NEWSLINK: “Unquiet American; Putin is unlikely to be brought in from the cold, says former U.S. envoy to Moscow Michael McFaul” – Politico.eu

Ambassador Mike McFaul file photo

“… How does the #Putin era end? ‘When Putin is no longer in power,’ responds #McFaul. ‘And I think he’ll stay in power for as long as he can.’ A natural end to Putin’s presidency is ‘unlikely,’ he says, ‘given the kind of system he’s built around himself, that really relies on one charismatic individual at its core.’ The #Russians don’t have anything like the Chinese Communist Party, and they ‘most certainly don’t have a set of ideas that are somehow independent of Putin that could be easily taken up by somebody in his ideological camp.’ So Putin’s never going to cede power and retire quietly to his dacha? ‘I would not guess so,’ says McFaul.”

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