Everything According to Clan: Putin Finishes Forming Government

They say that Vladimir Putin has created a model in which the president personally controls the executive branch, through various measures such as the establishment of the Presidential Administration under the control of Putin's former ministers who "compete with government ministries and departments."

While seeking to become a major player in the fuel and energy complex, Rosneft head Igor Sechin still informally influences the security forces. Experts say that businessmen Gennady Timchenko and Yuri Kovalchuk have also joined the ranks of the decision makers.

The "politburo" includes Russian Technologies CEO Sergei Chemezov, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, and head of the Presidential Administration Sergei Ivanov. Political management has been passed on from Vladislav Surkov to "a newcomer," deputy head of the Presidential Administration Vyacheslav Volodin.

The "political" block includes Patriarch Kirill, leaders of the parliamentary parties and Mikhail Prokhorov. Moreover, the government could concede several regions to the opposition in 2012-2013 in order to be able to criticize their managerial skills. Regional leaders named as future candidates for the politburo include Georgy Poltavchenko (St. Petersburg), Sergei Shoigu (Moscow Region), Rustam Minnikhanov (Tatarstan), and Ramzan Kadyrov (Chechnya) in his capacity as a "clear leadership candidate in the North Caucasus."

The most influential politburo members are Alexei Kudrin, who is maintaining personal contact with Vladimir Putin, Alexander Voloshin as a representative of the Old Family group and Arkady Rotenberg, who is in the president's business circle. Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, who represents the "Standby Power Unit," and businessman Roman Abramovich are also said to be part of this group.

"There is now a model of governance that is really unworkable without Putin himself, structured according to the intersection of interests and powers, so that everybody is in the clinch, with an ultimate referee making the decisions," said Yevgeny Minchenko.

"Competition can reduce the potential for influence of each of the groups," said Kirill Petrov. Serving as an illustration of this process is new blood such as presidential aide Yevgeny Shkolov or the new Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, who "engages" with Vladimir Putin personally, and not Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev's group.

The ruling elite have faced new challenges since 2010. Minchenko said that in the early 2000s, these included redistribution of assets through state control. Now it is redistribution of wealth through "a new stage of privatization," which will legalize the transfer of property by inheritance. Experts say this is a top priority in order to create a "closed ruling corporation," and new projects such as Greater Moscow and the development of Siberia and the Far East have been established in order to "create incentives for redistribution in favor of the successful and distinguished members of the coalition."