We’ve been here before. In 2000, western leaders and media waxed lyrical about the new man in the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin. Now, they’re falling head over heels for his successor. We’ve heard about Dmitry Medvedev’s leather jacket and love of Deep Purple, and his background as a lawyer, rather than a KGB agent. He’s from “a new generation“, we’re told.The noises from the new man in the Kremlin have certainly sounded promising: a war on “legal nihilism” and corruption; a commitment to free media; and, last Thursday, a statement that “Russia is ready to move, to find compromises” with Britain.
But this kind of talk is precisely why Medvedev was selected as president by Russia’s political elite: it’s part of an ongoing campaign to improve the country’s image in the west.