When Vladimir Putin plucked Dmitry Medvedev from obscurity in 2007 to succeed him as president of Russia, the consensus opinion was that Medvedev would be nothing more than a lap dog doing Putin’s bidding until Putin could resume his role as president in 2012.
(The Russian Constitution provides that no president can serve more than two consecutive terms. So instead of hammering through a self-interested amendment, Putin seemed content to serve as president for life with four-year interregnums by his chosen lap dogs to preserve the patina of democratic legitimacy. Nevertheless, he did prevail upon the Russian parliament to extend presidential terms from four to six years, prospectively; i.e., so that it does not extend Medvedev’s current term by two years, but takes effect only in 2012 when he clearly expects to be reelected. This will then give him a more comfortable twelve instead of eight years between interregnums.)
In point of fact, Medvedev promptly vindicated universal disregard for his presidency by declaring the following in his first speech as president:
Russia has reclaimed its proper place in the world community. Russia has become a different country, stronger and more prosperous… In order to stay on this path, it is not enough to elect a new president who shares this ideology… That is why I find it extremely important for our country to keep Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin at the most important position in the executive power, at the post of the chairman of the government [i.e., prime minister].
(New York Times, December 12, 2007)
But a funny thing is happening as Medvedev settles into his role as Putin’s lap dog: he’s beginning to balk at rolling over and playing dead on Putin’s command. And nothing demonstrates this quite like the way he has taken lately to chastising Putin (in tail-wagging-the-dog fashion) for fomenting Soviet-style nationalism and building his cult of personality by selectively praising Stalin’s reign of terror.
Here, for example, is what Putin has been saying:
It’s obvious that, from 1924 to 1953, the country that Stalin ruled changed from an agrarian to an industrial society. We won the Great Patriotic War [the Russian name for the Second World War]. Whatever anyone may say, victory was achieved. Even when we consider the losses, nobody can now throw stones at those who planned and led this victory, because if we’d lost the war, the consequences for our country would have been much more catastrophic.”
(London Times, December 4, 2009)
To be fair, though, Putin readily conceded in this same Times article that:
There was repression. This is a fact. Millions of our citizens suffered from this. And this way of running a state, to achieve a result, is not acceptable. It is impossible.
Yet here’s how Medvedev pointedly rejected even this qualified praise of Stalin’s totalitarian rule, which, after all, is rather like hailing Hitler for the engineering feats of his Third Reich:
The Great Patriotic War was won by our people, not by Stalin or even the generals… Millions of people died as a result of terror and false accusations … But we are still hearing that these enormous sacrifices could be justified by certain ultimate interests of the state.
I am convinced that neither the goals of the development of the country, nor its successes or ambitions, should be achieved through human suffering and losses. It is important to prevent any attempts to vindicate, under the pretext of restoring historical justice, those who destroyed their own people….
(London Times, December 4, 2009)
Of course, both men are keen to downplay any perceived tension, and invariably insist that they work together effectively. But it’s becoming increasingly clear that Medvedev is just as keen to disabuse the Russian electorate of the notion that he’s just Putin’s lap dog.
Moreover, his creeping ambition will make the 2012 presidential elections far more contentious than anyone could have anticipated two years ago. In fact, here’s the shot across the bow Medvedev delivered when asked recently if he intends to run for reelection … against his putative master:
If Putin doesn’t rule out running, neither do I rule myself out.
(London Times, December 4, 2009)
In the meantime, it’s an indication of who won this spat that plans to hang posters of Stalin along the route for yesterday’s Victory Day parade were summarily scrapped.
Game on….
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