Putin elected leader of the United Russia party

According to Klaus-Helge Donath, despite all the criticism the new constellation - with Putin as party leader and prime minister and Medvedev as president - also provides an opportunity to overcome Russia's traditional pyramid power structure. "To secure the power structure on which Putin's system is based its creators are resorting to a measure that evades the logic of this power mechanism. The 'vertical power structure' which is the trademark of the outgoing Kremlin boss is now being undermined by the boss himself. Although the organisational impact of the vertical structure has generally been overestimated, at least it secured one thing: loyalty. However such loyalty is no longer possible in a double power situation. The fear of opening up the system could therefore inadvertently create space for a rudimentary form of pluralism. Nonetheless, a collapse of the entire system can't be ruled out either."

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