Politics in Russia: power, lobby, conflicts. Issue No (39) 727

September 15 - 21, 2008

Main tendencies of political week

Last week the tandem began conceptualizing and voicing political changes that had occurred as a result of the five-day war. Firstly, it was clearly stated that the scenario of isolationist autochthonic development suggested by some Russian hawks was not acceptable for the country since it is fraught with technological lag and isolation from the world development. At the same time the authorities made first attempts to modify an informal agreement between the elites and the public taking into account new realities. Its new provisions are likely to imply the end of the epoch of the rich 2000s and the necessity to switch from passive to active loyalty of the society to authorities.

Financial disorders made urgent the question about who was responsible for failures. Considering that prime minister Vladimir Putin is an untouchable figure, candidates to be fired were searched for on a different level. Until recently finance minister Alexey Kudrin had the highest chances to become a scapegoat; however, his successful actions aimed at overcoming the financial crisis and establishing contacts with some leading elite groups have minimized such a possibility for the near future but have not ruled it out. Other Cabinet members were less lucky. For example Federal Air Transportation Agency head Yevgeny Bachurin declared that he was being forced to retire due to a complicated situation in the domestic aviation sector.

Old conflict lines not directly related to the financial sector also sharpened in the government. In particular, Oleg Mitvol again became active; he sent a letter to natural resources minister Yury Trutnev asking for investigation of the circumstances of his dismissal. A scandal around Rosprirodnadzor’s public council is also to Mitvol’s advantage: representatives of international environmental organizations are refusing to participate in this body. As a result the chances of Rosprirodnadzor’s deputy head to become chief of this public council have risen substantially.

Organizational and administrative struggle unfolded in other branches of power in additional to the executive power. Last week information was posted about new top appointments in the Federation Council. The just established post of first deputy speaker was given to Sergey Mironov’s protégé Alexander Torshin, who had been deputy speaker before that. This HR decision is likely to be aimed at neutralizing United Russia’s representative Yury Vorobyev, a new deputy speaker. Thus, Sergey Mironov wants to be sure that when his is absent sessions are chaired by a person he can rely on.

Major events September 15 - September 21, 2008

 Volume: 16 pages