Just before noon on Monday, Dec. 12, the Russian billionaire owner of the New Jersey Nets, Mikhail Prokhorov, sent an invitation around to the Moscow press corps, a group of people not presently inclined to listen to the musings of an oligarch. Russia is now in the middle of its worst political crisis in more than a decade, and the punishing stream of news has left even veteran reporters bleary-eyed and manic. "This damn well better be good," one of them remarked as Prokhorov sauntered into the room, wearing a purple tie and a smirk. He did not disappoint. Without so much as a preamble, he announced that he would be running against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Russia's paramount leader, in the presidential election this March. For at least the third time in a week, Russia's political drama twisted around like a soap-opera plot.
Here was a man with a fortune of $18 billion, young, slick and at least a head taller than any other local politician, challenging Putin to an electoral duel at the Russian leader's time of greatest weakness. For a brief moment, it was hard not to feel a pang of sympathy for Russia's ruling strongman. Putin's party stands accused of rigging last week's parliamentary elections, which have unleashed an outpouring of public anger unlike any Putin has ever seen. Tens of thousands of demonstrators rallied on Saturday, Dec. 10, against the ballot results, shattering what paltry faith was left in Russia's electoral system. In less than three months, Putin will have to face re-election himself, and it was already shaping up to be the fight of his life before Prokhorov stepped into the picture. More
No comments:
Post a Comment