Georgia war boosts status of Medvedev

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Moscow, Sep 4:

The question is whether Medvedev now has enough clout to push through his reform agenda in the face of growing hawkish sentiment.

The 42-year-old former corporate lawyer said on taking office that he wanted to integrate Russia into the world economy and make it part of a greater Europe, while tackling issues like corruption and a bloated bureaucracy at home.

Investors and markets welcomed those pledges after eight years of Putin's rule, marked by an economic boom but also by limited domestic reform and growing strains with the European Union and the United States.

Western condemnation of Russia's action in Georgia -- and the spectre of sanctions -- have triggered an isolationist backlash inside Russia that will make Western-style reforms much harder to sell.

"By backing the Georgian aggression, the West has lost any moral authority, and references such as 'This is how they do it in civilised countries' will not work," said Sergei Markov, the Kremlin-connected head of the Institute of Political Research.

"Russia needs modernisation ... but we will pursue Europeanisation without Europeans," Markov said.

Other analysts said this sentiment will recede, allowing Medvedev eventually to put his reform agenda into action.

"They say the 'siloviki' who rule Russia want isolation," Belkovsky said, referring to Soviet-era security officers who have occupied many top government posts since Putin, himself an ex-KGB spy, came to power.

"Nonsense, I say ... Most of them are big businessmen who have commercial interests in the West, and the last thing they need is for Russia to go into its shell."