Publication

There has been an intensification of differences of opinion within Russia’s ruling tandem of President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, which may indicate that both politicians plan to run for president in the 2012 elections. It is up to the elites which control the country to decide whether the next head of state will be an advocate of evolutionary political and economic liberalization (Medvedev), or perhaps the status quo man (Putin), will return to the Kremlin. Russian society’s growing discontent will also be a factor.