What goes around...

X-posted from Registan.

What goes around...
Posted By CXW On 28th July 2005 @ 05:36

Just when you thought that Boris Yeltsin would be content to sit back quietly with a small vodka at the dacha, speculation begins that he could be making a political comeback starts up. The source of the speculation is ex-prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov, seen by some as a potential opposition leader, and associate of the Yeltsin "Family". Sergei Markov, quoted in RIA Novosti's report, outlines the logic involved:

"Given the lack of political forces in the country, except "the party of Putin" and "the party of Yeltsin", the former president might be prompted to run in the 2007-2008 election. Oligarchs, who made a pile during Yeltsin's tenure, dream of revanche. They are in the same boat with Yeltsin's top officials, for example Kasyanov. So, if a realistic political project is ripe, they will need Yeltsin."

Kasyanov's chances of becoming a viable challenger to Putin's regime are potentially hindered by his alleged, though never proven, involvement in arranging to take a 2% cut of government loans to private companies that he authorised, leading to his nick name "Misha Dva Protsenta" ("Misha 2 percent"). Rumours started earlier this year that Kasyanov would stand for president in 2008 and Boris Berezovsky has called him an "ideal" opposition leader (details from the Mosnews profile).

Meanwhile Putin seems to be looking back a bit further than the 1990s, with the Washington Post reporting that he is calling for Russia and Belarus to merge. His views were expressed to a political youth movement, and he is quoted as saying that "in a broad sense, we are a single nation and we will only benefit if we unite".

However, things may not be so simple, since no progress has been made since the initial 1999 agreement on eventual reunification:

President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus said on Tuesday that part of the problem is that Russia wants to model the merged state on the European Union while Belarus would like it to resemble the Soviet Union.

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