News Sources: Putin Goes from Prez to Prime Minister

Vladimir Putin told delegates at the pro-Kremlin United Russia party's convention that he will serve as prime minister if his longtime aide Dmitri Medvedev is elected to replace him as president next March. Some fear such an arrangement may be fundamentally unstable, as a strong figure in that post may create tensions which have already buffeted Russia in its brief democratic history. Reporters looking for experts to interview on this topic can find them online at the collegenews.org database of news sources and subject matter experts from America's leading liberal arts colleges, including the following (click on names for contact information):

Larry Caldwell - Gamble Professor of Political Science, Occidental College - A former visiting professor at the National War College, scholar-in-residence in the CIA's Office of Soviet Analysis, and RAND consultant, Caldwell is an expert on Russian-American relations, Russian politics and military, and arms control who has testified before Senate and House committees.

Michael Hamm - Boles Professor of History, Centre College - Hamm is the author of books on the history of Ukraine and Russia, and he has been a guest scholar in Russia and a university lecturer in Kazakstan. His work has been honored with Fulbright and IREX fellowships.

George E. Hudson - Professor of Political Science, Wittenberg University - Hudson is a Fulbright Scholar, an authority on the former Soviet Union and modern Russia and the use of the military as an instrument of foreign policy. An adviser to the Department of Defense and a consultant to the National Security Council, he was a member of the U.S. team which negotiated with Soviets for convential arms reductions in 1979.