The Western Media: U.S. Doesn't Fear Putin's Return

Preoccupation with the economic situation in the country and discontent with the government, supposedly under the control of wealthy businessmen, contributed to the victory of the pro-Russia party Harmony Center in Latvia’s parliamentary elections, writes Michael Schwirtz of the New York Times.

Schwirtz notes that Latvian leadership has long tried to hinder the rise of such parties, playing to anti-Russian sentiment in society. The economic crisis and government politics, however, have led many voters to seek an alternative, even if it involves closer relations with Russia. Parties yielding votes to Harmony Center in the election could still prevent the winners from coming to power if they formed a coalition; such negotiations are already underway. Nevertheless, the 28 percent of votes collected by Harmony Center in the elections can be considered historic. The leader of the party’s group in parliament, Jānis Urbanovičs (a possible Prime Minister), announced that it was imperative to ease tensions in Latvian-Russian relations. According to him, it is important to understand that Latvia has a good neighbor with whom it should develop a mutually beneficial partnership.

David Charter of the British newspaper The Times of London played up the situation with the headline “Pro-Putin Party Wins Election in NATO Nation.” Charter writes that in order for Latvian centrists to create a coalition in government committed to keeping Harmony Center from power, it will need the help of nationalists celebrating the annual Latvian Legion Day. Indeed, according to the Latvian president’s press secretary, the head of state would prefer the creation of a wider, more stable coalition that includes Harmony Center. The pro-Russian party, writes the Times journalist, was able to win by taking advantage of low attendance.

Russia is waiting while Vladimir Putin decides who will be the candidate in the 2012 presidential elections, writes Kathy Lally of The Washington Post, returning to the favorite topic of Russian and Western journalists. She notes that the possibility of Putin’s own candidacy is viewed differently by so-called “pragmatists” and critics of the incumbent Russian prime minister. Putin’s critics fear that his return to the Kremlin would mean the end of a thaw in Russia-U.S. relations. Pragmatists, on the other hand, are convinced that the “reset” — which is associated with Medvedev’s name in the West — would never have even been launched without Putin’s approval. For their part, representatives of the intelligentsia who signed an open letter in the summer calling for Medvedev to run for a second term are saying that they do not fully know the current president, but have studied Putin enough and prefer to serve as the opposition to Medvedev rather than Putin.