Russia's Fires May Have Strengthened Putin

Political analysts say Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev handled the wildfire emergency poorly. Timberland, villages, and a naval base were destroyed as officials in Moscow initially failed to act and their local subordinates were reluctant to take charge, says Nikolai Petrov, an analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center. "All decisions are made and all commands are issued at the top, so everyone was waiting for orders from the Prime Minister."

By Ilya Arkhipov and Lyubov Pronina

Political analysts say Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev handled the wildfire emergency poorly. Timberland, villages, and a naval base were destroyed as officials in Moscow initially failed to act and their local subordinates were reluctant to take charge, says Nikolai Petrov, an analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center. "All decisions are made and all commands are issued at the top, so everyone was waiting for orders from the Prime Minister."

In the teeth of the crisis, state media portrayed Putin consoling fire victims, meeting with local officials, publicly dressing down the head of the Federal Forestry Agency, and even co-piloting a fire-fighting plane. Since the fires ended, Putin has kept up the media blitz, tagging grey whales with a crossbow, driving cross country on a new highway, and calmly examining a nearby brown bear in a Siberian stream.

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