28 October 2003 01:47
Putin `could stay in power as head of post-Soviet confederation`
Vladimir Putin may remain in power long after his second presidential term ends in 2008 by leading a political union of Russia and its neighbouring countries, a senior government official said. Pavel Borodin, whom Mr Putin appointed as secretary of the Russia-Belarus Union, said the Russian president could become head of a confederation initially linking Russia with Belarus, but then spreading to other former Soviet countries. "After the end of his second term, he needs to have (another) first but very long term," he said in an interview with the Financial Times. "In eight years we will build a post-Soviet space, and then in another eight years we will merge with Europe. I think that (Mr Putin) agrees." Mr Borodin, the former head of the presidential property department where he was Mr Putin's first employer in Moscow in 1996, indicated that he had already discussed the idea with the Russian president. Mr Putin has not yet formally even announced whether he is standing for a second presidential term in spring 2004, and has spoken out against jeopardising Russia's recent political stability by changing the country's constitution, which limits him to two terms in office. However, he is widely expected to win next year, and has hinted that five-year presidential terms would be better suited to governing Russia than the existing four. Mr Borodin's proposal would allow Mr Putin to maintain an important political role after 2008, when he will still only be 55. The ideas reflect Mr Putin's policy of re-establishing and strengthening links to the former Soviet countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and to Russians living abroad. Last month, he ratified a free trade zone designed to integrate economically Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Mr Borodin's proposal also mirrors the ideas of the Euroasian party which he leads, and which is competing in Russia's parliamentary elections in December. It represents an extension of his current work in bringing Belarus and Russia together. Mr Borodin said that Russia would first join with Belarus, then Ukraine and Kazakhstan. He added that with time the European Union could also become part of some wider, tighter partnership.
[FTI [The Financial Times]] |
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