NO CHANGE IN RUSSIA

by RAY FLEMING
HOW many hundreds of thousands of words have been wasted in analysis of whether President Dmitri Medvedev or Prime Minister Vladimir Putin would have the greater power in Russia after Putin gives up the presidency to Medvedev on May 6? Yesterday Mr Putin made such speculation unnecessary by coyly accepting an invitation to become chairman of United Russia, the majority party following the elections last December: “Thank you very much. I am ready to take on the additional responsibility and lead United Russia” he told a party congress in Moscow on Tuesday. It never seemed likely that Medvedev, an almost unknown bureaucrat who has worked for Putin for 20 years, would strike out strongly on his own while Putin was prime minister and it now seems even less likely as Putin also takes charge of the dominant party in the country. Although Western observers may look at these Soviet-style manoeuvres with resigned cynicism they may find that in the long run they prove to be helpful to the establishment of better relations with Russia. President Bush thought that he had seen into Mr Putin's soul at their first meeting but in reality it has taken the West eight years to get to know him well and to understand his priorities. It is probably better to continue to deal with “the devil we know” even if he now has two jobs instead of one.