Dmitry Medvedev: Russia’s Faux Reformist
Writing for Canada's MacCleans, Nancy Macdonald comments that there is heated speculation that President Dmitry Medvedev may be breaking away from his mentor and predecessor Vladimir Putin. However, as author and journalist Edward Lucas said, it's a convincing narrative "until you look at the facts".
Lilia Shevtsova, the author of Putin's Russia, added that "the litmus test on Medvedev's democratic bona fides...came with the decision whether or not to proceed with a second trial for Mikhail Khodorkovsky." Freeing Khodorkovsky could have sent a sign of a fundamental philosophical and political shift for Medvedev which would have not only made him a force within Russia but also earned him praise from the West - removing "the Yukos stain that hovers over the Kremlin to this day," says Lucas.