When President Dmitry Medvedev assumed office four years ago, it didn’t take long for a deep split between Russia’s main liberals to develop. As a result, two new camps formed: liberal modernizers and a liberal opposition.
The first group was led by Igor Yurgens, Yevgeny Gontmakher and other analysts from the Kremlin-linked Institute of Contemporary Development. In their numerous articles, reports and interviews, they supported Medvedev, proclaiming that he was a liberal reformer. They called for a broad “modernization coalition” that would convince Medvedev that he had his own social base and would motivate him to shift from making vague hints and liberal speeches to taking decisive action.
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