Vladimir Kara Murza
17 May 2012
Democratic states have different ways of forming their governments: from parliamentary coalition deals to presidential nominations. They do, however, have one feature in common: appointments to the executive are, as a general rule, known to the public. On Tuesday, Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev handed President Vladimir Putin the list of his Cabinet nominees. Not a single name on that list was announced. According to the official transcript of the meeting, Medvedev had decided that naming the new ministers would “ignite excessive interest.” For now, the only source of information on the future makeup of the government are anonymous leaks—such as the one in Kommersant newspaper, suggesting that the odious Vladislav Surkov, sacrificed by the Kremlin at the height of the anti-Putin protests in December, will make a comeback as the new government chief of staff.....
Article:
http://www.worldaffairsjournal... 
