Natalia Galimova
Putin and Medvedev are not in a hurry to refute the main political rumour
Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin did not refute the rumours of possible pre-term presidential elections. Answering direct questions from journalists, they have only raised new ones.
Rumours of possible pre-term presidential elections appeared following the President's state of the nation address. In it, President Dmitry Medvedev spoke of the necessity to extend the presidential term. The rumours are being discretely discussed everywhere in the corridors of power, as follows: authorities are for some reason in a hurry to pass constitutional amendments, which suggests that pre-term elections are possible in the near future. This would make it possible for Putin to run for President again, this time for a six-year term. As reported previously by MK, the constitutional amendments do not apply to President Medvedev's current term, and will come into effect with the next presidential elections.
The President and the Prime Minister commented on the rumours within a day of each other. Mr Medvedev was interviewed by the French newspaper Le Figaro, and Putin spoke at a news conference following his meeting with the Prime Minister of Finland.
The editor-in-chief of Le Figaro asked the Russian President, "Are you planning to stay in office through the end of your term, and do you exclude the possibility of resigning ahead of time?" to which Mr Medvedev responded, "I am working now, am I not? Are you prompting me in the direction of certain decisions? I can tell you one thing for certain: only the candidate, who will run for office after the amendments come into effect, will be able to take advantage of the new presidential term."
The Finnish correspondent formulated her question to Putin as follows: "President Medvedev said that the presidential term should be extended to six years. How would you comment on the rumours that you may become President of Russia again?" "Medvedev's proposals regarding the amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation have no personal dimension," Mr Putin said. "As for who could run for the next term and when, it is too early to talk about this. I believe that both our citizens and our partners abroad have been reassured that the system of government formed in Russia is functioning effectively. It is too early to speak about the future elections."
The key phrase in the Prime Minister's answer is "who could run for the next term and when." If Mr Putin meant regular elections, then everyone knows that they are scheduled for 2012. For some reason he did not mention that date. Mr Medvedev also did not say anything about 2012. Was this by chance?