Posted on 09/01/2011 9:23:23 PM PDT by Libloather
Analysis: Exxon deal sets stage for Putin return to Kremlin
By Douglas Busvine | Reuters – Wed, Aug 31, 2011
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's blessing of a deal with ExxonMobil to extract oil and gas from the Russian Arctic sends a strong signal that he will return to the Kremlin in an election next year.
Neither Putin, 58, who was president from 2000 to 2008, nor President Dmitry Medvedev, 45, has announced whether they will run for the presidency next March.
But Putin demonstrated he is firmly in charge and ready to remain Russia's paramount leader by securing the deal with Exxon after rivalries in Russia's dual power structure wrecked a similar agreement this year with British oil company BP.
"It confirms my personal view that Putin is coming back. He can guarantee the deal much more effectively if he is ensconced back in the Kremlin," said Vladimir Frolov, president of LEFF Group, a government relations and PR firm based in Moscow.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
The USA don’t need no stenkin oil, the USA don’t need no stenkin revenue either. How bout dat shite folks.
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