertainty makes top elite clans open the ball and lobby for the most favorable reforms. In particular, last week several large-scale initiatives were announced – reform of investigation and law enforcement services. If this one is carried out according to the proposed scenario, the “Kremlin’s security officials” clan (or Kremlin’s siloviki) will win a great deal of power. However, the recent history of infighting tells us that a decision will not be made until May 2008 and that in the nearest time rival clans will propose their alternative scenarios to modernize this segment. Major events Feb 4, 2008 - Feb 10, 2008
Volume: 16 pages If you are interested to obtain please contact » Elena Kim Other issues: |
Special report:Nord Stream 2 and Ukraine: Costs Should DecideShale Revolution: Myths and RealitiesLiquefied Natural Gas Outlook: Expectations and RealityAnalytical series “The Political compass”:Political power in Russia after presidential electionState Corporations in the Russian EconomyPolitical Results of 2007: Russia on the Eve of Power ShufflePolitical Landscape Ahead of the Parliamentary Election 2007«Centers of influence» in the Russian politicsLeading Russian corporations and the executive power: interaction methodsForecast of political developments after the presidential election in 2008 |
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