Penulis : serbansongket
Putin ingin kembali ke Istana Presiden Kremlin. Itulah petikan berita dari ft.com. Jika di tulis begitu memang sahih la beliau masih 'kurang puas' berada di situ. Memang hebat dan licik 'Si Putin' ini.
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Putin hints at bid for Kremlin comeback
By Stefan Wagstyl and Charles Clover in Moscow
Published: September 11 2009 19:07 | Last updated: September 11 2009 19:07
Vladimir Putin, Russia’s prime minister, dropped his strongest hint so far on Friday that he might try to return to the Kremlin and run in the 2012 presidential election.
Speaking to foreign academics and journalists, he said that he and President Dmitry Medvedev, his protégé, would together decide who would stand for the presidency after Mr Medvedev’s term ended.
Mr Putin installed Mr Medvedev as his successor when he stepped down as president last year after two terms in office. Most Russians believe that even though the prime minister is formally subordinate to the president, Mr Putin remains Russia’s most powerful man.
Dismissing suggestions that there might be a contest over the presidency, Mr Putin said: “There was no competition between us in 2007 and we won’t have any in 2012.”
Smilingly confidently, Mr Putin added that he and Mr Medvedev would take account of “the realities of 2012”, their personal plans, and the views of United Russia, the dominant, pro-Kremlin political party.
Mr Putin’s comments come amid occasional signs that Mr Medvedev may be trying to carve out a personal political position distinct from his mentor, even if the two men seem to agree on most important issues.
Earlier this week Mr Medvedev published an article on Gazeta.ru, a liberal website, in which he said: “An ineffective economy, semi-Soviet social sphere, weak democracy, negative demographic trends and an unstable Caucasus. These are very big problems even for a state like Russia.”
He appeared to distance himself from Mr Putin’s authoritarian approach. “Russia’s political system will be open, flexible and complex,” he said.
“As in most democratic nations, the leaders of the political struggle will be parliamentary parties which periodically replace each other in power.”
At Friday’s meeting at his Moscow residence, Novo Ogarevo, Mr Putin said he was “moderately optimistic” that relations with the US were improving following President Barack Obama’s decision to “reset” ties and his visit to Moscow. But Russia was waiting for “practical steps” to follow “the positive signals” it had received – including progress in talks on a new strategic arms treaty to replace the Start pact expiring in December.
However, the Russian prime minister was also direct in his criticism of the west, not least the US.
He accused Washington of dragging its feet in Russia’s long negotiations to join the World Trade Organisation and of misleading Moscow over Nato enlargement. “We were told there was no expansion to the east but now there is a military base in Bulgaria,” he said.
Mr Putin declined to say whether he had received Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, on a secret visit this week, as was reported in Israel.
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