wocsoM.org

We have now two presidents in Russia: old one is Mister Putin and a new one, appointed on March 2, Mister Medvedev. That idiocy will be formally ended on May 7, when Mr. Medvedev will be inaugurated in Kremlin’s seat. But nevertheless, for more than two months, Russia was headed by two presidents. 

As to Putin’s in his first years of presidency to Mr. Medvedev also could be addressed banal questions: "Who is Mister Medvedev?" Because Mr. Medvedev is not a political figure, he is a practically unknown bureaucrat, one of a huge crowd of bureaucrats surrounding Putin. As Putin himself is a small bureaucrat, one from a huge crowd of "chinovniks" surrounding Yeltsin. If the elected president had been named Zyuganov or Yavlinski or Kasparov or even Limonov, nobody in Russia would have asked a question: "Who is that man?" Because these are political leaders, actors in Russian political play. They are known to general population. Mr. Medvedev, on the contrary, is not known, or wasn’t known, at all. Mr. Medvedev is not a leader of political party, he is not a member of political party, so he is not a political man. We can guess that he is a member of Putin’s circle of close friends, a member of some inner circle. If he is to be appointed to the post of guarding of their interests, we are guessing that Mr. Medvedev is trusted by Mr. Putin’s group and Mr. Putin himself. 

So the answer to the question of "Who is Mister Medvedev?" is shamelessly simple. He is a guardian of Mr. Putin’s property and of property of members Mr. Putin’s group. In Russian criminal world could be found an exact definition of Mr. Medvedev’s role: he is "smotriaschiy"—the caretaker, somebody who is looking after the property and after interests of the criminal group. I didn’t say that Mr. Medvedev is a criminal himself, he is wearing expensive suites and expensive ties, I said that he is chosen to be the caretaker who looks after interests of Mr. Putin group.

Yes, of course, they have learned the lessons of the modern world. So, they don’t call themselves a "komissars" or "brothers" (at least not in public). They have learned how to manipulate public opinion, how to exterminate that very public opinion. For that purpose they took over the most important television channels, the bulk of written press. In order to be able to defend their regime from accusations of breaking the liberty of the press, they left "Ekho of Moscow," "REN-TV," "Kommersant" and "Novaya Gazeta" alone, so they can speak out. As Putin before did before him, Medvedev now can say to the Western reproaches in strangling the liberty of speech: Look, we have "Ekho Moscow," we have "REN-TV," we have "Novaya Gazeta."

Oh, those guys are smart guys. And Mr. Medvedev is smart one. They are smart enough to avoid to look as Lenin or Stalin or Beria. Silky ties, expensive suits, I said. Smiles, smiles, smiles... But smiles and silk ties don’t stop them from being repressive.

Why Mr. Medvedev was elected? Only partially was he elected, because of massive television exposure of his face and his deeds: everyday and everywhere. He was also "elected" because of simple cheating: a system is called "GAS-election," a system of counting of votes that is controlled by FSB. We can presume that FSB in the country called Russian will never let calculate against the interests of Mr. Putin, who was pushing Mr. Medvedev to presidency. Some sources said that Mr. Medvedev got only 27% of the votes, and reasonably thinking 27% is not bad for a nonpolitical man running for presidency. For a small, not convincing "chinovnik," not a communist leader, not a world chess champion, not a popular writer...just Mr. Medvedev from St. Petersburg.

What he is going to do, that Mr. Medvedev from St. Petersburg? Personally, I expect from Mr. Medvedev nothing. The most probable behavior will be filling advice-orders from Mr. Putin. Because Mr. Putin’s group is constructed in the same manner as all groups of power are constructed in Russia, including criminal groups. Leader, "Chief Papa", is a head of a group, even if he will have no official post, he will forever be father to the group—a "papa." Putin is "papa" in his group, just for now it is more convenient to group interests that Mr. Medvedev will hold post of President of Russia. "Papa" Putin will for a time hold the second post in the State, the post of Prime Minister. But, one should understand, Putin will be second on the state hierarchy. Inside the group hierarchy, Putin will always be "papa." As in all closed societies, "papa" will stay "papa" until his physical death. That is what one should keep in mind when thinking about Mr. Medvedev and Mr. Putin.

Is it possible that Mr. Medvedev will rebel against "papa" Putin? It is highly unlikely. Because such a rebellion will overturn the closed society-group of Putin. Such rebellion will work against interest of all members of a group. Mr. Medvedev was, I presume, chosen exactly for his obedience to "papa" personally, and for his obedience to the laws of the Putin’s group. Sergei Ivanov was probably considered as less safe. From my personal observation, Ivanov is indeed less safe; he could have a courage and recklessness to pursue his own individual path. So, Putin’s group has avoided appointing Ivanov as head of the State. It was a reasonable decision, I have to admit. It in no question who will be the better president: Mr. Ivanov or Mr. Medvedev. It was a question of who will be better for Putin’s group, who will be safer. That is Mr. Medvedev, no questions. I can only applaud that wise decision. He is the best choice for Putin’s group.

But, of course, the main interests of general population is to get rid of Mr. Putin’s as soon as possible. "Papa" is good for his group, but for us he is not "papa."