BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

25/05/2006

Anschluss With Belarus Could Mean 3rd Term for Putin - Yavlinsky

MosNews

Grigory Yavlinsky, the leader of the liberal Yabloko party has said that Russian President Vladimir Putin could stay on for a third term, overcoming the constitutional ban on such a move by what Yavlinsky called an "anschluss" with Belarus.

Speaking at the interview with the readers of the Russian internet daily Gazeta.ru, Yavlinsky said that Putin might not leave his post in 2008. "An authoritarian system does not know how to change its leader. This is the way it is made, it is not adapted to the change of the leader in general and so systemic problems will arise, I mean it will be hard (for the beaurocrats) to part with their privileges and property, and with their posts, and besides, Putin and his entourage have this Messianic feeling - Russia must be saved and what is there that cannot be done for the sake of that?"

"It will be very dangerous if this is done through an anschluss with Belarus. For everyone. But this option should not be excluded," Yavlinsky said.

Source:

http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/05/25/yavlinskywarnsofanschluss.shtml