Mention the Name of Vladimir Putin to Most People Here... [Derived Headline]
Sunday Herald › August 25, 2010
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Summary
MENTION the name of Vladimir Putin to most people here and invariably you will get one of two responses. In the first, the Russian Prime Minister will be denounced as a dangerous dictatorial politician. In the second, he is quietly admired as something of a shrewd operator even if his politics smack of a bygone totalitarian age. Whatever your take, Putin is a PR person's dream and over the last few weeks as Russia struggled to respond to the fires sweeping across swathes of the country, he was in full swing. Personally, I love the story of how he reassured residents of an area near Moscow that their homes would be rebuilt before winter by saying he would have video cameras installed to monitor the builders tasked with completing the job on time. On the one hand, it's hard to believe he would do such a thing, then again... Yesterday, the authorities in Russia were saying the situation in the Moscow region has significantly improved, though fires were still burning in other parts of the country. But even as the blaze crisis has seemed to be abating, a crisis of a political nature could be looming as both Putin and President Medvedev sought to reap brownie points for their handling of the wildfire emergency.
Our regular Moscow watcher, John Follett, weighs up who will come out on top, and the implications for the presidential election, even if it's not until 2012.See the full content of this document
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Mention the Name of Vladimir Putin to Most People Here... [Derived Headline]
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