The great surprise was that Putin kept his hapless Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev so long. The best that could be say about Medvedev is that he was so weak that he could be sacked at any time. Putin has systematically reversed the few reforms M introduced as president 2008-12.
By keeping Medvedev & in his speech, Putin has made clear that he has no intention to carry out any reforms. Yet, there is no reason to believe that he will do so now. The natural replacement would be an apolitical technocrat & Putin chose tax boss Mikhail Mishustin, 53.
Putin told Medvedev he would become Deputy Chairman of the Security Council, which Putin chairs. It means that Medvedev is not likely to be prosecuted for corruption & Nikolai Patrushev, the SECRETARY of the Security Council is likely to stay.
