In the article written a day before the announcement of Moscow mayors's retirement Anatol Lieven gives his opinion about Luzhkovs long political carrier and the honourless end of it:
Putin never trusted Lushkov (who ran for President himself briefly), though he left him in place, because once he had promised not to oppose the President, he was simply too powerful to be worth bothering. He has also been quite popular among Muscovites, having made sure that public services have been maintained and even improved, and a reasonable proportion of the immense wealth flowing through Moscow taxed for this purpose. He dunks but he splashes was the Chicagoan remark of a Western observer in the late 1990s. Now, however, the Kremlin sees the chance to move against an independent source of power, who might play an independent and disruptive role in the reshuffle (or not) of power in 2012. As to Medvedev, the move against Lushkov fits in well with his slow and limited but nonetheless real campaign to remove at least some of the most corrupt leading figures in the country from office.
Read full version: en.rian.ru/valdai_op/20100929/160761098.html
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Putin never trusted Lushkov (who ran for President himself briefly), though he left him in place, because once he had promised not to oppose the President, he was simply too powerful to be worth bothering. He has also been quite popular among Muscovites, having made sure that public services have been maintained and even improved, and a reasonable proportion of the immense wealth flowing through Moscow taxed for this purpose. He dunks but he splashes was the Chicagoan remark of a Western observer in the late 1990s. Now, however, the Kremlin sees the chance to move against an independent source of power, who might play an independent and disruptive role in the reshuffle (or not) of power in 2012. As to Medvedev, the move against Lushkov fits in well with his slow and limited but nonetheless real campaign to remove at least some of the most corrupt leading figures in the country from office.
Read full version: en.rian.ru/valdai_op/20100929/160761098.html
Join our discussion on facebook.com/ValdaiClub
