Medvedev Gets Caught In Kremlin Mouse Trap
In his column for The Moscow Times, Vladimir Frolov, president of LEFF Group, a government-relations and PR company, believes that it is hard to see a net political gain for President Dmitry Medvedev from his awkward decision to temporarily halt the construction of a federal highway through the Khimki forest. The notion that the president's political credibility could be put on the line just to provide cover for United Russia makes Medvedev look manipulated.
Frolov states that this public relations disaster underscored the growing ineptitude of the Kremlin's political operation and its loss of skills in pre-emptive action. Medvedev has been forced into a corner. Whatever decision he ultimately makes will be damaging politically.
He might soon face an even more dangerous and costlier political trap that the Kremlin's operatives have placed for him - what to do with the protests on Triumfalnaya Ploshchad in defense of Article 31 of the Constitution.