August 29, 2007. Copyright 2007, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Gazprom chief Dmitry Medvedev has Russian presidency in his sights
By Joanna Griffin

LONDON, August 29, Graphic News:  In the battle to win hearts and minds ahead of RussiaÕs 2008 presidential polls, some say that Dmitry Medvedev has the more difficult task. While his fellow first deputy prime minister and closest rival Sergei Ivanov holds forth on the dynamic subjects of aviation and science, itÕs up to Medvedev to make his mark on ÒsofterÓ issues such as education.

While the fact that Medvedev holds the equally important but considerably less macho brief of National Projects (health, housing and agriculture) probably does lessen his appeal to those Russians looking for a strongman to succeed President Vladimir Putin, it by no means rules him out of an electoral race that remains shrouded in mystery.

In any case, Medvedev has plenty of chances to flex his own muscles in his role as chairman of Gazprom, the worldÕs biggest gas producer whose ambitions to dominate EuropeÕs energy markets are key to the countryÕs political and economic future.

Born into a family of academics in St Petersburg on September 14, 1945, Medvedev gained a PhD in law and taught at St Petersburg University before working under Putin as a legal expert for the committee for external relations at the office of Mayor Anatoly Sobchaz.

In 1999 he was one of the St Petersburg clan brought by Putin to Moscow, where he headed the latterÕs presidential election campaign headquarters the following year. Putin rewarded him for his loyalty with a job as first deputy chief of staff, and in 2003, presidential chief of staff, positions that gave him an unparalleled insight into the Kremlin power structure.

In November 2005 he was appointed first deputy prime minister, a promotion that appeared to signal he was being lined up as a possible successor to Putin. In that role, he has made several carefully choreographed trips around the country, urging Russians to have more babies and promising to improve education supplies, among other things.

But Medvedev, a liberal-technocrat, is also the lynchpin between the Kremlin and Gazprom, where he is in his second term as chairman. He has shown himself to be unperturbed by claims that the Kremlin seeks to use the gas giant as a foreign policy tool, and he is not shy about brandishing its potential to restore RussiaÕs former economic clout.

Medvedev is known as a discreet pragmatist whose reputation as a moderate stems in part from his willingness (like Putin) to borrow from western ideas. His victory in 2008 would ensure the continuation of the political status quo, and he has been called a Òcompromise candidateÓ who would be acceptable to the various power groups in Moscow.

In the murky world of Kremlin politics, however, nothing may be quite as it seems. While some analysts are predicting that Medvedev and Putin plan a straight job swap (Putin, they say, has his eye on Gazprom), others claim the younger man is being set up as a possible candidate to divert attention from the more serious contenders for the post.

Medvedev is married with one son.
/ENDS