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Issue 13 News Updates

• Could Vladimir Putin be moving from president to prime minister? On December 10, Putin endorsed one of his closest aides, Dmitry Medvedev, to succeed him after the March presidential election. The following day, Medvedev declared that Putin should become prime minister if he himself is elected president. Putin can’t run for a third consecutive term as president by law, but he is expected to remain a force in Russian politics. Some experts suspect that Putin will change Russia’s political structure to hold on to power. Currently, the president is Russia's most powerful politician. Putin could turn that around, leaving the president as a figurehead and making the prime minister the man in charge.              

• Dmitry Medvedev, 42, taught law at St. Petersburg State University during the 1990s. In 2000, he led Vladimir Putin’s first presidential election campaign. Putin named Medvedev his chief of staff in 2003. In 2005, Medvedev was appointed first deputy prime minister, a post he still holds today. He is also chairman of the board of the government-run natural gas company, OAO Gazprom. A new opinion poll suggests that his popularity among Russians soared after Putin endorsed him. Read excerpts of Medvedev's interview with foreign journalists.

• On December 19, TIME magazine named Vladimir Putin its “Person of the Year” for 2007. Putin was chosen for his success in turning Russia around and stabilizing the country. Richard Stengel, TIME's managing editor, explains that “Person of the Year” is not an honor but rather a recognition of the forces that shape the world. Stengel says this about Putin: “At significant cost to the principles and ideas that free nations prize, he has performed an extraordinary feat of leadership in imposing stability on a nation that has rarely known it and brought Russia back to the table of world power.” Listen to Putin's interview.

• The United States didn't make many friends at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Bali. The U.S. went into the conference opposing specific limits on greenhouse gas emissions — as did China and India, two other major greenhouse gas contributors. Even former Vice President Al Gore, who had just picked up the Nobel Peace Prize for his environmental work, said the United States was “principally responsible for obstructing progress” at the Bali conference. The conference ended without any agreements to cut emissions, but the countries did agree to set a timetable for talks that will continue after President George W. Bush leaves office.