Medvedev: Best Supporting Actor

It's been 100 days since Russia's new president was sworn in, but his predecessor Vladmir Putin continues to steal the show

By Aleksandr Kolesnichenko

Noon on 15 August marked 100 days since the inauguration of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. But it's still portraits of his predecessor, Vladimir Putin, not Medvedev, that decorate government offices.

In the past three months, Medvedev has done little to consolidate his power, and during the Russia-Georgia conflict, it was Putin who assumed the role of wartime leader, flying to a spot just outside the conflict zone while Medvedev stayed in Moscow.

The president stopped short of addressing the nation over the conflict. Instead, Medvedev's response was limited to a conference with security officials, during which he explained that Russian troops intervened to protect Russian citizens, as residents of this Georgian pro-Russian province have Russian passports.

By contrast, Putin, in Beijing for the Olympics opening ceremony, canceled a scheduled visit to the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk and flew to Vladikavkaz, the capital of Russia's North Ossetian Republic. He visited a hospital, talked to refugees, and heard accounts from military officials, although the military answers directly to the president under the Russian constitution. On his return to Moscow, Putin gave orders to Medvedev that the government should provide 10 billion rubles ($410 million) for reconstruction in South Ossetia and launch an investigation into civilian deaths there.

Putin attended cease-fire talks between Medvedev and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, although the prime minister's presence was not formally required. In perhaps the only show of deference to the president, Putin did not accompany Sarkozy and Medvedev when they read a joint statement after the talks.

But such stage management was not likely to fool anyone. The conflict served only to underscore the obvious: it is Medvedev, not Putin, who remains a secondary figure in foreign and domestic affairs.

LIGHTWEIGHT

The markets seem to agree. The RTS index, traded on the Russian stock exchange, plunged by more than 10 percent 24 July after Putin threatened to send a doctor to Igor Zyuzin, chief executive of the Mechel coal and steel group. Putin has accused Mechel of tax evasion, and Zyuzin, pleading illness, had missed a meeting with the prime minister.

It was not until five days later that Medvedev reacted to the market's drop, describing Russia's stock market as one of the world's most attractive and promising. The market, in turn, took no heed: the index staid substantially below its high of the week before.

"The lack of any reaction to Putin's attack for five days was followed by that stupid remark about the stock market," said Vladimir Milov, a deputy energy minister early in Putin's tenure as president and now director of the independent Institute of Energy Policy. "So, this is the president. Do we have a president in Russia at all? It seems that we do not."

Asked in July by the independent, Moscow-based Levada Center "Who holds real power in the country?" four times as many respondents named Putin as Medvedev. Polls show Putin with a big lead over Medvedev in job approval and confidence ratings as well.

"Television shapes public opinion. On the TV screen Putin looks more resolute than Medvedev, he uses strong words and has an image as a tough politician. The masses like it," said Oleg Savelyev, an analyst with the Levada Center.

Medvedev, who turns 43 next month, has a reputation as an energetic young liberal. He has declared as his priorities a push for innovation, a fight against corruption, and the protection of small and medium-size businesses from the vagaries of the bureaucracy.

Valery Fedorov, director of the Russian Public Opinion Study Center, said the president's statements are tailored to the prevailing political winds. "Dmitry Medvedev offers only popular initiatives. Everybody talks about corruption as people are sick and tired of it. It's the No. 2 issue after rising prices."