Any doubt about who really will be calling the shots in Russia for the foreseeable future ended yesterday when Dmitri Medvedev – Vladimir Putin’s hand-picked successor as president – announced that, once elected, he would in turn name Putin prime minister.
Actually, it isn’t at all surprising: Two months ago, Putin – who’s barred by Russia’s constitution from succeeding himself – said he’d be “willing” to serve as prime minister.
That is, he’ll remain the power behind the throne, ruling through his anointed puppet.
About the only good thing to be said of Medvedev, a deputy prime minister who heads the state-run gas monopoly Gazprom, is that – unlike most of the Putin cronies who now run Russia – he didn’t come out of the KGB.
But the 42-year-old economist also has no power base inside the Kremlin – meaning that he should prove easy for Putin to manipulate.
Not that much manipulation is needed: In a speech to the nation, Medvedev hailed Putin’s strong-armed leadership.
He also endorsed Putin’s in-your-face attitude toward the West. “We are not lectured like schoolchildren,” said Medvedev. “We are respected, and we are deferred to. Russia has reclaimed its proper place in the world community.”
But at what cost?
Putin has harshly stifled internal dissent – installing his lackeys from the FSB (successor to the dreaded KGB) at all levels of Russia’s government.
This has restored some stability, which is why Putin remains wildly popular; his party won 64 percent of the seats in the Duma in the most recent election. That’s almost enough to change the constitution to vest more power in the office of prime minister.
Even as things now stand, Medvedev could leave office whenever he chooses and simply turn it over to Putin.
To be sure, Medvedev will put a different, and more sympathetic, public face on Russia’s government. (Among other things, he’s a self-described fan of heavy-metal rock bands, including Black Sabbath.)
But, alas, little else about Russia is likely to change.