Workers from a printing plant glance over a freshly printed Moscow Times newspaper, with an article about the presidential election on its front page, in Moscow March 3, 2008. Medvedev was elected as Russia's next president, early results showed on Sunday.
Photo: Reuters
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No Big Changes for Russia after Election
The March 2 presidential election in Russia hasn’t been ignored by the foreign media. When it comes to the comments, two trends are evident – the boycott by western observers and the absence of anyone able to compete with official frontrunner.
Similar to the parliamentary election of December 2007, the western analysts compare the Sunday event to election of the Soviet time. Some teachers, workers and other budget-sustained employees were threatened by being fired should they miss the election, according to The Daily Telegraph.
At the same time, quite a few newspapers acknowledged that Medvedev was a real choice of big numbers of voters. For some of them, Putin’s support matters a lot, while others favor him for preserving stability and prosperity of today’s Russia.
No drastic changes in Russia’s politics are expected. The general forecast is maintaining complete succession both in foreign policy and in the style of ruling the country. It was from Putin to Putin transfer of power, The Guardian said.
Future relations in Putin-Medvedev tandem in time of Medvedev’s presidency are another concern today. According to The Times, Medvedev lacks political support, as the Kremlin siloviki take him only as a person promoted by Putin. On the other hand, neither the nation nor Putin need a president, who isn’t respected, so Medvedev will have to reinforce his standing in the near time.
www.kommersant.com
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