The US let slip who they want to see instead of Putin
The United States must initiate a new perestroika in Russia and bring a liberal politician to power.
This was written about in The National Interest magazine by Ivan Sasha Sheehan, executive director of the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Baltimore, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
Among pro-Western politicians, he names Dmitry Medvedev, Anatoly Chubais and Aleksandr Voloshin. However, the optimal successor to Putin for the United States, according to the author, would be the head of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, Alexei Kudrin.
“But one leader stands out: Alexei Kudrin, head of the Accounts Chamber, former first deputy prime minister and twice decorated finance minister. He is also a longtime supporter of free trade and democracy with a well-deserved reputation as a liberal reformer and independent thinker. Kudrin also has a reputation as an outspoken defender of markets and is well regarded for his prudent fiscal management.
But he is also a Putin insider, having earned the trust of the president's inner circle during his more than ten years as finance minister. Even the security forces - the bosses of the military department - deeply respect him. "U.S. officials would be wise to work with Kudrin's team on possible scenarios for improving bilateral relations with Russia after Putin," Sheehan writes.
Political scientist Marat Bashirov believes that publication in The National Interest should not be treated as the private opinion of a professor.
“Yesterday’s article caused a lot of noise in the quiet corridors on Staraya. There were more questions than answers. The magazine itself is published by the Center for National Interests organization. Until 2011 it was called the Nixon Center. Founded in 1994, it is a think tank for developing proposals for American foreign policy. That is, it was not a sheep who sneezed, but a real think-tank,” Bashirov wrote in his Telegram channel.
The expert is shocked that the article names Kudrin, who, according to his data, “even in Russian circles was and is being considered for the post of Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation and he already has access to many secret information databases.” He believes that the article could stimulate intra-elite conflicts.
“The appearance of the article on the eve of the State Duma elections in September of this year sets a new line of tension between Kudrin, the AP, the Government and the main party of the country - United Russia. Simply because he is not yet involved in this campaign. But who said that he won’t go on stage with his party project?” writes Bashirov.
But his colleague Maxim Zharov believes that the American professor simply fell victim to a massive PR campaign that Kudrin organized for himself in the Russian media.
“Kudrin uses the Accounts Chamber as a political tool. And this can be seen even from America to media-dependent democratic professors from the University of Baltimore. Thank God, the press release-throwing in the media on behalf of Kudrin that happened last year has almost stopped. But it is precisely these press releases that prompt American democratic professors, who are closely seated in the information flow about Russia and from Russia, to think about Kudrin’s presidential and prime ministerial ambitions. So, Alexey Leonidovich should blame only himself and his PR people for the penetration of such rumors even into the Biden administration,” Zharov wrote.
Let us recall that in January, economist Mikhail Delyagin named Kudrin as a possible successor to Putin, whom he would be forced to appoint under pressure from the West and street protests in support of criminal blogger Alexei Navalny (at that time it was expected that they would be more widespread). A similar scenario, without naming a name, was voiced by liberal experts, as well as Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
The US has revealed who they want to see replace Putin.