Will Mr. Medvedev lose his job next fall?

The power struggle behind Russia's top figures is developing in a way that threatens Dmitry Medvedev's position as prime minister.

There are reports that Mr Medvedev will leave this fall. If so, it will be sooner than influential political analysts had predicted. Even before Mr Medvedev became prime minister, they predicted that he would not last long in office and that he would be out of office within three years.

At this time, the Russian press and political analysts are talking about an anti-Medvedev campaign and the collapse of the Putin-Medvedev power duo. A rather fierce struggle is taking place silently but is beginning to be revealed through recent events.

Russian public opinion is speculating about the fate of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Photo: NEWSRU

Although they are close political allies, President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Medvedev had disagreements over the war with Georgia in August 2008. Now, there is public opinion about the discord between Medvedev and Mr. Igor Sechin, one of Mr. Putin's closest allies and the most powerful person in the Russian government.

On the surface, President Putin has been making decisions that affect Prime Minister Medvedev’s authority. It seems that Mr. Medvedev is so cautious that even when on vacation, he does not want to hand over the work to his deputy prime minister during this time. “Currently, each of the two is trying to assert himself,” commented Igor Bunin, director of the Center for Political Technologies.

Mr. Nikolai Petrov, member of the Scientific Council of the Carnegie Center inMoscow, does not rule out the possibility of the Medvedev government falling apart this coming fall. “We assume that President Putin will replace the Medvedev government. What has been happening recently seems to be preparation for that event,” he said.

Will Russia's power duo collapse? Photo: NEWSRU

Meanwhile, the Center's August pollNevadashows that President Putin's approval rating has begun to decline after soaring when he first returned to the presidency. In May this year, 69% of Russians polled said they were satisfied with Putin's work as president, but that had dropped to 63% by mid-August. At the same time, the percentage of people dissatisfied with the head of state rose from 30% to 35%.

A similar situation happened to Mr. Medvedev, when the percentage of people satisfied with his performance as prime minister fell from 64% (in May) to 57% (in mid-August). The percentage of people dissatisfied with him increased from 35% to 41%.

Amid a bleak forecast for the Russian Prime Minister, he also faces a vote of confidence in the regions as leader of the United Russia party.

According to NLDO-M