The Russian Presidential Election 2018

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Vladimir Putin's strongest political opponent seems to be lawyer Alexei Navalny (40), who famously described Russia's ruling party, United Russia, as a "party of crooks and thieves". He was recently thrown into jail after a protest march against corruption on 26 March 2017 and was released after 15 days. He claims the regular attempts to jail him are the government's attempts to keep him from running for president against Mr Putin in 2018; he accuses President Putin's system of "sucking the blood out of Russia", and further accuses Putin of being "really obsessed with the idea" of becoming "the czar of this new Russian empire he is rebuilding".

"For 17 years," Navalny complains, "elections in Russia have followed the same pattern: Nobody criticizes Putin, nobody runs a real election campaign, the whole process takes place quietly over a period of two months. The Kremlin blocks every alternative to Putin."

Navalny's rise in politics began in 2008 when he started speaking out about alleged malpractice and corruption at some of Russia's big state-controlled corporations. He claims that so many young Russians support him because of their dismal poverty - they see him as someone who can improve the quality of their lives by bringing an end to state corruption.

Fresh out of jail, Navalny was interviewed by Der Spiegel (who describes Putin's government as a "repressive system"):


http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/interview-with-alexei-navalny-about-protests-and-putin-a-1143752.html#ref=nl-international

Interview with Alexei Navalny 'The Kremlin Blocks Every Alternative to Putin'

Alexei Navalny, Russia's most prominent opposition figure, was just released from jail after widespread protests against government corruption. In an interview, he speaks about Putin's future plans for the country, the new generation of activists and why previous protests failed.

Interview Conducted by Christian Esch and Christian Neef

April 21, 2017

At the end of March, Russia's best-known opposition figure, Alexei Navalny, 40, called for nationwide protests against corruption and tens of thousands of people took to the streets. Afterward, he was detained for 15 days. He was released on Monday, April 10 and met with reporters from DER SPIEGEL one day later for an interview at the offices of his Anti-Corruption Foundation in a Moscow business center. Navalny's spirits were high and he came across as combative. He was still planning to travel to other parts of Russia to promote his potential candidacy for the presidency in 2018. He has called for further national protests to be held on June 12.

SPIEGEL: Mr. Navalny, you've just been released from jail. What was it like?

Navalny: You have to imagine jail like a dirty dormitory where you don't do anything except sleep and read. We were four people to a cell. The others were normal people -- one had had a fight with a neighbor, another had insulted a police officer. No other political prisoners like me. They are carefully separated from one another, even during yard exercise.

SPIEGEL: Did you still talk with the other prisoners about politics?

Navalny: For days. All of them had heard of me, all of them wanted to talk. Even the police officers with whom I sat in the bus after my arrest had seen my film about Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. They asked what everyone always asks: Why I haven't been killed, and why I haven't been put in prison yet.

SPIEGEL: A huge number of young people took part in the protests that you called. That came as a surprise to many -- people thought this generation was apolitical.

Navalny: That didn't surprise me at all! First, I had seen earlier on Vkontakte ...

SPIEGEL: ... a kind of Russian Facebook ...

Navalny: ... how young the people were who wanted to come to the demonstrations. And second, it was clear to me that the political pressure on high school and college students was having the opposite effect. In Bryansk, secondary students were warned not to take part in the protests. A discussion about it with a school director was recorded and watched millions of times. Since the 1990s, Russia has lacked the kind of student movement that existed in Eastern and Western Europe. The last time there was a movement like that here was during the Czarist era.

SPIEGEL: Why did these young people take to the streets?

Navalny: Poverty! That, at least, is an important factor. The living standard here has been deteriorating for the past five years.

SPIEGEL: You don't notice that in Moscow so much.

Navalny: In Tomsk, I asked young people how many of them earn less than 20,000 rubles a month, that's 330 euros. All of us, they answered. And that is in a university city that used to live from oil! People often say that I represent people who earn a lot of money. Of course, a person who is well-educated and affluent is more likely to support me than Vladimir Putin. But that doesn't automatically mean that the others are against me.

SPIEGEL: What distinguishes the current protesters from those who demonstrated against the fraudulent 2011 parliamentary election?

Navalny: The main difference is geographical: Now demonstrations are taking place in locations where they never did before, in Dagestan, in Tatarstan and in Bashkiria. Otherwise, there aren't many differences. Social media, which has become our last remaining way of communicating with one another and of articulating our criticism, have a younger audience, that is all.

SPIEGEL: Your film about Medvedev's alleged wealth was viewed on YouTube 18 million times. Medvedev has described the film as "nonsense" and compared it to a "compote" stewed together with various and sundry accusations.

Navalny: What a pathetic appearance. He waited one month and all he could come up with was the word "compote!"

SPIEGEL: Will the allegations have consequences for Medvedev?

Navalny: His political prospects have now been damaged. He supposedly got drunk for a week right afterwards and he looked like it, too.

SPIEGEL: Medvedev has not sued you -- but billionaire Alisher Usmanov, whom you accuse of having given Dmitri Medvedev a residence valued at 5 billion rubles, now intends to.

Navalny: Usmanov is surely not doing so of his own accord. Obviously, someone asked him to sue me.

SPIEGEL: Officially, the Kremlin acts as though it is fighting corruption, with five governors having been arrested -- the fifth one just recently.

Navalny: The governors are being arrested in order to steal some of my thunder. Besides, Putin needs to terrorize his own elite. He is more afraid of those in his own surroundings than any protests; there are people there who are at least as critical as I am because they see up close that the system doesn't work. He wants to silence them.

SPIEGEL: Will President Putin run again in the 2018 election?

Navalny: Of course! Putin wants to be the czar of this new Russian empire that he is rebuilding. I think he is really obsessed with the idea.

SPIEGEL: Will you be allowed to run?

Navalny: We want to force them to register me, like we did during the 2013 Moscow mayoral race. Back then we threatened a boycott. And then the Kremlin decided it was better to let Navalny participate -- he'll get 8 or 9 percent at most.

SPIEGEL: Instead you won 27 percent of the votes, a significant result, and it almost led to a runoff.

Navalny: As a result, as far as I know, the people who are against my candidacy now have the upper hand in the Kremlin. They say: Who knows what the election result will be? We already made that mistake once. And they are also afraid of all the things I would say if they let me run. For 17 years, elections in Russia have followed the same pattern: Nobody criticizes Putin, nobody runs a real election campaign, the whole process takes place quietly over a period of two months. The Kremlin blocks every alternative to Putin. He doesn't want a candidate who will travel through the country and speak loudly about Russia's problems.

SPIEGEL: Why has the opposition gone along with this game for so long?

Navalny: Have you ever been in the new Yeltsin Center in Yekaterinburg? There's a ballot from the 1996 presidential election in the exhibition and it has exactly the same names on it as appear now. Communist Party leader Gennday Zyuganov, the liberal Grigory Yavlinsky, the right-wing populist Vladimir Zhirinovsky. Only Boris Yeltsin was replaced, by Putin. No opposition politician has ever taken responsibility for his or her election failures.

SPIEGEL: In your campaign platform, you call for a special tax for oligarchs, the doubling of health expenditures and a minimum wage of 25,000 rubles. It sounds as though you have swung to the left.

Navalny: Let's just say: It doesn't sound like what one is used to from our liberal opposition. Unfortunately, people expect a Russian opposition politician to be a manic libertarian who thinks the oligarchs are great, who isn't interested in the problems of retirees and who believes the invisible hand of the market will resolve everything.

SPIEGEL: Your proposals aren't particularly concrete. How do you intend to finance everything?

Navalny: Russia spends enormous, senseless amounts of money on the army and the police. We have one of the top rankings in the world when it comes to the number of police officers -- but when it comes to the number of murders, we are also right at the top. Besides, almost 30 percent of the budget is secret! Nobody knows what happens to this money. During public tendering, 1,500 billion rubles are stolen every year. The fight against corruption would free up a considerable sum.

SPIEGEL: Only six years ago, you were still active in nationalist circles. Even many of your supporters found the people with whom you allied yourself at the time to be unpalatable. Was it a tactical move or one made out of conviction?

Navalny: Between 2005 and 2011, I did a lot to bring together the market-friendly liberal and nationalist wings of the protest movement. That is true. And yes, I am still against visa-free entry from Central Asia into Russia.

SPIEGEL: Why did the protests of 2011-2012 actually fail? What did the opposition do wrong at time time?

Navalny: There is no recipe for toppling the regime in a couple of months. That is a historical process that we cannot steer. Fifteen-hundred people participated in my most successful protest in 2010. Today, a rally with fewer than 30,000 people is considered a failure. Something has developed despite all the setbacks. But the most important reason for the failure was the violent crushing of the protests. If we compare the regime of 2012 with the one from 2017, it feels like we are talking about two different countries. We now live in a country with a thousand political prisoners, a country where each week there are new trials, where people are put in jail because they liked something on the Internet.

SPIEGEL: Some of the people who took part in the large protest in May 2012 on Bolotnaya Square are still incarcerated today. And yet you have still called for an unauthorized protest in March. Can you justify that?

Navalny: I am aware that I bear responsibility -- for my brother, who is in jail, and for the prisoners from May 2012. It is not a pleasant thought. Nevertheless, newspapers reported about my brother on their front pages. If some blogger in a rural area is arrested today, then no journalists, lawyers or human-rights activists visit them, because now there are too many cases like that. If we want to prevent that, then we need to keep fighting for political change.

SPIEGEL: Many wonder why you are still able to walk free in a such a repressive system and even lead expensive election campaigns. Who finances you?

Navalny: We are open about everything. My Anti-Corruption Foundation is well-funded by Russian standards, with an annual budget equivalent to 750,000 euros. But the average individual donations are only about 11.50 euros.

SPIEGEL: Based on your income tax return, you have a solid personal income. In 2016, the European Court of Human Rights ordered the Russian government to pay you about 50,000 euros in damages. Where did the remaining 90,000 euros come from?

Navalny: That's income from my law firm. My license to practice law was revoked, but a few clients have stuck with me .

SPIEGEL: What kind of people want to be represented by a prominent enemy of the Kremlin?

Navalny: As a lawyer, I tend to be disadvantageous to my clients. But those who continue to retain me do so because they also support me.

SPIEGEL: Do you fear you are being used?

Navalny: Nobody uses me. But, of course, my work is used. If I attack Igor Sechin ...

SPIEGEL: ... the head of the state oil company Rosneft and an opponent of Medvedev's ...

Navalny: ... then that helps someone else. And when I attack Medvedev, there are loads of people who think that's great. Though I unfortunately do not even know if I am weakening him or strengthening him! Maybe Putin wanted to fire Medvedev a month ago, but how is he supposed to do that after my film? In an opaque system, everything can be used somehow. I can't change that.

SPIEGEL: While you were in jail, Russia and the U.S. embarked on a collision course over Syria. What do you think of Putin's Syria policy?

Navalny: Russia should join the international coalition against Islamic State. It is absurd that we are intervening on the side of the Shiites in a war between Sunnis and Shiites even though almost all Russian Muslims are Sunnis. Putin is creating big problems for us in his attempt to help Bashar Assad.

SPIEGEL: But it did recently look as though Putin had found a supporter of his Syria policies in Donald Trump.

Navalny: After Trump's election victory, I explained in a video why there would be no friendship with Trump. The contradictions between the systems are too great. And Putin needs an enemy. He wants to be the leader of the anti-American, anti-European world. And given that he cannot be friends with their heads of state and government, he instead needs to generate scandals and resistance.

SPIEGEL: In Angela Merkel, he at least has one opponent left. Without her there wouldn't be any EU sanctions against Russia. What should Russia's approach to those sanctions be?

Navalny: We should fulfill the Minsk Protocol. The main reason for the sanctions is that Russia broke a taboo: It triggered a war in Europe. Crimea is a problem, but the most painful part of the sanctions is tied to the war in the Donbas. As soon as Russia takes real steps to prevent shots from being fired there, this part of the sanctions will be lifted.

SPIEGEL: At your appearances, you say: My foreign policy consists of finally building better roads and the payment of higher wages. It sounds like you are trying to avoid the topic.

Navalny: I am not avoiding it. But I believe, and in this sense I am different from Putin, that Russia should not isolate itself. Everything that happens in our country is justified through Syria or Ukraine. But when one's own citizens only make 300 euros, one can't have much clout in foreign policy. Let's start with colonizing our own country. When I visit my brother in jail, I drive through the most densely populated part of European Russia -- and I don't see anybody, kilometer after kilometer. That would be a great opportunity to apply our energies.

SPIEGEL: You are by far the best-known face of the opposition; younger fellow campaigners look up to you. Does this role sometimes go to your head?

Navalny: I encourage all my colleagues to run for office themselves. But it has become extremely difficult in this system to become a prominent opposition politician. I no longer have any rivals to have a debate with. I need competition. And the people will soon tire of me. They say: Navalny, It's always just Navalny. We want to see someone new.

SPIEGEL: Mr. Navalny, we thank you for this interview.
 

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Сначала хотел спросить: зачем это здесь? Но ведь ответ очевиден.
Все таки замечательное место-наш форум. Позволяет почти прикоснуться к светлым через усилия команды Лоры и вот вам для разнообразия другой полюс. :evil:

Translation
First, I wanted to ask: why is it here? But the answer is obvious.
Still a great place-our forum. Allows almost to touch the light through the efforts of the team of Laura and here's to diversity the other pole. :evil:
 
youlik said:
First, I wanted to ask: why is it here? But the answer is obvious.

Actually, since Ynna didn't add her own commentary to the article, we don't really know why this article is here. ;) Perhaps, Ynna would like to explain? Usually, such articles, without personal commentary, and especially from known propaganda sources, are not particularly helpful.

Unless, of course, what Ynna wrote before the quote are her thoughts and not just copy pasted info, if so, it just reveals lack of awareness regarding what is going on in Russia. Which isn't something that can't be corrected.

youlik said:
Still a great place-our forum. Allows almost to touch the light through the efforts of the team of Laura and here's to diversity the other pole. :evil:

Well, one of the main purposes of the forum is to learn how to read reality and recognize distortions, therefore anything can be useful, if it is within forum's guidelines and rules, of course.

In this particular case, it is easy to get confused, because Navalny uses one of the most painful and relevant for Russians topics: overwhelming and ever present corruption. Since it is such a serious problem in Russia, it is hard to find anyone here who would disagree with this notion. That's why he can be popular among the young people and senior ones. But as we know, the devil is in the details. For example:

Navalny's rise in politics began in 2008 when he started speaking out about alleged malpractice and corruption at some of Russia's big state-controlled corporations. He claims that so many young Russians support him because of their dismal poverty - they see him as someone who can improve the quality of their lives by bringing an end to state corruption.

Ok, so it's easy to sway the senior population, because many if not most of them struggle daily to survive on ridiculously small pensions. He is young, good looking (notice a similar pattern to Macron) and full of energy. Many elderly like it and mistake it for competence. As for the young people: We were all at this age. Idealists, maximalists, and with no real life experiences. So easy to manipulate. Not to mention the ridiculous claim of "dismal poverty" of the young that support him. I really want to be as "poor" as them, and be able to afford the latest iPhone. Not that I want one, really, but it would be nice to have the sum and still call myself "dismally poor". ;)

There is much more to say about Navalny, but he isn't really worth the time. Luckily, the current government is "dictatorial" enough :P to not let this nonsense bother them. ;)

And speaking of corruption, if you know Russian, watch this small video.


https://youtu.be/bcB4mgtGyBg
 
Navalny seemed fine when he only addressed local problems like corruption and mismanagement. Anyway someone needs to speak about it to keep authorities fit. The picture turned upside down when Navalny went foreign policy. He can get a job on CNN of FOX without a need to change his rhetorics. We've already seen this democracy and freedom in action. No, thanks.
 
Navalny seemed fine when he only addressed local problems like corruption and mismanagement.

Поправочка. Навальный не выглядел хорошо даже тогда, если вспомнить источник его "вдохновения". Сравнение с Макроном, на мой взгляд, вполне оправданно. Ну а результаты побед такого рода борцов с несправедливостями хорошо видны на Украине- страна экономически разрушена всего за 3 года под лозунгами борьбы с коррумпированной властью и под беззастенчивым водительством кукловодов (печеньки Нуланд на майдане, Байден в кресле председателя правительства Украины и т. д.) Таких "борцов" нам не надо, мы уж как-то сами...

Translation
Correction. Navalny does not look good even then, if you remember the source of his "inspiration". A comparison with the Macron, in my opinion, quite justified. Well, the results of the victories of this kind of fighters against injustice are clearly visible in the Ukraine - the country is economically destroyed in just 3 years, under the slogan of struggle against the corrupt government under the shameless guidance of puppeteers (cookies Nuland on the Maidan, Biden in the chair Prime of the government of Ukraine, etc.) Such "fighters" we do not need, we really like it yourself...
 
Apologies for my short introduction and the confusion because I relied on my thread title and my remarks to sufficiently explain what I intended by posting the article.

Posting the article was not at all meant to place focus on this Navalny character, even though I talked about his attitude a bit from what I have read about him, to give some context. Nor was it meant to tarnish Vladimir Putin's image, heaven forbid. Being fond of Russia and her people and their president whom I regard highly, I hope to visit the country one day, it's high on my bucket list.

Being indeed rather ignorant about Russia, probably like most non-Russians, I wanted to put on the table for discussion some important issues in the country today, namely poverty and corruption, mentioned by that opposition politician in the article. I hoped that Russian forum members would elucidate these matters from insiders' perspectives, and would also speculate on the influence these issues could have on the outcome of the upcoming election in these very revolutionary times. According to one source, one-quarter of the Russian population is destitute. The figure could be exaggerated, but even half that number is alarming. Do miseries like widespread poverty and corruption not often correctly predict a very troublesome election?

No doubt the reasons for so much poverty in Russia are many and complicated (and many of them forced on the nation by dark forces). Some known causes I've read about, include the global financial crash of 2008 which also affected Russia when its economy shrunk by 9.5 percent and wiped out nearly all the gains Putin made against poverty during the previous years, when there were impressive growth and prosperity; the oil prices are unstable; the government has budget problems and can't cope with supporting social services; much of the budget goes to defence and the military and industrial complex; the West put into place sanctions against Russia. Consequently, it is said, the living standard of more and more ordinary people are sucked into a steep downward spiral.

Despite these economic problems affecting such a large section of the population, however, it seems that the rich is getting much, much richer.

Or, could the destitution of so many people be a lie? - suggested by Keit's remark about young people with their expensive iPhones. Does it mean that the above poverty figure is mainly anti-Putin propaganda and also that most of the "poor" young people in the protest marches are in truth Russian versions of spoilt snowflake brats being used by the PTB to help bring about political change with the next election?

It is nearly impossible to find trustworthy/balanced information about anything today, and particularly about Russia in the present anti-Russian climate. No matter what publication you read, Der Spiegel and most other sources, most of them mix truth with lies to confuse readers and make the whole seem believable. One can only try verifying information by asking intelligent, objective insiders about their knowledge and insights. I would really like to know what is happening behind the scenes in Russia concerning poverty and corruption and how these issues could affect the election. Many people consider Vladimir Putin as the most intelligent person and influential factor in world politics today - one can't help but wonder where the world would head without this important captain steering the ship of Earth, should the dark forces manage to break his grip on the wheel in the upcoming election through mechanisms such as poverty and corruption in his country.
 

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youlik said:
Navalny seemed fine when he only addressed local problems like corruption and mismanagement.

Поправочка. Навальный не выглядел хорошо даже тогда, если вспомнить источник его "вдохновения". Сравнение с Макроном, на мой взгляд, вполне оправданно. Ну а результаты побед такого рода борцов с несправедливостями хорошо видны на Украине- страна экономически разрушена всего за 3 года под лозунгами борьбы с коррумпированной властью и под беззастенчивым водительством кукловодов (печеньки Нуланд на майдане, Байден в кресле председателя правительства Украины и т. д.) Таких "борцов" нам не надо, мы уж как-то сами...

Translation
Correction. Navalny does not look good even then, if you remember the source of his "inspiration". A comparison with the Macron, in my opinion, quite justified. Well, the results of the victories of this kind of fighters against injustice are clearly visible in the Ukraine - the country is economically destroyed in just 3 years, under the slogan of struggle against the corrupt government under the shameless guidance of puppeteers (cookies Nuland on the Maidan, Biden in the chair Prime of the government of Ukraine, etc.) Such "fighters" we do not need, we really like it yourself...

That can be your opinion and it's fine but he did something useful, at least for some people, for example roszkh.ru. If he wouldn't pursue political ambitions maybe we would see him in different light. The world is not black and white.
 
Ynna said:
Or, could the destitution of so many people be a lie? - suggested by Keit's remark about young people with their expensive iPhones. Does it mean that the above poverty figure is mainly anti-Putin propaganda and also that most of the "poor" young people in the protest marches are in truth Russian versions of spoilt snowflake brats being used by the PTB to help bring about political change with the next election?

Firstly, there is a huge gap in income levels between Moscow and peripheries, maybe 3–4 times difference in minimal wage. So one needs to make a note where are these young people from. Secondly, the is some kind of `iPhone mentality` amongst young people in Russia. Trying to follow the trend they buy these fancy gadgets using loans when they don't even have enough money on really necessary things.

Speaking of poverty, yes, there are many poor people (there can be different levels of poverty) in Russia, but it won't make them go to streets and protest unless the situation is really dare. We're not snowflakes and have a resilience.
 
aimarok said:
That can be your opinion and it's fine but he did something useful, at least for some people, for example roszkh.ru. If he wouldn't pursue political ambitions maybe we would see him in different light. The world is not black and white.

Indeed. But while many people and politicians do things that turn out to be useful for some people, it is also important to notice an overall trend and intentions. And his association with other "liberal activists". In case of Navalny, just like with Macron, he is clearly a puppet, and his "political ambitions" are being used by other sources. Here, for example, what was said about him back in 2012 (in Russian). Also search for "Navalny" on SOTT to read numerous articles about him in English.

And now there are efforts to clean his image of the "warrior against corruption", and also inflate his chances as a possible candidate for presidency. Basically, despite the fact that he did something useful for the Russian people and against corruption, if he will be allowed to have more power than he has now, it means the end of everything Putin has been trying to do. Because he is, just like Macron, no more than a talking head.

aimarok said:
Firstly, there is a huge gap in income levels between Moscow and peripheries, maybe 3–4 times difference in minimal wage. So one needs to make a note where are these young people from. Secondly, the is some kind of `iPhone mentality` amongst young people in Russia. Trying to follow the trend they buy these fancy gadgets using loans when they don't even have enough money on really necessary things.

And that's the real problem, when young people, who got infected with the Western culture of consumerism, listen and believe to people like Navalny. Who promised them 10 thousand euros in case they will be arrested during demonstrations. Not only they have no knowledge of history, and in what kind of dire situation Russia was before Putin, they have no life experience to understand it viscerally, and therefore see the danger. That's why their youthful idealistic ideas are being used in a most cynical way. I actually know several such young people, very intelligent and driven, who think that Navalny is the new hope for Russia.

aimarok said:
Speaking of poverty, yes, there are many poor people (there can be different levels of poverty) in Russia, but it won't make them go to streets and protest unless the situation is really dare. We're not snowflakes and have a resilience.

Yes indeed. There are a lot of regions where people are really poor, and don't have enough money for basic necessities. It is a serious problem. And since Russia is huge, it's impossible to deal with it in one centralized way. Therefore, it is important to have an effective (and not corrupt) governing system in every region. And for now it is still in a "science fiction" stage, though Putin started taking definite steps in this direction.

That's why what Navalny and his kind say is nothing but a fraud, because even with the best effort and intentions, it may take more than 50 years to clean up at least some of the mess.

And just to put things in perspective, in US there are also entire states where people live in abject poverty. It is more covert there due to the capitalistic image, where everyone is responsible for their own level of wealth. But still, it is incredibly outrageous to hear that sodium chloride IV can cost up to 700$.
 
Laura said:
Niall said:
More on Navalny:

Origins of the anti-Russia sanctions: The CIA-MI6 plot to corrupt Russia, recruit Navalny, murder Magnitsky, and blame Putin (VIDEO)

I don't think he's a serious candidate for the presidency. Question is; will Putin run again?

He must be getting seriously tired. He's the same age as me and I'm tired.

I have been pondering the same in recent days. It feels Putin wants not to run again, because he is really exhausted: we can see how much on his recent media photos. In case he decides to retire, I feel he still desires to remain on board as consultant and there is a good chance of a potent 'Caesars Army' - his army - a team of expert politicians to take over and lead Russia along the same way Putin did. Lavrov's name came up as suggested president.

Probabilities only, of course.
 
I'm not really clued in as to who could possibly run, but what about Medvedev? Maybe Putin could steer him from behind the scenes geopolitically if he decides not to run, if Putin trusts him. But if Putin doesn't run, the West will have its lackeys lining up to snatch the presidency and move Russia towards a more pro-Empire stance.
 
Beau said:
I'm not really clued in as to who could possibly run, but what about Medvedev? Maybe Putin could steer him from behind the scenes geopolitically if he decides not to run, if Putin trusts him. But if Putin doesn't run, the West will have its lackeys lining up to snatch the presidency and move Russia towards a more pro-Empire stance.
That's what I am thinking too. He has too many enemies at this stage. It may be dangerous for him not to have power and probably to the world too at this stage of changes in World stage. I guess he may still run for power and reduce his activities unless he find suitable alternative candidate.
 
seek10 said:
Beau said:
I'm not really clued in as to who could possibly run, but what about Medvedev? Maybe Putin could steer him from behind the scenes geopolitically if he decides not to run, if Putin trusts him. But if Putin doesn't run, the West will have its lackeys lining up to snatch the presidency and move Russia towards a more pro-Empire stance.
That's what I am thinking too. He has too many enemies at this stage. It may be dangerous for him not to have power and probably to the world too at this stage of changes in World stage. I guess he may still run for power and reduce his activities unless he find suitable alternative candidate.

Я позволю себе сравнить ситуацию в нынешней России, если ее представить в отсутствии Путина, с ситуацией сложившейся после царствования Ивана 4 Грозного или с судьбой империи Александра Македонского после его смерти. Сейчас авторитет власти в народе держится на одной, всем известной личности. При этом есть целый ряд личностей, которые имеют, в совокупности, примерно одинаковые силы. Помимо уже упоминавшихся Медведева и Лаврова, в этом списке есть Шойгу, Володин, Иванов, Сечин. Это ребята федерального уровня, но ведь есть ряд харизматичных лидеров в некоторых регионах. Если учесть, что кое-где существуют вполне отчетливые устремления к независимости, то все это вместе может указывать на нехорошие перспективы для России в случае внезапного или плохо подготовленного ухода Путина из власти.

Translation
I allow myself to compare the situation in modern Russia, if its present in the absence of Putin, with the situation after the reign of Ivan the terrible 4 or with the fate of the Empire of Alexander the great after his death. Now the credibility of power in the country rests on a well-known personality. There are a number of persons who, in the aggregate, of approximately equal strength. Apart from the already mentioned Medvedev and Lavrov, the list is Shoigu, Volodin, Ivanov, Sechin. It's the guys at the Federal level, but there are a number of charismatic leaders in some regions. When you consider that in some places there is a clear desire for independence, all of this together may indicate a bad future for Russia in case of a sudden or ill-prepared Putin's departure from power.
 
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