MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin bolstered his grip on power in 2003 after a parliamentary triumph that smooths the way for his re-election next year, and has hinted he may now go after the billionaire oligarchs.

With popularity ratings hovering around 80 per cent, among the highest of any democratically-elected leader, Putin has a two-thirds majority in parliament that his supporters say will allow him to press ahead with post-Soviet economic reforms.

“We can achieve nothing without developing the economy effectively. We must adopt the fundamentals that will work for our country today and tomorrow,” Putin vowed in a recent nationally televised question-and-answer session.

On March 14, the former spymaster will stand for a second four-year term in elections in which he is expected to romp home to victory.

One of his first moves is likely to be a government reshuffle, appointing a trusted ally such as Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin to replace Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, one of the last figures from the time of former president Boris Yeltsin.

Another priority will be to determine the fate of Russia’s richest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who has been in jail since Oct 25 accused together with his associates of fraud and tax evasion amounting to a billion dollars.

It is widely believed in Russia that Putin launched a campaign against Khodorkovsky and his Yukos oil giant because the tycoon had been financing opposition parties that threatened Kremlin victory in the Dec 7 elections.

Khodorkovsky, the main shareholder in Yukos, faces a 10-year jail term and confiscation of assets, but some analysts believe that other super-rich businessmen who made their fortunes in the chaotic mid-1990s could be next in line.

“All remaining independent forces will be targeted, including oligarchs and journalists,” said Olga Khrystyanovskaya, an expert on the Russian political elite.

“The government’s control over all spheres will be strengthened. What we are seeing is a process of Sovietisation in which they are re-establishing Soviet-era methods of governing,” she added. A few days before the New Year, Putin appeared to backtrack from repeated assurances that he was not planning to reverse the results of the corrupt 1990s privatizations.—AFP