 Putin after Putin in Russia Berlin (UPI) Sep 28, 2010 - Vladimir Putin looks to become the next president of Russia, which could result in a cool-down of relations with the United States, a senior Russia expert writes. In another reminder that politics in Russia aren't quite normal yet, President Dmitry Medvedev Tuesday fired Moscow's popular Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who had been in office since 1992. Luzhkov had made the mistake of accusing Medvedev of poor leadership qualities at a time when the president is trying to demonstrate just those to boost his chances for re-election in 2012. Medvedev's problem is that his biggest rival is Putin, the prime minister, who installed Medvedev in his post and who may now want it back. The two leaders have been vying for popular support during the past weeks. Putin is the traditional Russian strongman who was already an up-and-coming state official when the Berlin Wall was still standing. The younger Medvedev, on the other hand, has been educated abroad and stands for a modernization of Russia's economic and political system. The problem is that Medvedev has never been able to emancipate himself from Putin. Their United Russia Party will select the top candidate for the 2012 presidential elections next summer and analysts say Medvedev's chances to emerge winning are slim. "Hardly anyone believes that Medvedev can defeat Putin," writes Alexander Rahr, a senior Russia expert at the German Council on Foreign Relations, in his new analysis "Putin after Putin." Rahr earlier this month was among a selected group of non-Russian experts who met with both Putin and Medvedev for closed-door talks in Moscow. Rahr writes that Putin gave an immensely self-confident vision of Russia's political future, including the desire to keep Russia's dominant role as Europe's energy supplier, and to regain lost political clout in the former Soviet republics. Then, a third term for Putin could spell trouble for U.S.-Russian relations, Rahr says. Unsolved regional territorial conflicts in the post-Soviet realm, including the ones in Georgia and Transnistria "could heat up in the busy year 2012 if Putin re-enters the Kremlin and a neo-conservative Republican replaces Barack Obama as U.S. president." However, the analyst also revealed that Putin said he was seeing "eye-to-eye" with Obama on geopolitical security issues, including the conflict in Iran and Afghanistan. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the experts he could imagine that Russia teams up with the United States for a joint missile defense system against threats from the Middle East, Rahr writes. "When global challenges arise, Russia will stand on the side of the United States and the European Union on many questions," the expert writes. "But it will also adamantly pursue its ambition of becoming a major global power." |
Medvedev arrived in China's financial hub from Beijing, where he met President Hu Jintao and other leaders for talks focused on his country's crucial energy cooperation with Beijing.
The two sides -- once bitter foes during the Cold War -- celebrated the completion of a long-awaited cross-border oil pipeline linking Russia, the world's biggest oil producer, with China, the largest energy consumer.
"Relations between Russia and China are at their highest point now. We are truly strategic partners," Medvedev said at a ceremony launching Russia Day at the massive Expo, a showcase of world culture and technology that began May 1.
"The very fact of visiting the exhibition is another demonstration of friendship between Russia and China," he said, adding the event showed that both countries were serious about pressing ahead with economic modernisation.
"Innovations are a choice for our country," he said.
Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, Medvedev's host for the day in Shanghai, said the two countries were "good neighbours", adding that it was the "best period in history" for Sino-Russian relations.
Medvedev and Xi -- considered by many to be Hu's heir apparent -- visited both the Chinese and Russian pavilions at the Expo and held talks.
The Kremlin is keen to copy Beijing's recipe for economic success and modernisation -- a buzz word in Medvedev's Russia -- and the Russia president said he had discussed the issue with Hu.
Medvedev said Hu had told him that Chinese investors were keen to be part of the building of a future innovation centre just outside Moscow, the Russian leader's pet project.
"I am sure there are good prospects in this regard," he told reporters.
Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian billionaire whom Medvedev has put in charge of the project, said Russian and Chinese companies were in talks over possible opportunities to collaborate on the centre, but no firm deals had been signed.
"We are working on it, establishing ties and contacts," he said.
So far, energy accounts for the bulk of Sino-Russian cooperation.
According to the Kremlin, the oil Russia will send to its neighbour over the next 20 years will be worth 150 billion dollars.
The countries are still finalising a deal that could see 70 billion cubic metres of Russian natural gas sent to China each year, and have also announced plans to jointly build a five-billion-dollar oil refinery in northern China.
Medvedev began his trip to China in the northeast city of Dalian, where he paid tribute to Soviet-era soldiers who died defending the port from Japanese invaders and said the ties between the two countries were "sealed by blood."
"Dalian is the history of our ties. Beijing is the present... and in Shanghai, we are looking at the future," Medvedev said before heading back to Russia.
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