Translated material
The first two
Vladimir Putin: Everyone who needs it is already working at their posts
The reshuffle in the government that Vladimir Putin made yesterday not only does not mean a radical “revision of positions” on the eve of the elections, but, on the contrary, strengthens the configuration in power that the president, apparently, prefers. Although Russian political scientists yesterday were in a state of shock from these changes.Yesterday, the president signed a decree appointing Sergei Ivanov as first deputy prime minister (until now he was simply “vice”), while releasing him from the post of defense minister. Thus, there are now two first deputy prime ministers in the government - Dmitry Medvedev received this post immediately after moving from the Kremlin administration. Putin appointed Anatoly Serdyukov , who until yesterday was the head of the Federal Tax Service, to the post of Minister of Defense. And finally, Sergei Naryshkin, head of the government apparatus with the rank of minister, was appointed deputy prime minister. The President announced these appointments during a meeting with members of the government yesterday. Immediately before this, according to Vremya Novostey's Kremlin sources, Putin held a detailed meeting with Messrs. Fradkov, Ivanov and Medvedev. Moreover, one of the newspaper’s interlocutors assures that the reshuffle was not news to any of them.
Two weeks ago, Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov , meeting with the president, mentioned the plan “which I reported to you regarding clarifying the structure of the government and its functions.” “I would ask you to return once again to these government proposals,” the prime minister said then. To which Putin replied: we’ll return to this topic later. And early last week, during the traditional meeting with members of the cabinet, he himself returned to the topic, but only to say: “As for proposals to change the structure of the government, I would ask for this to be done a little later. Let's not rush. Let's discuss them in working order. Let’s consult with our colleagues.” Now the meaning of these words of Vladimir Putin has become much clearer. And we are, of course, not just talking about the structure of the government. At his recent “big” press conference, in response to journalists’ suggestion that future presidential candidates should gain experience at the state level, Putin remarked: “Everyone who needs it is already working in their posts.” Now, apparently, they are definitely working.
Vladimir Putin, first of all, equalized the status of the two main - now there is less and less doubt about this - candidates for the presidency of Russia. Since everyone already called them among the “successors,” it didn’t turn out very cleverly when one of them began to seriously break away from the other in the “ratings” race. Sergei Ivanov, at least in part, turned out to be a victim of his official position: being drafted into the army and endlessly making excuses for cases of hazing is not a very advantageous position when it comes to a potential candidate for the presidency of the country. The fact that some of the “Kremlin security forces”, who feared Mr. Ivanov’s good relationship with the president, actively used all the incidents in the army against the Minister of Defense, only the lazy did not say in power circles. Now Dmitry Medvedev and Sergei Ivanov have the same political positions in the event of entering the presidential race, and attempts to use hazing and military crimes as a way to politically discredit the latter lose their meaning.
According to the president, he and the prime minister decided “to expand the scope of Ivanov’s responsibility” in the government. As Putin noted, Mr. Ivanov, in addition to the military-industrial complex, will coordinate part of the civilian sector of the economy. The scope of his responsibility, according to Vremya Novostey, will still be clarified, but we are talking, as informed sources say, about “infrastructure in the broad sense of the word - not only the aviation industry and shipbuilding, but also transport, pipes, and energy.” It is obvious that between the years. Medvedev and Ivanov will need to carry out a clear division of areas of responsibility, but, our interlocutor says, they both understand the common goal and are ready to carry out this division within the framework of constructive interaction. Experience in the “civil economy” will not be superfluous for Sergei Ivanov, both if he actually becomes a presidential candidate and if, for example, he is considered as a candidate for the post of Russian Prime Minister.
This configuration in power, if it does not guarantee Putin from violent clashes in his team in connection with the upcoming elections, still makes the situation more stable. The point is not only that the president trusts both first deputy prime ministers, but also that they themselves are on decent terms with each other. Although attempts to push them together or to politically drown the two “firsts” at once may be made in the future.
The now former head of the Federal Tax Service, Anatoly Serdyukov, who had previously had no connection with the military department, was appointed Minister of Defense. As the head of the fiscal service, Mr. Serdyukov, of course, belongs to the “siloviki”, but it is difficult to judge how much this will help him in his difficult army service. It is only clear that this department is unlikely to be the “political springboard” that the Ministry of Defense was under Minister Ivanov.
A new Deputy Prime Minister for Foreign Economic Affairs and the CIS appeared in the government - he became the head of the government apparatus with the rank of minister, Sergei Naryshkin. This post, as the president himself admitted, was introduced at the request of Mikhail Fradkov. By the way, it is known that the Prime Minister considered it expedient to re-establish the Ministry of Trade in the government (at the same time, of course, the area of responsibility of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade headed by German Gref was reduced). Now this idea has partly come to fruition, however, without the formation, so to speak, of a legal entity, but due to the appearance of a physical person.