Love for Medvedev in the Stars, say Hare Krishnas

BY: STAFF CORRESPONDENT

Dmitry Medvedev attends a religious service at the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin

May 07, MOSCOW, RUSSIA (AFP) — Russia's new president Dmitry Medvedev has barely moved into the Kremlin but the power of the office already has everyone from bureaucrats to astrologists to the Hare Krishna flocking to show support.

Medvedev was sworn in as president in a grand Kremlin ceremony on Wednesday, watched by his predecessor Vladimir Putin, who is to become prime minister. After eight years as Russia's leader, Putin's picture adorns bureaucrats' offices and state-controlled television follows his every move in unabashed awe.

It may be early days for Medvedev but there are already signs he will get the same treatment with his portrait being snapped up for offices around the country, according to Russian press reports.

Medvedev also won the praise of astrologers and the Hare Krishna who on Wednesday said that the inauguration date augured great things. Medvedev will be lucky," astrologist Pavel Globa told daily newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda. With Mars and Jupiter not in the ascendent, Medvedev will have a predictable, calm term, he said. The stars are in perfect alignment for "reform of state structures and the bringing in of new personnel," Globa said.

"It is a good sign that Medvedev's inauguration comes on the same day as the Akshaya-Tritiya holiday," said Yury Pleshakov, spokesman for the Hare Krishna community speaking of the Hindu holiday. "The holiday is the starting point for important deeds."

"The choice of the inauguration is no accident and behind it is some kind of plan by God," said a Hare Krishna priest. The Hare Krishna movement has previously accused Russian authorities of harassing Hindus in Russia.

"We want to see the continuation of Vladimir Putin's course in improving Russian-Indian relations," said Pleshakov. Medvedev is the first Russian leader to practise yoga, the spiritual exercise which originated in India.

Meanwhile, companies selling pictures and photos of the new president have seen a rush of purchases.

Dmitry Medvedev talks to Vladimir Putin while touring the Kremlin

"He is selling well with the inauguration," said Yevgeny, from the web site vramke.ru which sells portraits of Medvedev, Putin, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, the founder of the Soviet secret police Felix Dzerzhinsky, and French President Nikolas Sarkozy.

The web site offers five different portraits of Medvedev ranging from 900 to 26,000 rubles (38 to 1,093 dollars, 25 to 708 euros) and all of them have been ordered this week, said Yevgeny. There has also been a demand for a three dimensional Medvedev at the Wax Museum in Saint Petersburg, which unveiled a model of the diminutive leader in February.

"Everyone is asking about him these days," said Andrei Chuzhov, director of the museum. "The Putin figure is eight years old already and the Medvedev one has just appeared. He is now at his peak, even if he is smaller in height than Putin."

"When we want him to stand out we put him on a podium," said Chuzhov. "It's impossible to make him into Peter the Great," Chuzhov addded referring to the Tsar who was more than two meters tall.

Still, even on the day of his inauguration Medvedev was not the most popular figure in the museum. "People like things with anomalies, an arm missing, an extra leg," Chuzhov said.