Vladimir Putin’s first meeting after the elections was with former President Boris Yeltsin. They met at Mr. Yeltsin’s dacha. “The second President met the first,” was television journalists’ comment.
Prior to this trip Mr. Putin attended a concert where he was greeted by former Premiers Viktor Chernomyrdin and Sergei Stepashin. Both knew only too well that each could have been made the second President by Boris Yeltsin and his team: Boris Berezovsky, Valentin Yumashev, and Tatiana Diachenko. They all could have been except Yevgeny Prymakov, who frankly disliked Yeltsin’s entourage which alone was reason enough for his political death. Be it as it may, the ex-Premiers should think not of the past that never was but of the future where they will depend on the will of precisely those that did not let them succeed Mr. Yeltsin.
Vladimir Putin’s visit to Boris Yeltsin was covered on television. The general public may not know that the Acting President had made such visits quite often, away from the public — rather the television cameras’ — eye. And even if he did not visit, Tatiana Diachenko told her father all about Mr. Putin’s plans, as she sees him practically every day. Once her removal as presidential adviser was regarded by many as the end of her political influence. Mr. Yumashev, although long without any official posts, was present during the meeting at the dacha. Yeltsin’s entourage is strong precisely by being able to do without posts. And now Boris Yeltsin has joined the “family”: without the high post but with the title of First President of Russia.
At one time such a system was introduced in China by Deng Xiaoping. The Central Committee of the Communist Party was suddenly in company with the Central Advisory Commission Xiaoping sired and chaired, formed from veteran party members. Eventually Deng left the post, but who cared at the time who was at the head of Central Committee or the People’s Republic of China during Deng’s lifetime? Of course, this author is not drawing any parallels, but one ought to remember that the party leader was replaced after the Tian’an Men Square Protest, simply because Deng so decided.
Vladimir Putin simply has to live up to the expectations of those who helped him become Russia’s second President. Not least, because the first one is still there.
