De tandem van Medvedev en Poetin: wie heeft de macht in Rusland?

Marc Jansen addresses the question who is the real leader in Russia at the moment. In May 2008, Vladimir Putin was succeeded as Russian President by his protégé Dmitrii Medvedev, but he stayed on as Prime Minister. A so-called 'tandem' was created, with Putin as the unchallenged No. 1. Whereas Medvedev presented himself as a liberal, Putin's harder line left its mark on Russian policy. There are divergent theories about Putin's future. Some analysts are of the opinion that his final retirement is near. An immediate cause could be the hard consequences of the international financial crisis in Russia, ending years of economic recovery under Putin's presidency. Others, on the contrary, expect him to stay on and possibly even return to his former job. They point to a constitutional amendment, recently introduced by Medvedev, to extend the presidential term from four to six years. In their eyes, the change is tailored for Putin, who might return as Russian President at the end of Medvedev's term, or even in early elections in 2009. Putin, however, has denied that he plans to return to the presidency before 2012.