There is Hillary and then there is the first lady of Argentina and now Putin's wife.


A RUSSIAN women's movement has urged President Vladimir Putin's wife Lyudmila to run for the presidency next year when her husband steps down but some politicians said they believed the move was a stunt, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

Russia's media-shy first lady has never shown any political ambition, but the idea is the latest in a series of proposals put forward by the popular Russian President's supporters to preserve his influence after his second term ends.


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It doesn't matter much who takes over for Putin, he will still be in charge.

I think in Putin's case, that is the idea.

WSJ's take on Putin and his policies.


By now, Russian elections are so scripted and Putinism so institutionalized that the Kremlin hardly needs to stuff ballots to ensure its preferred outcome. In turn, the U.S. and European democracies can stop indulging any remaining fantasies about guiding Vladimir Putin's Russia toward the West and face up squarely to an adversarial and authoritarian Kremlin.
[Vladimir Putin]

Seen in this context, Friday's decision by the main international election watchdog to scrap its observer mission for next month's parliamentary poll recognizes reality. Russian democracy went into deep coma years ago. But the standoff with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the latest reminder of this decade's big challenge in Europe and beyond.


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