Results of the week. Instead of a scepter - a Cheburashka

This week, the head of the Russian government, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, won another remarkable victory. He brilliantly demonstrated to the city and the world who is boss. The fact is that some unreasonable employees of Dmitry Medvedev tried to somewhat soften the results of Vladimir Vladimirovich’s previous brilliant victory, when, promising to send a “doctor” to the owner of the Mechel company, the prime minister collapsed the Russian stock market. And so, President Medvedev’s assistant (formerly an employee of President Putin’s Administration) risked timidly criticizing the prime minister. “We must be as careful as possible with public companies that operate on the market,” Dvorkovich told reporters. “Public companies should be supported by the Russian state; they are engines of economic growth.” And then the prime minister gave him a full blow. “I already mentioned directly at the meeting: one of the companies sells its product to the foreign market several times cheaper than domestic prices. They brought me the certificates today. Several times is an understatement. With an internal price of 4,100 rubles. sold abroad - to themselves, to their own offshore companies, in this case in Switzerland - at a price of 1,100 rubles. That is four times cheaper. And then they immediately sell it at world prices for $323. Well, where is this good?! What is this?! This is a reduction in the tax base within the country and tax evasion,” the prime minister said at a meeting of the government presidium. And the shares fell again. And not only Mechel, but practically everything. The market never recovered from this fall. But who cares about such trifles when it was necessary to eliminate not just a riot, but a faint hint of disagreement.

The next prime minister's victory was secured during a meeting with the head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service. During the conversation, it became clear that it is planned to fight cartel conspiracies using radical methods. Article 178 of the Criminal Code, which punishes non-competes (according to some sources, imprisonment for up to 10 years), should be revised. And the head of the FAS also asked to involve “allied partners” - the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Investigative Committee - in the fight against price collusion. Despite the importance of combating cartel conspiracies, I suspect that the meaning of these events is completely different. Since the article becomes “heavier”, law enforcement officers have the opportunity to arrest suspects and spend a long, long time in the bullpen. And the prime minister demonstrated that he still keeps a tight rein on not only the Presidential Administration, but also business.

And what was the highest official of our state, so to speak, the guarantor of the Constitution, doing all this time? Dmitry Medvedev had many important things to do. He met with Chinese children from the earthquake-hit Sichuan province. And also with the “nashi” who arrived directly from the camp on Seliger. True, the president also met with the head of Sberbank, German Gref - the interlocutors convinced each other of how wonderful things were on the Russian stock market.

And, finally, the apotheosis of important government activity. A meeting with the Olympic team, during which the athletes, dressed in exquisite blouses, presented the president with another T-shirt (the third or fourth since the beginning of his presidency - in four years, Medvedev will have a decent collection of sportswear). But the main thing is that the president was given a Cheburashka. I know that this is the symbol of the Russian Olympic team. But in the context of the events of the week, the above-mentioned fluffy and gentle character looks like a symbol of the powers given to Medvedev. Kind of like a scepter, but soft, soft...

It is no coincidence that an unnamed Foreign Ministry employee, who threatened to end the dialogue with the United States, considered it necessary to especially dwell on the foreign policy (almost wrote the world-historical) role of V.V. Putin: “In the role of Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin may be even more influential in the field of foreign policy , since he is dealing with the real thing, what Russia will be like in 5-10 years. He's more involved in this than the president."

However, I am not at all sure that this situation will last long. Even if Medvedev is ready in advance to be soft and fluffy, his employees with ambitions are unlikely to agree to tolerate this state of affairs. The story with Dvorkovich is just the beginning (Medvedev has not yet spent a hundred days in the Kremlin). It is possible that the president himself will at some point pluck up courage. He stated the other day that he was sending a signal: the authorities and security forces must stop “nightmare” business. True, this meant local authorities and small businesses. As for the people under his jurisdiction, they can only guess what destruction the prime minister will wreak the next time he suppresses those who dare to doubt his constant rightness.