[An Nahar] The last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, called on Prime Minister Vladimir Putin...Second President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits he is the current Prime Minister of Russia. His sock puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, was installed in the 2008 presidential elections. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law. During his eight years in office Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase, poverty decrease and average monthly salaries increase. During his presidency Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile...
on Saturday to heed protester demands and quit politics instead of seeking a third term as Russian president.
"I would advise Vladimir Putin to leave now. He has had three terms: two as president and one as prime minister. Three terms -- that is enough," Gorbachev told Moscow Echo radio in an interview.
Gorbachev's call came as the second mass protest in two weeks against fraud-tainted legislative polls ended in Moscow and on the eve of the 20th anniversary Sunday of his resignation as the Soviet Union's last president.
The 80-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner pointed out that he himself decided to quit after it became clear that the Soviet system could no longer survive and urged Putin to follow his example by bowing to popular discontent.
"He should do the same thing I did. That is what I would do. That way, he would be able to preserve all the positive things he did."