Medvedev Takes a Swipe at Putin

He better not drop the soap around Putin.

Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, on Sunday took another apparent swipe at Vladimir Putin, rebuking the prime minister’s government for moving too slowly to alleviate the country’s economic crisis.

Mr Medvedev said only 30 per cent of the government’s anti-crisis programme drafted last October had been fulfilled.

“We have to acknowledge that at the present moment planned measures are being fulfilled more slowly than expected and, most important, more slowly than the current situation demands,” Mr Medvedev said at a meeting at the Salyut engine plant outside Moscow.

Most Russians had believed Mr Medvedev would play second fiddle to Mr Putin, who named him as his chosen successor ahead of presidential elections last year.

Although several attempts by Mr Medvedev to pursue independent policies have been thwarted, Kremlin watchers have noted a new assertiveness in the president of late.

In comments last month that were seen as a signal to Mr Putin, the president said: “The final responsibility for what happens in the country and for the important decisions taken would rest on my shoulders alone and I would not be able to share this responsibility with anyone.”