“Kommersant”: “Excerpts”
The Independent, London, UK
The Western world might not like the way he got his job - on a nod from Vladimir Putin, endorsed by a highly managed, if not actually rigged, election. Nor - it has to be said - do his three lacklustre opponents, who have railed in vain against his domination of the airwaves. But Dmitry Medvedev is a man we are all going to have to learn to do business with. When the last results come in tomorrow night, he will be officially designated Russia's next head of state. He will be inaugurated as President at the beginning of May.
Down will then come the grave official portraits of Putin, which hang in every Russian government office and representation abroad, and up will go the more affably boyish visage of Dmitry Anatolyevich. Except, perhaps, in one office: Putin has left no doubt that he expects to become Prime Minister in Medvedev's new government, and hints that the portrait space on his new office could remain bare.
The Financial Times, London, UK
Russians deserve better than the parody of an election in which they will be asked to choose President Vladimir Putin's successor. The Kremlin has done everything to ensure that Dmitry Medvedev, Mr Putin's nominee, will be elected... Indeed, the Kremlin's main concern is that it may have done its job too well - that people will not vote in a fake election and the turnout will be embarrassingly low. So, having cynically robbed the poll of meaning, officials are herding voters to the ballot box. It is a sham: a Potemkin village of an election.
Der Spiegel, Hamburg, Germany
These elections are taking place for the fifth time since the fall of the Soviet Union and are an attempt to establish democracy and build a market economy in a country that had been under authoritarian power for many centuries. They have little in common with the elections in the United States or Western Europe. Although the power holders in the Kremlin have managed to preserve a democratic façade, they have undermined the inner mechanisms of democracy in the past years. Russia is a mythological democracy, as the real meaning of the elections is not in political competition but in proving the power of the clique that rules the country. Dmitry Medvedev, a new president, was elected by Vladimir Putin and a small group of people as early as last December. These were the real elections. Ordinary people are not aware of the true reasons for this choice. A faceless crowd of voters is driven to the polling stations like a herd to the pond. And there is no formal breach of the Constitution.
Liberation, Paris, France
Lotteries, children's drawing contests, pancake sampling, free medical advice, concerts and spring festivals in anticipation of the major event - elections. To inspire as many voters as possible to come to polling stations and hide the obvious flaws, the authorities make an impressive performance out of these elections. Nearly 107 million people have been invited. However, they cannot influence the finale. It has been known since December, when Putin supported Dmitry Medvedev as a candidate.
Il Sole 24 ore, Milan, Italy
If we consider that there is a place for aesthetics in politics, 42-year-old and 1.64 metre tall Dmitry Medvedev and 55-year-old Putin, who is one centimetre taller, are two poles of one globe. One of them holds a black belt in judo, a real man who walks around Russia's endless country bare-chested. Another looks more like a European entrepreneur who knows how to dress. If we look closely, the difference is very clear. And neither "successor" title nor his attempts to copy his mentor do not make the future president an exact replica of the current one. Even politically, the idea of the "Dima" project being the next stage of the "Volodya" project does not seem very convincing.
The Washington Post, Washington, D.C., USA
... Medvedev is about to become Russia's third president, succeeding Vladimir Putin, who has ensured the victory in Sunday's election simply by blessing Medvedev's candidacy. But after a heavily stage-managed campaign, bereft of authentic competition, many Russians wonder whether a Medvedev administration heralds a break with the rule of his popular predecessor or a caretaker government that will consolidate the centralization of power Putin engineered. Will the democratic dreams of the young Medvedev resurface to challenge the policies he has helped implement as the sidekick of a president who has crushed political pluralism? Or will they emerge again only in speeches, never in practice?
The Age, Melbourne, Australia
Russia's presidential election is a foregone conclusion, but how Vladimir Putin will control his chosen one is less sure...
In Western democracies, a degree of uncertainty surrounds the outcome of elections but life afterwards goes on in a fairly predictable manner because a range of institutions, independent of each other, guarantee stability. On the Russian presidential election, you could safely bet your last dollar, but how Russia will look in months and years to come is a matter of intense speculation.
Clarin, Buenos Aires, Argentina
The ruling party's victory is not enough for Vladimir Putin. He wants the triumph that he prepared and outlined in every detail. Why then fake the results? Medvedev's victory is not enough for Putin. He wants a voting attendance of at least 80%. Local authorities were instructed to provide people with transport to the polling stations. Since the results were known long ago, the most difficult task is to rouse people to take part in this event, because the law allows them to not vote.
