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Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005

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  There are already calls by Putin friends for him not to accept Russia's constitutional requirement he serve only two terms as president and step down in 2008.

"As time goes by, the calls for changing the constitution to allow Vladimir Putin to keep the presidency after 2008 will grow stronger," Izvestia reports.

If Putin doesn't step down, it will only fuel worries that he has created a virtual dictatorship in Russia.

Putin has already reduced press freedoms and Russia and tamed his nation's once vocal opposition.

Izvestia continued:

"Putin will accept changes in the constitution in conditions of a strong public support, which will make all political forces in Russia and abroad accept the changes. Investors will be only glad to have stability and avoid shocks," Weafer said.

"Business will most probably support Putin at the 2008 election, because the president has signed a kind of a truce with big businessmen... Given the current favorable price situation on the world oil and gas markets, there should be no reasons for considerable social unrest or political problems in the country in the next two or three years, at the least," the expert said.

Weafer added:

"However, the state should spend more money on sustainable economic growth, which will increase national wealth and spur the growth of incomes in the non-oil industries. The government should provide the promised growth incentives in all branches of the national economy in order to ensure growing employment in the long term.

"There are growing signs showing that foreign investors and big Russian businessmen are losing their fear of Russia and are investing in its economy. This process will remain slow until the results of the 2008 election are made public, because the investors need to know that there will be no political instability or major changes, the equity expert concluded."

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