撰写"Grasping cadres" is very good.
Some media once described it like this: "Putin is a strategist and Medvedev is a doer. Nowadays, there will be a new situation in Russian politics in which doers govern the country and strategists manage people’s livelihood. " Jiang Yi, an expert on Russian issues at China Academy of Social Sciences, told the News of the World that Putin had obvious advantages in personnel work and the management of monopoly state-owned enterprises from the "transformation" of the president to the prime minister.
Jiang Yi believes that among the many qualities that Putin showed during his presidency, nothing is more suitable for the post of Prime Minister than his ability to "grasp cadres".
After Putin became president, he first promoted a large number of officials from St. Petersburg. Later, he took the former chairman of the Yukos Group, Khodorkovsky, as an example, so that oligarchs who started by embezzling state-owned assets at the beginning of the disintegration of the Soviet Union never dared to get their hands on politics. At the same time, Putin also strengthened the power restrictions on local officials by sending special representatives of the president to local areas.
In addition, Putin is also unique in the development of large state-owned enterprises and state monopoly energy industry. Especially in the last three years, Russia was able to seize the opportunity of rising international energy prices in time and quickly restore its economic strength, in which Putin played an important role. When it comes to the management of large enterprises, Putin is even more familiar with it. Known as the "Big Mac" of the global natural gas industry, Gazprom grew up under the care of Putin.
Implementing the "Putin Plan" will be the focus.
As the saying goes, "a new official takes office with three fires." Where will the first three fires of Prime Minister Putin start? Jiang Yi believes that after Putin becomes prime minister, it is possible to start with government restructuring and combating corruption.
The implementation of the "Putin Plan" will also be a work that Putin will strive to promote after taking office as prime minister. Earlier, Putin and Medvedev said more than once that in the future, the Kremlin will comprehensively promote the four national priority projects of agriculture, housing, medical care and education and implement the "Putin Plan".
The main goals of "Putin Plan" are: in the economic field, get rid of the energy-based development model and become one of the top five countries in the world economy by 2020; In the social field, improve living standards, reduce mortality, and increase the average life expectancy of residents to 75 years; In the field of national defense, produce new weapons and build an innovative army; In the diplomatic field, we will pursue an independent, pragmatic and responsible policy to create a good surrounding environment for domestic development.
Improving the quality of life of Russian citizens will be one of the key points of the Putin Plan. At the social policy conference held in the Kremlin on April 21st, Putin once again stressed that the social field is the most important priority development direction. Referring to specific measures to improve pension security and develop health, he pointed out that people’s health is one of the key conditions for national political stability. In addition, he also called improving the quality of medical assistance and introducing the latest standards as his main tasks. It seems that Putin has long known how to be prime minister.
News analysis/ANALYSIS needs to improve experience to improve people’s livelihood
Jiang Yi believes that although Putin has made improving people’s livelihood the focus of his future administration, judging from his experience as president, Putin still has a lot of work to do in this regard.
During his presidency, Putin made some attempts to improve people’s livelihood, but none of them seemed to be successful. The most unsuccessful example is the Russian welfare reform in 2005, the core of which is to "monetize" many welfare measures left over from the Soviet era, that is, to convert the preferential conditions that ordinary people could enjoy in transportation, housing and medical care into a certain amount of money.
Due to the lack of previous research and demonstration, the reform was carried out too hastily, which led many people to complain that the money they got was far from the benefits they enjoyed at the beginning, and even some retired workers and veterans of World War II took to the streets to hold demonstrations. After this "welfare monetization" storm, Putin’s support rate once fell to the lowest point since 2000. It can be predicted that the social and people’s livelihood issues may become the biggest problem that Putin faces in the process of "transformation". (Yuan Tinglei)
Expert sight/ANALYSIS power transfer does not affect Russian political situation
Our reporter/Li Meng
Has Russia’s power structure changed fundamentally since Putin became prime minister? Chen Yurong, director of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Research Department of the China Institute of International Studies, told the News of the World reporter that the power structure in Russia has not changed fundamentally, only that Putin has changed from the original president to the prime minister, and the Russian government has also made adjustments.
However, Russia’s political system has not changed. The president, the prime minister and the parliament are still Russia’s "troika". The president nominates the prime minister and has the right to dissolve the parliament and the government, but it still needs the approval of the parliament.
So, what kind of working relationship will Medvedev and Putin have in the future? Ji Zhiye, vice president of the Institute of Contemporary International Relations and an expert on Russian issues, believes that although Putin has retired to the second place, he will still be at the center of Russian power.
Ji Zhiye said that although the presidential power stipulated in the Russian Constitution is very great, Putin’s appointment as the chairman of the "United Russia Party" means that he has gained the leverage to influence the Kremlin. Since the United Russia Party occupies more than two-thirds of the seats in the State Duma, it can easily amend the Constitution and start the procedure of impeaching the president. Therefore, if Medvedev wants to replace Putin, the United Russia Party will be able to veto any new prime minister nominated by Medvedev through the parliament.
As for whether Putin wants to return to the presidency in the future, Ji Zhiye’s view is that Putin will not leave the Russian power center.
Ji Zhiye said that this issue depends on their trust. Perhaps Putin and Medvedev have already discussed that Medvedev will be president for a while, and then Putin will continue to do it. Although they did not say it clearly, it is possible from the current signs.
Some western media believe that in view of the uncertainty of Russia’s power ownership, Russia may fall into the dilemma of poor government decrees and difficult control in the future.
However, China experts who study Russian issues say that it is unlikely that Russia will be in political chaos. On the contrary, Putin will strengthen central control by examining the governor and handle government affairs by "grasping the big and letting the small" for overall consideration, which will be beneficial to the communication and implementation of government decrees. At the same time, this power structure will also ensure that Russia’s foreign policy continues the Putin line.
Editor: Li Xiuwei