Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Dmitri Trenin, deputy director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, appeared on the English-language Russia Today to discuss the state of affairs after the recent April NATO summit in Bucharest. Trenin laid out the various motivations behind the Bush administration's decision to push the issue of Georgian and Ukrainian membership and analyzed the recent dynamics of U.S.-Russian relations.
The next Russian administration, with Dmitry Medvedev as president and Vladimir Putin remaining at the helm as prime minister, may evolve into something different from Putin's current rule. But the expectations of liberalization that Medvedev's rhetoric and non-KGB background might have raised in some circles are wishful thinking.
Since its inception in Fall 2006, the series has addressed the most critical—and controversial—issues involving China's economic, socio-political, and military evolution and their policy implications for policy makers on Capitol Hill.
With Dmitry Medvedev's triumph in the presidential election grabbing the spotlight, elections for regional leaders went almost entirely unnoticed, despite the fact that elections were held simultaneously for legislative assemblies in 11 regions and a large number of municipalities and mayors as well.
The authorities conducted this presidential campaign in no time at all. Only 12 weeks passed from the day President Vladimir Putin announced his chosen successor to the day Dmitry Medvedev was elected, during which time Medvedev managed to squeeze in only a single official day off. The right candidates ran, the right number of people voted and the right person won.
Confrontational U.S. policy that tried to create a “New Middle East,” but ignored the realities of the region has instead exacerbated existing conflicts and created new problems.
Alexei Arbatov, scholar-in-residence at the Carnegie Moscow Center, gave a talk on the Putin legacy and the likely trajectory of his successor, Dmitry Medvedev. Ambassador James F. Collins, director of the Russia and Eurasia Program, moderated the event.
In a Newsweek article, Carnegie’s Dmitri Trenin analyzes the legacy of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Putin's critics argue he killed the seeds planted in the Gorbachev years and nurtured in the Yeltsin era—an argument that should not be trivialized,” he writes.