By Kester Kenn Klomegah
MOSCOW, Sep 14 2007 (IPS)

It happened eight years ago when former Russian leader Boris Yeltsin ousted his cabinet and unexpectedly catapulted little known Vladimir Putin to the helm of political affairs.

With nearly 18 years of experience in the KGB, the Soviet secret service, Putin’s selection won approval in the parliamentary elections that were held in December and the presidential balloting in March 2000, which saw Putin democratically elected to the post.

Analysts say Putin will follow the same strategy in paving the way for a successful presidential candidate for the 2008 vote. The only disagreement is over whether it will be St Petersburg technocrat Viktor Zubkov who was surprisingly nominated to head the cabinet this week, replacing Mikhail Fradkov, or more obvious politicians like Sergey Ivanov or Dmitry Medvedev, both first deputy prime ministers.

“It’s a surprising political change (to reshuffle cabinet), but nonetheless, the president’s decision can be understood as a necessary preparation ahead of the two major elections (parliamentary and presidential) and also it further indicates a systematic plan to maintain a balance of power among all the groups vying for power,” a political researcher at Moscow Carnegie Center Aleksey Sidorenko told IPS.

The reshuffle, he said, was in pursuit of what the president has mentioned in his state-of-nation address.

“It’s all part of the political crusade – providing the same scenario. We just have to wait for ensuing developments,” he adds.

On Wednesday, Putin accepted a request from Prime Minister Fradkov to dismiss the government and form a new cabinet. The president thanked Fradkov for his service as prime minister, and asked him to stay on as acting premier until the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, votes in a new candidate.

Parliamentary speaker Boris Gryzlov appealed to legislators to support the president’s nomination as part of the restructuring of the state apparatus in conformity with the new political road map drawn up for the forthcoming elections.

Putin said: “The country is nearing parliamentary elections to be followed by presidential elections … We all need to think together about building the power and governing structure so that they can better meet the needs of the pre-election period, and prepare the country for the time after parliamentary and presidential elections in March 2008.”

Meanwhile, Fradkov said the government’s dissolution was needed to give the president freedom to make decisions, including staffing changes. “This decision (the resignation of the government) is part of an action plan developed and being implemented by the president, which is important in our opinion,” he said.

“The situation is stable and our next moves in the reformed cabinet must ensure continuity and stability. The course we will pursue was adopted, voiced several times and conveyed to the citizens. We only need to work now,” he said.

Fradkov described his successor as “authoritative, professional and very decent person” and added that the president has made a good choice.

On Friday, the State Duma voted to accept Yeltsin’s nomination of Zubkov as the new prime minister.

Russia’s third largest opposition party, Yabloko, welcomed the appointment but warned, “the Constitution should be respected …”

A deputy chairman of Yabloko, Sergey Ivanenko told IPS “the nomination of a man without a political face for prime minister of this great country at (this) crucial time means that there is only one source of power – the president. This decision seems (to be for) the continuation of Putin’s administration, after the end of his formal authority.”

He acknowledged that the unexpected change was obviously with an eye on the upcoming elections, and a move to show Kremlin watchers that the president has a firm hand on the economy by bringing another old-time influential economist to balance both political and business forces.

In his April address to the federal assembly, Putin spelt out parts of his road map for building genuine democracy.

“Our country (when he took over) was deeply divided by complex social conflicts, confrontation between parties and ideologies. Separatism represented a real threat to Russia’s security and territorial integrity,” he said. “We have worked together for many years to overcome the serious consequences of the transition period, to overcome the negative effects of far-reaching but not always straightforward transformation.”

He described the elections to the State Duma as one of this year’s most important events. “This election will objectively reflect the level of support among the Russian public for the policies we have been following, and most essentially, whether the current policies will continue or not for the implementation of our strategic plans depends directly on the composition of the parliament after Dec. 2.”

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