Putin's final 'dialogue' with Russians?

Russian President Vladimir Putin said little about his future plans during a national Q-&-A Thursday.

from the October 19, 2007 edition

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One woman, who lives on an island near the Pacific port city of Vladivostok, complained of unreliable ferry service. She was informed by a smiling Putin that at least one bridge will soon be built to connect her island with the mainland. A group of ethnic Russians living in Kazakhstan were told that Moscow is doing everything to protect their rights and improve relations with its neighbors. A retired officer in the Volga region, worried about arrears in military pensions, learned that Putin will slash through the "bureaucratic obstacles" and ensure the money is all paid out by year-end.

"There was nothing spontaneous in this at all," says Olga Kryshtanovskaya, a sociologist who studies the Kremlin elite. "Everything was planned, and all the answers were written by speechwriters beforehand. The people who asked questions were chosen, and the questions were all prepared."

Highlighting his achievements

Putin's nearly eight years in power have seen an extraordinary economic rebound. Russia has moved from 22nd place among world economies in 1999 to 11th in 2006, while average monthly salaries have leaped from $65 eight years ago to $540 at present. Inflation is rising and could hit 8.5 percent this year, Putin admitted, with prices for food and energy spiking up to 40 percent.

Putin's public approval rating is currently about 80 percent. A survey by the independent Public Opinion Foundation found that backing for the United Russia party ballooned to more than 50 percent after Putin threw his hat into the parliamentary ring two weeks ago.

Despite the hours of public dialogue, Putin's personal endgame appears no clearer. Most experts believe that Putin will carve out a future that preserves his central role in Russia, though no one is sure quite how he will go about it.

"The chain of power Putin has created cannot exist without him at the top," says Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in World Affairs, a leading Moscow-based foreign-policy journal. "This power is based not on the office of Russian president, but on the personal charisma and authority of Vladimir Putin."

He might easily shift that power to a new job, without tinkering with Russia's 1993 Constitution. "Over eight years, Putin has not made a single change in the Constitution, and yet we are living today in a totally different country," Mr. Lukyanov adds.

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