Putin Sparks Speculation About His Return to Kremlin
Posted by: admin in russia, tags: Vladimir PutinProphecy A La Rosenberg and company…
Source: Bloomberg.com
Russians are back to playing their favorite parlor game: speculating on whether or when Vladimir Putin will reclaim the presidency.Some opposition politicians, analysts and investors are guessing that the credit crunch and Russia’s faltering economy may persuade the former president, now prime minister, to oust his chosen successor, Dmitry Medvedev, next year. If Medvedev resigns, presidential elections would be held, allowing Putin, still Russia’s most influential figure, to resume full control.
Such a scenario would let Putin, 56, dodge political fallout from the economic slump because Russians traditionally blame nationwide problems on the prime minister, not the president. It also would dash Western hopes of a thaw with Russia under Medvedev, a 43-year-old lawyer who succeeded Putin in May.
“The current leadership could call presidential elections within the next few months,” said Mikhail Kasyanov, Putin’s prime minister from 2000 to 2004, and now an opponent. “These `elections’ will have one aim: Putin’s return to the Kremlin.”
Putin, a former KGB colonel, sounded very much in charge during a speech yesterday to the annual gathering of his ruling United Russia party, vowing to protect Russia from another financial collapse like its 1998 default.
The prime minister last week declined to say whether he planned to run for the presidency next year, calling such talk “premature.” Putin stepped down in May after eight years as president because of a constitutional ban on three consecutive terms. Heads of state who serve two terms can return to power after a period out of office.
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