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Russia Reform Monitor No. 1426, October 29, 2006
American Foreign Policy Council, Washington, DC
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.

Putin is not going anywhere. But, not to worry, our president looked into his eyes and saw his soul.

FDR was fond of Uncle Joe and all it cost was the Iron Curtain.

And the swimmer was helping.../s

While Soviet troops occupied Afghanistan in 1980, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) worked in close concert with high level Kremlin officials to alter the direction of U.S. policy, according to documents made available through a KGB defector.

Details concerning Kennedy's correspondence with KGB agents are included in the writings of the late Vasiliy Mitrokhin who defected to Britain in 1992.

The Mitrokhin papers highlight a meeting that took place at the behest of Kennedy between former Sen. John Tunney (D-Calif.) and KGB agents in Moscow on March 5, 1980.

"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."

Putin is strategically grooming himself, coupled with his old KGB cronies, for the second reign of Uncle Joe and the West is acting like it's 1938 all over again, in terms of letting this vulture get away with murder.

Putin's expanding natural gas empire in that of Gazprom currently controls 25 percent of nearly one third of the world's total of proven reserves. That's a lot of potential blackmail especially direct against former Soviet captive nations that are demanding Russia stay out of their internal affairs.