Observers and commentators
cannot complain that nothing has happened on the eve of
the forthcoming political autumn, which promises to be
hot. How can we assess the regime's relations with the
political elite? After all, the success or failure of
the reforms depends to a large extent on their support.
Part of the political elite has backed
President Vladimir Putin de facto, as the Kremlin initiated
what they had proposed all this time. Grigory Yavlinsky
provides a particular illustration of this fact. He was
the Kremlin's most staunch opponent throughout Boris Yeltsin's
rule. As a result, the regime absolutely ignored all the
political and economic models proposed by Yavlinsky who
would take the time and effort to adapt them to changing
developments all the time. The Kremlin used its resources
to transform arguably the most competent team of economists
in the country into a team of economic stargazers and
romantics in the eyes of the general public.
The reform of the federal structure provides
a vivid example. Yavlinsky drew up a "Law on Governors"
in 1999. The document stipulated the dismissal of governors
from the Federation Council and concentration of their
efforts on managing their regions. The document also stated
the need to work out a procedure for gubernatorial dismissal,
measures for preventing anti-constitutional orders issued
by regional leaders, and so on. These are precisely the
steps that the Kremlin subsequently proposed.
There is another coincidence in the views
of the Yabloko and the Kremlin. This has to do with the
formation of a State Council. Yavlinsky objects
to giving any constitutional powers to this structure.
The president holds the same opinion. Putin is behind
the eight ball here: he has to mollify governors to make
the proposed State Council as much of a political nonentity
as possible. Once again, the federal centre will rely
on the Duma to pull it off.
According to Vladimir Lukin of Yabloko,
"Russia is not wealthy enough to breed houses of
parliament to appease certain dissatisfied individuals..."
The Kremlin itself could not have put it better. This
is what really counts: Political forces regarded as anti-
Kremlin groups in the past now support the federal centre.
It does not matter that the regime is doing "what
Yavlinsky proposed a long time ago". The regime is
doing what it sees as proper and advisable and cannot
be blamed for not being the first to come up with the
ideas.
Mr. Yavlinsky is not in a hurry to triumphantly
claim authorship. In the long run, neither Yabloko on
the whole nor he personally has benefited from the situation.
On the other hand, quantity will inevitably turn into
quality one fine day, and the Yabloko functionaries cannot
help expecting to be invited to the corridors of power.
