Is A Power Struggle Taking Place Inside The Kremlin?

Reuters

Jacob Heilbrunn, National Interest: Interview with Konstantin Remchukov: Why Vladimir Putin Will Likely Resign In 2024

National Interest editor Jacob Heilbrunn interviews the leading Russian journalist and Moscow local official Konstantin Remchukov about whether Russian president Vladimir Putin is initiating a brutal crackdown against political and media figures inside Russia—and whether a power struggle is taking place inside the Kremlin.

Jacob Heilbrunn: You originally thought the vote on Russian president Vladimir Putin’s extension in office would lead to a less restrictive Russia. But is the reverse occurring?

Konstantin Remchukov: No, my perception is that constitutional changes brought an end to the opposition’s political line, which was called transition. Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Alexei Navalny have been pushing for years ago for a future Russia. They tried to implant in the public mind the idea that the only thing that is worth talking about is a transition from Putin’s Russia. The response from Putin, however, was unexpected, namely, the drastic change in the constitution that allows him to run in 2024. By these legal acts the Kremlin stopped the entire concept of transition. It’s irrelevant. That was Putin’s idea about how to react to the opposition strategy.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: No one that I know in Russia is enthusiastic that Putin may run again in 2024. No one. And while Russian journalist and Moscow local official Konstantin Remchukov believes in the above interview that President Putin will resign, I say he will not simply because there is no one that he believes is ready to replace him.