Oligarch plans to support Medvedev

ONE OF Russia’s most powerful oligarchs plans to lead a liberal political party to support president Dmitry Medvedev, amid signs of a growing rift between the Kremlin chief and prime minister Vladimir Putin ahead of parliamentary and presidential elections.

Billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, the metals magnate owner of the New Jersey Nets basketball team, announced his surprise entry into politics just as Russians were digesting Mr Medvedev’s chilly response to Mr Putin’s plan to boost support for his own United Russia party.

“I have sent my proposal to the leadership of the Right Cause party. Now the decision is with them,” said Mr Prokhorov, whose estimated €16 billion fortune makes him Russia’s second-richest man. “My goal is to get a second place in this year’s parliamentary elections. I saw that my opponents speak in slogans without proposing anything constructive in return . . . Successful people want to see a party which is able to solve tasks. So I would set this goal for myself.”

Mr Prokhorov (46) is the first tycoon to venture into Russian politics since Mikhail Khodorkovsky was jailed in 2003 in what was widely seen as retribution from Mr Putin. Mr Khodorkovsky backed opposition parties and hinted at personal political ambitions, in breach of a deal Mr Putin reached with oligarchs after he became president in 2000, by which he promised not to investigate their affairs if they stayed out of politics.

Right Cause, a small pro-business party founded two years ago, has already urged Mr Medvedev to seek another Kremlin term in next March’s presidential vote. Mr Medvedev is a protege of Mr Putin and is seen as the weaker member of Russia’s leadership “tandem”, but in recent months he has indirectly criticised Mr Putin and moved against his allies in what many analysts see as signs of a growing struggle for power.

Neither man has revealed whether they will run for the presidency next year, and all eyes will be on Mr Medvedev today when he holds his main annual press conference at Skolkovo outside Moscow.

The management school and high-technology hub is emblematic of Mr Medvedev’s push to modernise Russia and to associate himself with the country’s more progressive elements, in contrast to the conservative clan that represents Mr Putin’s power base.

Mr Prokhorov’s announcement came just days after Mr Putin announced the creation of an All-Russian People’s Front to bring unions, youth groups and other non-governmental organisations under the umbrella of United Russia, whose popularity is falling.

“The over-concentration of power is a dangerous thing indeed. We should not allow that,” Mr Medvedev said in comments seen as a response. “Attempts to build a power system for a specific person are dangerous in any case . . . If they do not bring problems in the present, have no doubt: in the nearest foreseeable future, they will create huge problems both for the country itself and for that particular person,” he warned.