The head of state’s strategic course aimed at broadening the base of his support among the population and the elite became more vivid last week. Coincidences that seemed accidental are starting to acquire a clear and consistent character. In particular, Dmitry Medvedev did not attend the congress of the Russian Association of Lawyers, despite his image of patron of the judicial corporation; however, this did not hinder election of his protégé, Pavel Krasheninnikov, co-chairperson of the association. At the same time the president made an attractive proposal to the interior ministry at a meeting of the MVD board. He declared about the necessity of the ministry’s control over the spending of state resources allocated to fight the crisis. It is interesting that a week earlier similar things were told to FSB. In his video blog the head of state declared initiatives aimed at supporting students – one of the most dynamic and mobile social groups.
There was noticeable expansion of first deputy PM Igor Shuvalov last week, who continued publicly asserting himself as the main anti-crisis manager. In particular, he declared that the list of enterprises to be rendered state assistance would be considerably enlarged and the resources would be allocated to them directly, not through VEB. This means tactical defeat of deputy PM Igor Sechin who has in fact supervised distribution of money through this bank since last autumn. Yet, government liberals headed by Shuvalov may lose on the strategic side: despite temporary slackening of crisis developments, fundamental factors point to its upcoming second round, after which members of the liberal camp in the government may become scapegoats.