Economic Crisis to Prompt Early Elections?

Thumbnail image for KGB_Statue.jpgThat’s what Yulia Latynina was suggesting in her column today.  Garry Kasparov also has a big interview with Reuters in which he (no surprise) not only predicts the rapid toppling of the regime within the next two years, but also hypothesizes that the economic crisis is making Vladimir Putin feel very insecure being outside of the Kremlin, and may lead to early elections:  “[He] is scared by the crisis and wants to go back to the Kremlin. (…) Now … it’s about saving your skin. That’s why I believe they will soon move into a new election phase.

Interesting, no doubt, but these seem like mutually contradicting outcomes – Putin going back into the presidency is not something we would associate with a regime on the brink of collapse … however there is also doubt over how much appetite there would be for the vulnerability presented by another transition.