“President Dmitry Medvedev moved yesterday to entrench the current Russian leadership’s grip on power by proposing a presidential term that would extend the stint in office from four to six years. Medvedev said the extension was necessary to guarantee stability and help Russia deal with huge global challenges. But critics said the proposal was further evidence of Russia’s alarming and rapid drift towards authoritarianism. This morning’s Vedomosti newspaper, citing Kremlin sources, said that Medvedev could resign from his post as early as 2009 – paving the way for Vladimir Putin, currently the prime minister, to come back to the Kremlin. Putin stepped down as president in May, when he handed over to Medvedev, his handpicked successor. Under this scenario Putin could get his presidential job back next year and then serve two six-year terms, Vedomosti suggested. In his first state of the nation address yesterday, Medvedev also said he was deploying nuclear missiles in western Russia to "neutralise" the Pentagon’s missile defence system – and lambasted the US for its "arrogant course" and "unilateralism". Speaking hours after Barack Obama was voted in as the next American president, Medvedev said Russia would site short-range Iskander nuclear-capable missiles next door to Poland, in Russia’s Baltic Sea enclave of Kaliningrad.
The Iskander missiles would be targeted at the US’s missile defence and radar bases in Poland and the Czech Republic, Medvedev said. Russia would also install radio-jamming equipment to sabotage the US weapons, he added. The US insists its system is aimed not at Russia but at Iran. Medvedev’s threat – with its echoes of cold war-style confrontation along the frontiers of eastern Europe – is likely to be an early foreign policy headache for Obama, as his fledgling administration seeks to improve ties with the EU. The Democrats are ambivalent about the Bush administration’s expensive defence plans in Europe. But if Obama dumps the project he risks accusations of weakness and caving in to Russian bullying. “
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/06/putin-kremlin-russia
