In his latest Washington Post op/ed, has Anders Åslund drank the Kool-Aid on Russia’s fake inter-governmental opposition, or are these byzantine fissures actually genuine?  Back when we interviewed him last April, Åslund had cited Igor Yurgens as one of the most important progressives within Dmitry Medvedev’s entourage, and this has certainly materialized, at least rhetorically, with the Institute of the Contemporary Development report.  What seems more interesting is the apparent divide between Vladislav Surkov and Vladimir Putin (perhaps we can see the big “central modernization” speech by Surkov as a way to apologize for allowing the Kaliningrad protests), as well as the call from Gleb Pavlovsky for Putin to retire.  Obviously the jury is still out on this out – but I think it is pretty far-fetched to claim that Russia is on the brink of any major change right now.

A cacophony of elite voices are offering critiques, to the point that 2010 already bears some resemblance to 1987, the year Mikhail Gorbachev’s glasnost policy of openness came to life. Igor Yurgens’s Institute of the Contemporary Development, which is chaired by none other than Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, has taken the lead with a full-fledged call for Western liberalism, advocating the dissolution of the Interior Ministry and the FSB, successor to the KGB. On Feb. 18, Medvedev followed its cue and sacked 17 police generals. In December, the old Kremlin courtier Gleb Pavlovsky even called on Putin to retire, saying the prime minister is obsolete.