(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Few people in Russia think Dmitry Medvedev is really in charge of the country’s affairs, according to a poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center. Only nine per cent of respondents say the real authority in the Russian Federation is in the president’s hands.

Conversely, 36 per cent of respondents think power is in the hands of Medvedev’s predecessor and current Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin, while 47 per cent believe both men are sharing the authority equally.

Russian voters renewed the State Duma in December 2007. United Russia (YR)—whose candidate list was headed by Putin—secured 64.1 per cent of the vote and 315 of the legislature’s 450 seats. On that same month, Putin endorsed Dmitry Medvedev as a presidential candidate, and Medvedev said it would be of the "utmost importance" to have Putin as prime minister.

In March, Medvedev easily won Russia’s presidential election with 70.28 per cent of the vote. In May, Medvedev was sworn in as president. His nomination of Putin as prime minister was confirmed by the State Duma in a 392-56 vote.

On Jul. 28, Putin accused coal and steel company Mechel of price-fixing and tax evasion, saying, "One company was exporting its product at a fraction of the domestic market price. (...) It is a reduction in the tax basis inside the country. It’s not paying taxes, it’s creating a shortfall on the domestic market, which means an increase in the cost of metals production."

Polling Data

In whose hands is the real authority in the Russian Federation placed right now?

Source: Yury Levada Analytical Center
Methodology: Interviews with 1,600 Russian adults, conducted from Jul. 18 to Jul. 22, 2008. No margin of error was provided.

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