If Putin becomes PM, Russian govt will be more independent-RUIE president

MOSCOW. Dec 12 (Interfax) - If Vladimir Putin agrees to head the Russian government following the 2008 presidential elections, the government will become a more independent body entitled to make final decisions on matters within its purview, Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RUIE) President Alexander Shokhin said.

"This has not happened yet because either the presidential staff or the president personally have been the real decision-making center even on issues that are within the government's purview," Shokhin told Interfax.

"Decisions will be made quicker and this or that key decision will not be drowned in clearance procedures," Shokhin said.

In addition, a government headed by the leader of a parliamentary majority will have more reasons to make decisions beyond the government's current purview because a parliamentary majority is responsible for many issues, including those pertaining to foreign policy and security, he said.

"I really hope that this will be the most efficient Russian government ever," Shokhin said. As prime minister, Putin will relieve President Medvedev of many issues that are now considered at the presidential level.

Regular meetings between the prime minister and the president are likely to be continued, although the prime minister is likely to stop asking for instructions but will inform the president about its activities and issues requiring joint efforts, Shokhin said.

"Building a system in which the leader of a parliamentary majority is at the government's helm, we may switch to a significant extent to a parliamentary governance system without amending the constitution and other laws," Shokhin said.

He called for the preservation of this type of government in the future as well, "the model to be formed by Putin and Medvedev may stay for a long time and work in the future, on condition that there is a stable majority at the Duma and any premier can rely on this majority. It is really desirable that Putin should lay the groundwork for a system rather than simply resolve a problem as if proceeding from opportunistic factors," he said. va sm

This might be a little more complex than just keeping Putin in power.

Historically, the Soviet Union had a bizarre “balance of power” between the communist party, the KGB and the military, that in a way was somewhat like the US executive, legislative and judicial branches balance. Even Stalin, to a great extent, respected this balance. But as such, it is a dead system.

So Putin, as president, made the presidency strong. From the perspective of the “Russian on the street”, this was not unusual, Putin behaving as “Vohzd”, or “Leader”. The parliament pretty much rubber stamping whatever he wanted.

But from Putin’s point of view, this may not have been a good way of doing things. Too unbalanced and dictator-like. Something even Stalin was hesitant about.

In any event, by moving from the Presidency to becoming the new Prime Minister, Putin may be trying to recreate this balance. That is, by strengthening the parliament to be an equal branch of the government with the presidency, no longer a rubber stamp to whatever the president wants.

But the acid test for this is the third branch of government. If Putin does make the parliament independent of the presidency, a co-equal branch with its own prerogatives, will his attention turn to the judiciary like in the US?

Or will his “three legged stool”, as the old Soviet system was known, be different from the US? Perhaps the presidency, the parliament, and the FSB or the military?

Let us hope he chooses the judiciary, and is able to make it the third branch of the new government.

Could money be involved?

“Putin is also a big businessman. He controls 37% of the shares of ‘Surgutneftegaz’ [Russia’s fourth-largest oil producer], with the market value [of Putin’s putative stake] coming to $20 billion. Moreover, he controls 4.5% of the shares of ‘Gazprom’Russia’s natural gas monopoly]. In the company Gunvor, which sells oil, Putin has [a] 50% [stake] through his representative Gennady Timchenko. Last year, its [Gunvor’] turnover came to $40 billion dollars, and its profits — $8 billion”
http://www.russiaprofile.org/page.php?pageid=CDI+Russia+Profile+List&articleid=a1195487769

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