The new year will be a pivotal one for President Dmitry Medvedev. 2010 is the year when the first tangible results of his presidential agenda will be put on public display.
Medvedev’s agenda is focused on economic modernization. It is unrealistic to claim much progress on this front considering Medvedev has been in office less than two years, but he can still point to some progress.
Thanks to the economic crisis and Medvedev’s hard-nosed assessments of Russia’s real problems, the nation has been awakened from complacency. The return to the status quo ante is no longer viewed by the public as the guaranteed way to prosperity.
People are seeking real change, although they still only have a vague idea of what direction the country should take and what it would cost them personally. The ambitious, lofty national goals have been set. They enjoy wide-ranging public support, sometimes even from the unlikely quarters of some die-hard liberals. There is no political challenge to his agenda.
Medvedev has begun to put seemingly right people in the right places. He has eliminated the immunity from public accountability previously enjoyed by high-level officials for the disastrous things happening on their watch. The Defense and Interior ministries are now firing their generals for serious offenses and the corruptive practices of their subordinates. These are not “purges” but a return to normal public accountability, facilitated by Internet technology and the president’s sensitivity to public outrage.
The ship of the Russian state is being gradually steered by Medvedev’s words and actions onto the right course. There is, however, one crucial thing that Medvedev needs to deal with in 2010 if he wants to set sail himself. He needs to remove the albatross around his neck — the impression that he might not seek a second term if he and Putin did not sort it out between themselves in Medvedev’s favor. This “creative ambiguity” is destructive to the president’s agenda. It sends the bad signal that he might not be fully committed to it himself.
The best way to put a clear end to this ambiguity would be to propose a constitutional amendment limiting the president to a total of two terms in office. He could then announce that he would run for his second — and final — six-year term to complete his mission.
Vladimir Frolov is president of LEFF Group, a government-relations and PR company.