Russian political scientist and doctor of historical sciences, Valery Sovoley, has discerned territorial claims to Kazakhstan in Vladimir Putin's recent report and latest statements. He believes that all the statements made in the Kremlin regarding history focus only on the future, and they should be taken as seriously as possible.
Mikhail Delyagin, a well-known economist and politician, believes that some political groups in the Kremlin are interested in bringing Vladimir Putin’s resignation forward. Apparently, they hope for the lifting of Western sanctions and the opportunity to come back to their mansions in Europe.
“Risks of future shocks do not increase or decrease in accordance with one or another scenario of power transit,” said the economic expert Sergei Lepekhin. “They depend on whether the basic solutions that should have been made long time ago are appropriate.”
Ilya Graschenkov, the head of the Center for Regional Policy Development, said that the article published by former Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev might mark a start of his presidential campaign. In Graschenkov’s opinion, it is Medvedev but not Mishustin or Sobyanin, who is being prepared for a comeback to the Russian political Olympus.
The expert, Dr. Valery Solovey, added that this would be a showcase dismissal in order to calm the Russians before the early parliamentary elections. According to Solovey, the plans of this kind have long existed in the Kremlin.
Some forces in the Kremlin are acting as Vladimir Putin’s opponents and they do not want him to be the Russian President, Alexei Lapushkin told reporters.
“The most interesting thing is that they are at the epicenter of decision-making,” said Valery Solovey, the analyst. “But they keep acting mechanically hoping that the situation will dissolve itself and not believing in it.”
Political analyst Oleg Bondarenko believes that Vladimir Putin may leave his post before 2024 when nobody expects it. In his opinion, the amendments are needed to calm down the country's political elite while searching quietly for a successor.
It is for this reason, says Mikhail Delyagin, that unprecedented restrictive measures have been taken in Russia earlier. They were completely out of proportion to the scale of the situation, but they allowed plunging millions of Russians into misery and almost driving them into despair.
“In times of crisis, Russia's government turns out to be in shambles,” says Russian political analyst Yevgeny Satanovsky. “[Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana] Golikova triggers panic just by her appearance. After her speeches you immediately start looking for safety boats, no matter what she was talking about.”
Commenting on the results of the survey, Delyagin said confidently that Sobyanin is dishonoring and discrediting the government and is thereby personally inflicting serious damage on Russia’s state institutes.
Many experts said that politicians would make the epidemic instrumental for improving their popularity ratings. Mostly, it was said regarding Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin who was partly forced to take responsibility for what was happening in the Russian capital.
“Apparently, Putin did not like the idea of taking a back seat,” said Russian political analyst Abbas Galyamov. “Therefore, Moscow Mayor was given a serious warning. The Kremlin propaganda quickly found all the shortcomings of the [Russian] capital's administration and chastised it.”
In Markov’s opinion, there is a third version, which looks like a real conspiracy theory. According to it, people connected with the U.S. secret services might be standing behind Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and his inner circle. Allegedly, subversive work against Vladimir Putin is being conducted for this particular reason.
“Dmitry Medvedev's hasty lobbying for early elections is also caused by the growing popularity ratings of new parties,” say some Russian media outlets. “They are quite capable of taking away a large part of the United Russia’s electorate in a year. Therefore, this political force might be irrevocably ‘buried’.”