[Editorial] Putin-Medvedev pact

We can hardly make an in-depth comment on the Putin-Medvedev contract to keep themselves as the masters of the Kremlin until 2024 or possibly thereafter. But remembering the outcome of an earlier such agreement between the two Russian leaders, under which Dmitry Medvedev was elected President in 2008 with 70 percent of votes cast, the world has to look at what happened at the United Russia party congress last week with a little more sense of reality.

In no country in modern history, can we find a parallel in power transfer between two individuals. Vladimir Putin, president of the Russian Republic 2000-2008 and its prime minister since 2008, declared Saturday that he would run for president next March, to a standing ovation of party members. He then proposed that his protege Medvedev, the current president, would replace him as prime minister after taking a parliamentary seat in elections on Dec. 4 on a United Russia ticket.

Putin told the convention that Medvedev and he “reached an agreement between ourselves several years ago on what to do in the future, on who should do what.” He sounded like speaking of two men running a small enterprise as a CEO and a managing director, although their responsibilities cover the world’s largest territory, with a population of 142 million and a GDP of $1.2 trillion.

Korea and Russia are in a “strategic cooperative partnership,” helping each other in the areas of economy, energy, resources and industrial technology. As we expect further broadening of both political and economic ties, we hope power shift in Moscow will take place in a stable, democratic manner, accompanied by steady development of the market economy.

As Russia is a party to the six-way talks to denuclearize North Korea, we have keenly followed Russia’s direct and indirect influence on the North. The peculiar power arrangement in Moscow could rather offer some comfort to Pyongyang leaders.

With his popularity, Putin’s election to a six-year term renewable for once is assured. What then will happen in the Kremlin after 2024? Putin critics believe that the “ruling tandem’s” plan stretches beyond that year to have Medvedev succeed Putin for another 12 years. Could their popularity last so long? The answer may be found in the turmoil in Arab countries since last spring.