People play with a ball near a tree bearing a portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin as they camp next to a new housing development to protect an adjacent grove in the southern Russian city of Stavropol.
Photo: Reuters
| Other Photos |
 |
|
 |
Andrew Kuchins Resuscitates Vladimir Putin
Yesterday, Andrew C. Kuchins, director of Russia and Eurasia Program of Center for Strategic & International Studies, CSIS, blamed on Kommersant misinterpretation of the very essence of Alternative Futures for Russia report elaborated by a team of the U.S. experts. According to Kuchins, Kommersant irresponsibly offered as a prediction the hypothetical scenario that he had written to illustrate the danger when too much in Russia’s political life depends on a single person.
The report which alleged misinterpretation by Kommersant gave rise to Kuchins’ claims was presented in Washington yesterday, December 13, 2007. It is the joint creation of a group of experts that expressed their views on the current and future policy and economy of Russia. Kommersant journalist Dmitry Sidorov had obtained the report before its official presentation.
Kuchins wrote the most impressive and sizeable portion of the report, Alternative Futures for Russia to 2017. The document spells out three possible scenarios for development of political situation in Russia in the nearest ten years. One of them forecasts sustainable development, another describes it should the prices for crude oil go down, while the third scenario depicts Russia’s future after Putin’s assassination.
The report, however, never specifies that scenarios are no more than some hypothetical illustration. The only thing that Kommersant actually omitted is that Mr Kuchins regards the sustainable development most probable for Russia, but it became clear only after the yesterday’s statement of the official.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 14, 2007
|
|
|
