A Good Treaty analyzes the situation with the Moscow mayor, suggesting “that Yuri Luzhkov will not be replaced before his term expires next year”: “But the Luzhkov affair has the appearance of a power struggle […]. The appearance of a more active and confident Medvedev gives off the impression that he’s asserting himself to boost his reputation as a leader, to make it harder for [Putin] to cast him aside, should he wish to do so in two years. This amounts to the one thing that Putin promised Russia it wouldn’t have to suffer in 2012: politics.”