Since the transfer of power in the Kremlin, comments from high-level officials on the TNK-BP affair have followed the line that the state has no position in this corporate conflict and puts no pressure whatsoever on the foreign investors.
The new president certainly needs time to strengthen his authority, but reshuffling ministers and aids is a far easier task than attempting to break the ties connecting the siloviki and Putin’s oligarchs, like Fridman and Vekselberg.
Prominent presence on Russian TV screens is helpful but not sufficient for earning public confidence and at least a modicum of trust from Western counterparts, but Medvedev has already gone through the first half of his “100 days” with little to show in terms of deeds.
