Vice President Medvedev

Former prime minister became Deputy Vladimir Putin at the Security Council. What is this position?

Vladimir Putin suggested Dmitry Medvedev, who left the post of Prime Minister of Russia, to take the post of deputy chairman of the Security Council. Thus, Medvedev will become the deputy of Putin himself, since according to the law “On Security” it is the president who presides in this structure. Medvedev’s place in the government will be occupied by the head of the Federal Tax Service Mikhail Mishustin .

Member of the Federation Council Vladimir Dzhabarov has already equated Medvedev’s new post with vice president. At the same time, as Meduza told a source close to the government, before Putin’s message , Medvedev did not know anything about the changes in the Constitution or his new position. They agreed on her already at a personal meeting - after the president made his speech. However, as the head of the government, Medvedev was already part of the Security Council, and some seniorly and after resignation retained a place in it - for example, the former Minister of Internal Affairs Rashid Nurgaliev and the former head of the Putin administration Sergei Ivanov.

Two sources close to the presidential administration told Medusa that in recent months, Medvedev and the deputy head of the Putin administration, Sergei Kiriyenko, fought to control the domestic policy of Russia. Medvedev wanted guarantees that the United Russia party, which he leads, would receive a constitutional majority in the next State Duma, and Kiriyenko advocated the parliament of severalnew parties to create a wide Prooputin coalition. As a result, some people of Kiriyenko entered the leadership of the EP. At the same time, the governors elected with the support of the AP actively promoted their own agenda, an alternative government, on the site of the State Council - including directly criticizing Medvedev’s office.

By resigning from the prime minister’s post, Medvedev said that “we, as the Government of the Russian Federation, should provide the president of our country with the opportunity to make all the necessary decisions - and in these conditions I believe that it would be correct in accordance with Article 117 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation so that the Government of the Russian Federation in the current composition resigned.” Nevertheless, as Meduza explained by Constitutionalist, Ilya Shablinsky, from the Higher School of Economics, “there are no legal reasons for the government’s resignation,” since None of Putin's proposals obligated the government to add up powers.

The appointment of Medvedev in the Council of Security is accompanied by legal difficulties. In the same Law “On Security” in the list of posts in the Security Council of the Deputy Chairman - only the chairman, the secretary (this post is held by Nikolai Patrushev), permanent members and ordinary members. On the other hand, according to Article 13 of the same document, the president approves the Regulation on the Security Council, which the deputy chairman may theoretically submit. Putin immediately clarified that “if you need to amend the current law,” he is ready to do this. The fact that not all formalities are still settled still confirms that events developed spontaneously.

What exactly the powers will possess Medvedev as the deputy of Putin according to councils is also unknown. According to the law, this body is responsible for the preparation of presidential decisions in the field of security, foreign policy, the military-industrial complex and military-technical cooperation. The Security Council has exclusively advisory rights - but the secretary of this body Nikolai Patrushev has a reputation as one of the most influential security forces in Russia. At least formally Medvedev will be higher than him in the hierarchy. In addition, as the RIA Novosti sources report , the former prime minister will preserve the post of head of United Russia.

According to political scientist Konstantin Haaza, the decision to transfer Medvedev to the Council of Ministers was unplanned, “because otherwise the problem was the problem of sitting until September, preparing the referendum [proposed by Putin] and to issue a resignation after that?” Haaza believes that Medvedev “broke” (that is, could not resist the post), and a new position is nothing more than a “golden parachute”. At the same time, Haaze does not exclude that Putin sent Medvedev to oversees the security forces who “drank blood” of the prime minister for ten years.

The expert of the Moscow Center of Carnegie Tatyana Stanva calls Medvedev a “toxic figure”. “I think Putin considered his appointment, for example, by the head of Gazprom or the Constitutional Court with quite dangerous options, because Medvedev causes many conflicts and is not accepted by a significant part of the elite. To give Medvedev some real area of ​​work with real powers would be dangerous for Putin himself. ” On the other hand, he considers the Stanovaya, Putin’s post gives him a certain defense: “The one who will attack Medvedev will, in fact, attack the president.” But the deputy chairman of the Security Council, most likely, will most likely have real powers, the political scientist concludes.

Regardless of his new position, Medvedev has the right to a number of benefits as a former president (he held this post from 2008 to 2012). In accordance with the law on guarantees of the former head of state, he is provided with state security, budget financing is preserved, his family members also receive some benefits. The former president has legal inviolability, but it can be removed in the event of a criminal case on the fact of a serious crime.

Dmitry Kartsev with the participation of Andrei Pertsev, Pavel Merzlikin, Kristina Safonova and Maxim Solopov