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The Times Gave Floor to Western Admirers of Putin
Britain’s The Times released an article, Vladimir Putin Rescured Russia from Disaster: So Let’s Just Leave Him Be, on October 4. The author is Norman Stone, once the professor of Modern History at Oxford, and now the head of International Relations Department at Bilkent University.
Similar to most observers worldwide, Stone stakes on Russia’s current prime minister as Putin’s successor, predicting that Putin will remain influential in time of the nominal president.
Putin is finding a way to hang on to power, Stone wrote. “He can put himself forward as deputy for the reigning party, then become prime minister, and push forward, as nominal president, a man in his mid-sixties whom he can control,” Stone predicted, pointing out that this practice would hardly be new for Russia and emphasizing that Putin “has been a very successful leader of the country.”
”Not so long ago, Russia was being written off,” Stone said. Nowadays, however, the reality is different, and not only thanks to skyrocketing prices for crude but also because of Putin’s policy, which, amid other things, ensured the economic upturn and stabilization of the situation in Chechnya.
”So if Putin thinks that he has done well by his country he is not wrong, and masses of ordinary Russians agree. Now, Russia is recovering, and is back on the world’s stage. Why should a successful president be held back by some constitutional formality?” Stone posed a rethorical question. Stone reminded that referendums were held in former republics of collapsed Soviet Union for successful and popular presidents to stay in office and advised to Putin not to fear the criticism of Europe.
www.kommersant.com
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