Does A Leak Video Show A High Level-Rift In Russia?

Video Shows Putin Threatening to Dismiss Officials -- New York Times

MOSCOW — A Kremlin-linked Web site on Wednesday leaked a video clip of an angry President Vladimir V. Putin threatening to dismiss top officials, fueling speculation that Mr. Putin may be preparing to replace Prime Minister Dmitri A. Medvedev and his cabinet.

The video was published hours before Mr. Medvedev was to report to Parliament, a yearly event in which he is expected to respond to criticism. Mr. Putin’s press secretary called the leak “unacceptable from an ethical standpoint,” but politics here takes place amid onionskin layers of artifice, and many analysts concluded that the Kremlin intentionally released it as a warning shot to Mr. Medvedev.

Mr. Medvedev’s influence deteriorated sharply when he and Mr. Putin switched positions last year. Each heads a powerful apparatus and has different priorities: Mr. Medvedev cares more about innovation and economic development, whereas Mr. Putin prioritizes the expansive social pledges that were central to his re-election bid, said Aleksei Mukhin, director of the Center for Political Information, a research group in Moscow.

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More News On Russian President Putin Threatening To Dismiss Senior Officials

Vladimir Putin filmed haranguing group of Russian ministers -- The Telegraph
Russian PM Medvedev defends record after Putin warning -- Reuters
Putin Threatens to Fire Officials -- Wall Street Journal
Putin Criticizes Officials For Poor Performance -- Radio Free Europe
Putin lays down law to officials in leaked video -- RT
Putin Criticizes 'Worthless' Officials in Leaked Video -- RIA Novosti
‘Minister’s job no popularity contest’ – Medvedev -- RT

My Comment: OK .... Putin appears pissed in the video. But I have doubts that this video was done secretly and then leaked. Nothing around Putin is done unless it is carefully choreographed and planned. But .... I am now reading this .... and the Kremlin is going out of it's way to criticize the publication of this video. So who knows.

Update: I do not believe that Russian Prime Minister Medvedev may find himself fired. He and Putin go back a long way .... and Medvedev has shown his loyalty to Putin more than once .... something that I can say with confidence that Russian President Putin values more than anything else.