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Luzhkov's wife links attacks to 2012 polls
Source: Agencies |
September 21, 2010, Tuesday
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THE billionaire wife of Moscow's mayor has accused the Kremlin of mounting a campaign against her husband to help position President Dmitry Medvedev for a re-election bid in 2012.
Yuri Luzhkov, mayor since 1992, left at the weekend for a holiday in Austria amid a furious campaign against him in state-controlled media and sharp criticism from Medvedev's Kremlin administration.
His wife Yelena Baturina, Russia's richest woman according to Forbes magazine, said the attacks were all about 2012.
"I think all of this is done for one person only - the president," she told yesterday's edition of the opposition New Times magazine via videolink from Austria.
Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin have said one of them will run for president in 2012, and most Russians expect Putin to return to the post he held from 2000 to 2008.
"We kind of have two candidates now. Who will become the candidate in 2012 is an open question," Baturina said. "There are people in the president's administration who are afraid that the mayor may take the side of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin."
Increased activity by both in recent weeks has prompted analysts to say the poll campaign has effectively started.
For Medvedev, sacking Luzhkov would be the boldest move of his presidency. But, if Medvedev fails to follow through on his attacks, he will suffer a major loss of face.
Lacing her remarks liberally with slang, Baturina criticized the imprisonment of oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, seen by critics as politically motivated, and drew parallels with the attacks on her husband. She said the Kremlin administration had given direct orders to air anti-Luzhkov documentaries on the NTV television channel, controlled by the state-owned gas monopoly Gazprom.
Yuri Luzhkov, mayor since 1992, left at the weekend for a holiday in Austria amid a furious campaign against him in state-controlled media and sharp criticism from Medvedev's Kremlin administration.
His wife Yelena Baturina, Russia's richest woman according to Forbes magazine, said the attacks were all about 2012.
"I think all of this is done for one person only - the president," she told yesterday's edition of the opposition New Times magazine via videolink from Austria.
Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin have said one of them will run for president in 2012, and most Russians expect Putin to return to the post he held from 2000 to 2008.
"We kind of have two candidates now. Who will become the candidate in 2012 is an open question," Baturina said. "There are people in the president's administration who are afraid that the mayor may take the side of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin."
Increased activity by both in recent weeks has prompted analysts to say the poll campaign has effectively started.
For Medvedev, sacking Luzhkov would be the boldest move of his presidency. But, if Medvedev fails to follow through on his attacks, he will suffer a major loss of face.
Lacing her remarks liberally with slang, Baturina criticized the imprisonment of oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, seen by critics as politically motivated, and drew parallels with the attacks on her husband. She said the Kremlin administration had given direct orders to air anti-Luzhkov documentaries on the NTV television channel, controlled by the state-owned gas monopoly Gazprom.
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