Dr. Igor Khokhlov comments on Election Campaing in Russia 2011 2012

This show is in English. The show went live at Russia Today satellite TV channel 08/24/2011 Russian political expert Dr. Igor Khokhlov, a researcher with Moscow-based Institute of World Economy and International Relations, comments the decision of Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev to swap during the coming election campaign, announced and the United Russia rally the 24th of September 2011. Российский политический эксперт Игорь Игоревич Хохлов (Институт мировой экономики и международных отношений Российской академии наук) комментирует решение Владимира Путина и Дмитрия Медведева обменяться постами в ходе наступающей избирательной кампании. О решении было объявлено на съезде партии "Единая Россия" 24 сентября 2011 года. Russian political expert Igor Khokhlov, a researcher with the Moscow-based Institute of World Economy and International Relations, believes that the most important thing for the leader is to "do good for his own country," and he says that Putin has become extremely popular both inside and outside Russia for what he has done since 1999. "I think the most important criterion is the effectiveness of how the leader works for his own nation," he said. "On the other hand, I find Putin very popular outside, because Russia has been conducting a very reasonable policy following all its international agreements for those 12 years. And our foreign partners can feel there is a strategy, it is logical, it is quite expected. But of course Russia protects its own interests, it is quite natural." One of the major issues between Moscow and Washington since the Bush administration was the construction of a missile defense system in the back garden of Russia. President Medvedev has voiced his frustration and his opposition to that, but some believe his position was not firm enough. Nevertheless, Khokhlov believes that Russian foreign policy is indeed very logical. "There were a few pillars of global stability built in the 70s by the Soviet Union and the United States, and Bush's administration has contributed a lot to removing those pillars," he said. "Russian foreign policy is very logical. The idea is to continue the cooperation that existed in the Soviet era in building that stability. And in this case, adding extra missile defense in Europe or anywhere else is actually removing those pillars of stability." Igor Khokhlov believes that "results and stability" are the two most "highly valued commodities" in Russian political life. "The Russian economy has been constantly rebuilding under Putin's rule and then under Medvedev's rule," he said. "And Medvedev set very ambitious goals during his presidency: the modernization of Russia and moving Russia ahead, based on the resources Russia has."