Putin will be out of office soon.
American Foreign Policy Council
A glimpse into Putin's post-presidency plans;
Russian President Vladimir Putin has indicated he will retain influence after he steps down in 2008, Reuters reports. Speaking during a live TV phone-in interview, Putin reiterated his commitment not to amend the country’s constitution to stay on for a third term. At the same time, however, he added: “Even after I no longer have presidential powers I think that... I will be able to preserve the most important thing that is dear to any politician: your trust. Using this, we can together influence life in our country and guarantee that it develops in a continuous manner.”
Andranik Migranyan, the renowned political scientist who heads the Public Chamber’s commission on overall national strategy, wrote in Izvestia on October 10th that Putin could “remain in power” after 2008 if he becomes head of the United Russia party, becomes prime minister after the party’s likely victory in the 2007 parliamentary elections and then picks “a person who is personally dependent on him and does not have his own political, financial, or information base” as United Russia’s candidate for the 2008 presidential election. This, wrote Migranyan, would ensure Putin’s “dominating influence in Russian political life,” given that he would retain control of the government and the parliament while putting a loyalist in the Kremlin.
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