BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
13/12/2007
Russia's Putin Heads For Belarus For Talks On Possible Merger
(RTTNews) - Russian President Vladimir Putin will be traveling to the Belarus capital, Minsk, Thursday to resuscitate efforts to create a single state from the two former Soviet republics, a merger that could expand Putin's options for exercising power after he steps down as president next year.
If the two countries can reach an agreement, it would mark the first merger of a former Soviet state with Russia since the USSR split apart in 1991. Putin could then become the leader of a land even larger than Russia, a development that will hinge largely on talks beginning Thursday.
"I wouldn't be surprised if Putin tries to speed up a union with Belarus ... to become the president of the unified state," Gennady Zyuganov, Russia's Communist Party chief, said this week.
Putin, who has indicated he will seek to retain significant influence after he steps down from the presidency next year, does have at least one other option.
On Monday, he said he supported first deputy prime minister Dmitry Medvedev, to become Russia's next president, making Medvedev the overwhelming favorite in the March 2 vote and he, in turn, asked Putin on Tuesday to be his prime minister, though Putin has not yet accepted the offer.
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