28.09.2007 Russia, Moscow. The Komsomolskaya pravda newspaper billboard. Portrait of Russia's President Vladimir Putin.
Photo: Kirill Tulin
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Putin Went His Own Way
// The President bid a farewell to his former and future subordinates
Yesterday Russia’s President Vladimir Putin met with his former and future subordinates. Kommersant special correspondent Andrey Kolesnikov distinguishes Administration officials among those former, and Government members – among those future, and points out that in the near future some of them can change places forming a single and solid vertical of power. Besides, Kommersant special correspondent reminds about those who have failed to get incorporated in the vertical.
As a rule, weekly meetings with the members of the Government take place in the 1st building of the Kremlin. But yesterday the journalists were seen to the 14th building, where they had to wait for the action to begin; no one bothered to give any explanations to them. There was such a mess there that it got clear from the start: This time everything will be different.
First, you could get impressed with the number of those invited: All members of the Government who were in Moscow that morning were at the venue. (Only Sergey Ivanov, Alexander Zhukov and Yury Trutnev were absent – they had the courage to go for a holiday).
Second, all the President’s associates were present, too. You could see the President’s press-secretary Alexey Gromov and Chief of the Presidential Protocol Igor Shchegolev. (Only one thing could catch your eye – Sergey Yastrzhembsky was absent; but it was pointless for him to come there that day because his fate had been sealed: He is leaving the Administration of the President without moving to the Government, which is, according to the information of Kommersant, his own decision.) They were waiting for the action to start in a small hall, where tables were laid for them. You could see jars with fruit drinks taken there, and it was so familiar: In the morning after holidays people wanted to drink.
It need be said that the ministers and top-managers of the Administration didn’t mix awaiting the President, with one exception however: Science and Education Minister Andrey Fursenko joined the President’s associates.
Even if you could notice any sign of concern on their faces, it looked a bit ritualistic. You had the impression that they all knew what would happen to them after May 7, and they were completely satisfied with that knowledge. Sergei Shoigu, Chief of the EMERCOM, was killing the time at a table, drawing a man with a long nose in his notebook. It was some desperate Georgian, for sure. And no doubt, the graphics of Sergei Shoigu were relevant. Seeing that his work was estimated by the public, the minister smiled shyly. It was a smile of an artist seeking no extra recognition of his talent, but dreaming of the nation-wide glory in his heart of hearts. Well, glory is something Mr Shoigu, who has been in office more than any of those present at the venue, has in abundance.
Before entering the hall, the ministers had to leave their cell phones. Only Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov refused to do it. As he saw a plate with his name on it, the minister explained that he was not going to hand over his cell, because he had already done it.
At the same time there were no plates with the names of the President’s associates, and they took their phones to the main hall. So, much more trust was put in them than in the ministers.
“Today is a day of a routine meeting with the government,” Vladimir Putin said. “But there is going to be no meeting today.”
You could presume that he was going to announce the composition of the new government – you can never tell. On the one hand, it’s impossible: Vladimir Putin hasn’t stepped down yet and hasn’t been appointed Prime Minister in the Duma, but as things stood at the moment, you could presume anything. Moreover, there has been so many unexpected twists of the plot within the eight years that another thrilling act of power transition would look stale in a way. So, no one would be surprised.
But Mr Putin convened them all “to express his gratitude for the cooperation during the eight years, rather than to discuss routine issues.”
“My words of gratitude are addressed not only to those present here today,” the President said barely looking in the text of his speech, which meant that he was either truly sincere or considered the text so important that he had learned it by heart, “but also to those of our colleagues in the Administration and in the Government who are absent today, but worked with us in different periods of time and contributed to the revival of the Russian economy, social sphere, and the strengthening of our state’s defense.”
So, surprisingly, the President thanked both Mikhail Kasyanov and Andrey Illarionov. If only any of those present had the slightest assumption that those two men contributed to the revival of the Russian economy, social sphere, and the strengthening of the state’s defense.
The President emphasized that the country was “on the threshold of May 9” adding, “For the first time in many years weapons and military equipment will be demonstrated during the parade. And it is no sabre-rattling. We do not threaten anyone, and are not going to do it.”
At that very moment military machines passed along Moscow streets trampling on the peace of ordinary drivers, rather than merely threatening it.
“We do not make anyone do anything. We are self-sufficient,” the President stated, and the confidence in the future, which a minute ago swung between the approval ratings of Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev somewhere in the long dark corridor, became total-lot. “But this is the demonstration of our improving defense capacities.”
So, it is likely to be nothing else than sabre-rattling.
“We are able to defend our people, our citizens, our state, our resources, which we have in abundance,” added Mr Putin unable to resist the final remark.
Then the President said that “the cooperation between the Administration of the President and the Government will become closer, authorities must function as a single tuned mechanism.” You should have treated his words seriously – they are nothing of an idle threat if it can be put like that.
Indeed, much effort has been made in the past weeks to make it come true. Here an unofficial merger of different services of the President and the Government is implied: the protocol, security and press service.
The President also mentioned that “the realization of a set of measures in taxation and finance, the strengthening of the pension system and a new social policy” threaten us, and that it’s necessary “to step up efforts in a range of key and interconnected areas.” But you don’t have to bother so far: May 8 Vladimir Putin will dwell on it in the Duma.
“Today is my final meeting in this office,” Mr Putin concluded. “I’d like to once again thank everyone for the cooperation. And evidently, I want to wish every success to Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev.”
“Evidently” was the key word. It meant that there was nothing more evident at that moment than wishing success to the president-elect. Mr Putin showed that with these words, he only paid tribute to the protocol.
To the presidential or the Premier one?
Andrey Kolesnikov
All the Article in Russian as of May 06, 2008
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