Archive for the 'Medvedev' Category

08
May

Duocracy: A Term Du Jour of Russian Politics

By Anna Ershova 0 Comments
Categories: Medvedev, Politics, Putin and Russia

A friend recently posted this on my Facebook wall:

Your capital city is quite beautiful ;) I watched the president taking his oath yesterday, it was quite interesting. Do you think he will try and remove Putin from power at some point or will let him complete his term as PM?

Now, this is an interesting question. Ever since Medvedev was elected, there was a feeling there are two presidents in Russia. There were and are numerous pictures of Mr. Medvedev by Mr. Putin’s side. They seem to form the most harmonious political tandem I have ever known.

Historically, a Prime Minister is a position of no real political power in Russia. The dynamics of the PM-president relationship will doubtlessly change now that Putin is a PM. I believe that the constitution somewhat limits PM’s power, but constitutions can be changed.

Duocracy, however, is unprecedented in Russian politics. There have always been “gray cardinals,” but it is difficult to believe Putin will agree to be one. However, I doubt President Medvedev will attempt to oust Mr. Putin. Medvedev does not appear to be power-thirsty enough to so. Putin is also older and more experienced than Medvedev. The latter is 55 and used to work as a spy, which, I would imagine, provides one with a lot of useful life experience for a politician; the former is 42 and was “just” trained in law. It seems that Mr. Putin can be a valuable adviser to Mr. Medvedev (unfortunately, mostly in how to make Russia autocratic).

To make Mr. Putin a PM was part of Medvedev’s presidential campaign. There were rumors that it was only a fake promise to attract voters, but the promise was been fulfilled today. Vladimir Putin is announced to be a Prime Minister of the Russian Federation. There is certainly at least one positive side to it.

Russia is a huge country and one of the problems that politicians face is that one leader is not enough to keep everything under control. I am not a fan of Putin’s, but I have to admit that corruption has decreased since he was elected 8 years ago. Russia is not as chaotic anymore. Who knows, duocracy may actually benefit the country and keep thing more civilized and organized.

I am more than confident that tomorrow both President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin will be watching the Victory Day parade side by side on the Red Square. Welcome to the world of duocracy.

08
May

Svetlana Medvedeva: Introducing Russia’s New First Lady

By Anna Ershova 1 Comment
Categories: Medvedev, Politics and Russia

Svetlana Medvedeva is the new Karla Bruni. Or the new Jacquie Kennedy. At least that’s what the visitors of my blog think: many of them accessed it while searching for “Svetlana Medvedev nice body,” “Svetlana Medvedeva nationality” etc. Interestingly enough, nobody searched for Dmitriy Medvedev himself.

So here are some comments.

Russia’s new First Lady’s name is Svetlana Medvedeva, not “Medvedev.” Her husband’s last name is Medvedev, a typical Russian name ending in “ov/ev.” For female last names, one adds an “a” to that ending, making it “ova/eva.” For instance, my dad’s name is Ershov, my mom’s and mine are Ershova. My parents used to receive letters from my Hong Kong high school in which they were addressed as Mr. and Mrs. Ershova, which sounds really weird to any Russian.

As far as her “nationality” is concerned, I believe she is Russian Russian, just like President Medvedev. By the way, he is officially a President now, the inauguration ceremony was held on May 7.

For those interested in her “nice body,” I am not an expert, but she definitely has a distinctive sense of style. She already appears to be involved with more different charity causes than Lyudmila Putina was. The Independent has an informative article about the high school sweethearts’ love story and their careers.

In a couple of hours ex-President Putin is supposed to be appointed prime minister. Russia has an exciting first lady, a new President, and an ex-President, who is going to be a new (powerful?) prime minister. Let’s see what’s going to happen.