(Asia Times) Immediately after his official inauguration on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to announce a new government. And a bombshell is in the making. The new cabinet is bound to be a Stavka: that is, a war cabinet.
- Russian Counter-Sanctions: the Duma’s New Status?
- Within one week, Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin and leaders of key parliamentary factions introduced a bill to limit imports of almost any type of product from the U.S. and its allies. The bill’s first reading is scheduled for May 15. [The Bell]
- Last week, Russia’s Federation Council generally approved the bill, suggesting a few amendments (e.g, a relaxation on the import of foreign medications).
- The bill, however, received some criticism within the liberal group of the elites, notably from Alexei Kudrin, who called it a “hasty decision with potentially serious consequences.”
- Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration Sergei Kiriyenko pushed back on the proposed restrictions on cooperation between the Russian nuclear industry and foreign entities. [Interfax]
- Tatiana Stanovaya, political scientist: The rules of Russian domestic politics have changed, as the Duma emerges as a new player on the geopolitical field.
- The most curious part of the bill is not its contents but the fact that it was not developed inside the Duma, and not by the Kremlin administration as one would expect. This shows Volodin’s bold ambitions and growing political power.
- A larger interpretation points to a demonopolization of the policy-development system (but not yet the decision-making). As Putin’s priorities and interests appear more vague, large political players try to seize opportunities to advance their own agendas [RBC].
- Alexander Baunov, editor-in-chief of Carnegie.ru: The U.S. sanctions caused tensions inside Russia’s fragmented, competing elements of the power vertical—not between the oligarchs and Putin.
- Russia’s principle of the retaliation can be boiled down to a simple “eye for an eye.” The Duma seized the counter-sanctions initiative to mirror the Congress’ actions. By taking a stance on Russian foreign policy, the Duma and its speaker automatically elevate their status and claim the role of a major political institution of Putin’s fourth term.
- The unprecedented anti-American bill is so broad that no government will be able to implement it in full, which makes the Duma a co-author of the presidential course and sidelines the government.
- All these developments inside the power vertical are invisible to ordinary Russians and to any outsider. They do not create new tensions but rather fuel the existing feuds. Should the bill succeed, it will benefit some factions while damaging others, which will only cause more rifts in the inevitable political transit. [Carnegie.ru]