Putin may care little about the meaning of democracy but he certainly understands what “competition” means, and he cannot tolerate being treated as “someone else.”
This brewing political crisis is not a secret for Russia’s international partners, who are broadly supportive of Medvedev’s aspirations but cannot put a high credibility mark on his smooth talking. Medvedev’s attempts at upgrading the language of politics could have been just empty talk but they resonate with the fast-spreading feeling that his modernization has no chance and Putin’s stability has no future. Putinism is set on track towards its complete de-legitimization through fraudulent quasi-elections, and the ideas about how to prevent its fiasco from becoming a state failure are resolutely turned down.
