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Medvedev shows unease at Putin power system
President Dmitry Medvedev has warned against building a system of authority based around a single leader, in the latest sign of an emerging split with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin.
Speaking in comments broadcast live on state television, Medvedev did not specifically mention his mentor Putin who has dominated Russia since 2000 as president and now prime minister under a system known as a “power vertical”. But the Kremlin chief’s remarks appeared an unusually clear and harsh criticism of the political system built up in Russia over the last decade since Putin succeeded Boris Yeltsin as president.
“The over-concentration of power is a dangerous thing indeed. It happened repeatedly in our country and as a rule it either led to stagnation or civil war. “We should not allow that,” said Medvedev whom Putin installed at the Kremlin in 2008 after serving the maximum two consecutive terms. “Attempts to build a power system for a specific person are dangerous in any case,” Medvedev said in the central Russian city of Kostroma. “If they do not bring problems in present, have no doubt: in the nearest foreseeable future they will create huge problems both for the country itself and the concrete person.”
Putin is seeking to co-opt social and political forces and unite them around his ruling United Russia party in a coalition he called an All-Russia People’s Front. The move comes ahead of parliamentary polls in December followed by presidential election three months later. “By saying it is dangerous to link the country’s fate to one person, Medvedev has clearly shown he does not want Putin to be Russian president for the next six years,” political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin told Moscow Echo radio. “The crack in the tandem is becoming clear,” he said.
Under Medvedev, a presidential term was extended from four years to six meaning the country’s next leader may stay in power for two consecutive terms, or until 2024.
Putin and Medvedev, seen as his junior partner in the ruling tandem, have both previously said they would agree who would run in the elections so as not to compete against each other. So far neither has ruled out standing. But Medvedev, Putin’s docile former chief of staff, did not embrace Putin’s popular front, calling instead for political competition.
“Each generation has its own heroes,” said Medvedev, who in recent months has appeared increasingly conscious of his own place in Russian history. He suggested that history knows examples of lone reformers who had to confront a majority promoting “an absolutely unpopular point of view” to bring about change. “But they were proved right,” Medvedev said.
Opinion surveys show that Putin remains Russia’s most popular politician even though his approval ratings and those of the United Russia party have taken a beating in the past months.
Medvedev draws his support from young urban well-educated Russians but does not have a broad political powerbase of his own. His address appeared to be a perfectly choreographed example of Kremlin political theatre. Young parliament members representing Russia’s main political parties including Communists complained that Putin’s ruling United Russia party sidelined them in politics. “We are urgently asking you to be the guarantor of the Constitution,” said Mikhail Degtyarev of the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party.
“We need real political competition,” added Grigory Fandeyev of A Just Russia, a left-leaning Kremlin-friendly party.
President Dmitry Medvedev has warned against building a system of authority based around a single leader, in the latest sign of an emerging split with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin.
Speaking in comments broadcast live on state television, Medvedev did not specifically mention his mentor Putin who has dominated Russia since 2000 as president and now prime minister under a system known as a “power vertical”. But the Kremlin chief’s remarks appeared an unusually clear and harsh criticism of the political system built up in Russia over the last decade since Putin succeeded Boris Yeltsin as president.
“The over-concentration of power is a dangerous thing indeed. It happened repeatedly in our country and as a rule it either led to stagnation or civil war. “We should not allow that,” said Medvedev whom Putin installed at the Kremlin in 2008 after serving the maximum two consecutive terms. “Attempts to build a power system for a specific person are dangerous in any case,” Medvedev said in the central Russian city of Kostroma. “If they do not bring problems in present, have no doubt: in the nearest foreseeable future they will create huge problems both for the country itself and the concrete person.”
Putin is seeking to co-opt social and political forces and unite them around his ruling United Russia party in a coalition he called an All-Russia People’s Front. The move comes ahead of parliamentary polls in December followed by presidential election three months later. “By saying it is dangerous to link the country’s fate to one person, Medvedev has clearly shown he does not want Putin to be Russian president for the next six years,” political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin told Moscow Echo radio. “The crack in the tandem is becoming clear,” he said.
Under Medvedev, a presidential term was extended from four years to six meaning the country’s next leader may stay in power for two consecutive terms, or until 2024.
Putin and Medvedev, seen as his junior partner in the ruling tandem, have both previously said they would agree who would run in the elections so as not to compete against each other. So far neither has ruled out standing. But Medvedev, Putin’s docile former chief of staff, did not embrace Putin’s popular front, calling instead for political competition.
“Each generation has its own heroes,” said Medvedev, who in recent months has appeared increasingly conscious of his own place in Russian history. He suggested that history knows examples of lone reformers who had to confront a majority promoting “an absolutely unpopular point of view” to bring about change. “But they were proved right,” Medvedev said.
Opinion surveys show that Putin remains Russia’s most popular politician even though his approval ratings and those of the United Russia party have taken a beating in the past months.
Medvedev draws his support from young urban well-educated Russians but does not have a broad political powerbase of his own. His address appeared to be a perfectly choreographed example of Kremlin political theatre. Young parliament members representing Russia’s main political parties including Communists complained that Putin’s ruling United Russia party sidelined them in politics. “We are urgently asking you to be the guarantor of the Constitution,” said Mikhail Degtyarev of the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party.
“We need real political competition,” added Grigory Fandeyev of A Just Russia, a left-leaning Kremlin-friendly party.
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