This Week's Award
Goes to Oleg Morozov, ‘For Loyalty to a Single Person'
Looking back on President Medvedev's and Prime Minister Putin's first year at their respective jobs, Deputy Speaker of the State Duma Oleg Morozov said on Tuesday: "This tandem works, and it is quite a unique phenomenon in politics. The former President, an extremely popular politician, has agreed to become the head of the executive branch under a new President, and thus to assume responsibility for the country not during the best of times, but during a crisis".
The first part of the statement is not remarkable; it is common to speak about the two leaders' unbreakable and successful tandem. But the second part is worth a closer look. One may agree with the statement that Mr Putin became Prime Minister at a difficult time: although last May nobody was talking about a crisis in Russia, it was already widespread throughout the world. But the claim that Mr Putin, by becoming the Prime Minister, assumed responsibility for the whole country sounds somewhat odd. Following that line of reasoning, one would have to say that throughout the eight years of Mr Putin's presidency, his Prime Ministers Mikhail Kasyanov, Mikhail Fradkov and Viktor Zubkov were responsible for Russia's destiny. That is a novel approach. Until last year's transition of power, nobody doubted that the President in Russia plays first fiddle and the Prime Minister comes in second at best.
Mr Morozov has said as much, repeatedly affirming that "Russia must remain a presidential republic". In such a system of government, responsibility for the country rests with the President. The Prime Minister may at most consider himself to be responsible for the country's economy. But according to Mr Morozov, by giving up responsibility for the country as President, Mr Putin, instead of passing it on to Mr Medvedev, took it back by becoming Prime Minister. In other words, Presidents in Russia may come and go, but there is still one man responsible for the country: Vladimir Putin. Vlast cannot help but recognise Oleg Morozov's loyalty.
By Alexander Kukolevsky
