Viktor Zubkov is ready to become the next president of Russia, but the current president may have other ideas.
Photo: Nikita Infantyev
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Prime Minister 2008
// President Zubkov?
Viktor Zubkov, who will be approved today by the State Duma as prime minister, announced yesterday that he has not ruled out the possibility of running for president in 2008. That automatically places him among other potential "successors" of Vladimir Putin. But statements made by Putin yesterday about the change of government point to the opposite, that is, that Zubkov was appointed to ease the course of succession as the old prime minister of the new president.
When asked if his appointment as prime minister is grounds to include him in the list of potential successors to Putin, Zubkov answered directly and unambiguously. “If I do anything as prime minister, it is possible that will be an option as well,” he told journalists after a meeting with the Duma factions.
So far in the modern history of Russia, there has only been a single prime minister who publicly admitted to presidential ambitions. His name was Vladimir Putin, and it happened, as now, about half a year before the presidential elections (although no one knew then that there would be early elections). When asked in August 1999, “Will you run for president?”, the little-known acting prime minister answered firmly, “I certainly will. And I am consciously speaking openly about it. Because there are people who say one thing but really want to do something completely different. People like that cannot inspire confidence.” When asked what will happen “if the president dismisses you in a few months too,” the future prime minister answered laconically. “It will mean we couldn't handle it,” he said. Zubkov's “if I do something as prime minister” looks like a close paraphrase of those words.
It is also noteworthy that the deputy press secretary to the president, Dmitry Peskov, who provides First Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov with informational support, accompanied Zubkov to the Duma. It can, of course, be suggested that the Kremlin simply decided to help Zubkov, who has hade very limited media exposure, with his first large scale interaction with the press. But the presidential administration did not show such consideration for Mikhail Fradkov when who was an equal mystery to journalists in February 2004.
There was also news yesterday that could be seen as supporting completely opposite conclusions. During his trip to Belgorod Region, Putin explained at length for the first time why the government was dismissed less than three months before the Duma elections.
The president bemoaned “a certain indefiniteness” in the members of the cabinet about what would become of them after the presidential election. Now, in his opinion, “the whole system of authority will function without interruption both during the election and immediately afterward.” He referred to the success of 2004, when he replaced the “satisfactory as a whole” prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov with Mikhail Fradkov, practically with the same goal, to wit, that the citizens of Russia know “the proposed membership of the highest executive organ” in the case that the current president were elected to a second term. In his televised address devoted to the change of government in 2004, Putin also spoke about “indefiniteness in the structure of federal executive authority” that “the timely formation of a government” was supposed to remove.
That analogy, suggested by the president himself, leads to the thought that Zubkov should become the personification of the course of succession as the old prime minister of the new president, who, following that logic, may be Sergey Ivanov, Dmitry Medvedev, or someone else, but not Zubkov.
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Do You See Viktor Zubkov as President?
Andrey Isaev, member of the presidium of the general council of the United Russia Party:
I already see him as prime minister. Further, we will live and learn.
Vladimir Ryzhkov, independent member of the State Duma:
If he touches on the topics of corruption, monetization and aid to regional budgets in the Duma, yes. Those are populist themes that are easy to spin. But if his address is gray, it means the Kremlin still hasn't made a final decision.
Mark Urnov, president of the Expertise Fund:
He would make a good technical president. He won't force his will on the Putin team that remains in power. His age is another advantage. He can hand authority over to whomever they say at any moment. And he wouldn't have talked about the subject if it hadn't been agreed on in advance.
Valentin Kuptsov, deputy speaker of the State Duma, member of the central committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation:
No, he has admitted to us honestly that he does not intend to change the course, and we have admitted that we will not vote for him.
Igor Lebedev, leader of the LDPR faction:
No, I see the leader of our party as president.
Vasily Duma, member of the Federation Council:
When Kommersant Vlast asked the same question about Putin in August 1999, only one of 19 respondents unreservedly said they saw him as president. Maybe Zubkov is what we need. He is impartial, not entangled in clans, a man of action and unspoiled by politics.
Gennady Seleznev, member of the State Duma:
No. You have to know Viktor Alexeevich to appreciate his humor. Not be chance did he set the condition of success in the government. He knows you can attain success in four months. The president will be someone else, and not one of the “successors.”
Alfred Kokh, industrialist:
I didn't see Putin as president. May be I don't know my country.
Anatoly Lisitsyn, Governor of Yaroslavl Region:
Of course. Zubkov comes from economics and has an excellent knowledge of finance. Putin has been addressing economic, and not political, questions recently.
Dmitry Kamyshev
All the Article in Russian as of Sep. 14, 2007
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