Does Putin Still Favor Sidekick Medvedev?

In past presidential elections, Russia’s Vladimir Putin has twice resorted to a sudden ouster of his prime minister to bolster results at the ballot box. Dmitry Medvedev, the longest-serving premier since Putin came to power in 2000, seemed likely to be an exception, even nursing hopes of one day succeeding him. But with Medvedev’s poll numbers sinking amid corruption allegations that sparked the biggest anti-Kremlin protests in years, Medvedev could be expendable in the runup to Russia’s 2018 election.

According to two allies, Medvedev is more worried than ever about his political future. Two other people close to the Kremlin say Medvedev is likely to become more vulnerable the closer the March 2018 election gets. His approval rating, already weak because of a two-year recession, fell by 10 percentage points after the corruption allegations surfaced in March, to a record low of 42 percent in a poll by the independent Levada-Center published on April 5. Putin meanwhile remains highly popular, with 82 percent approval.