Latvian kudrin as future russian president ?

Star Gazing : Latvian , Alexei Kudrin a Future President ?
Alexei Leonidovich Kudrin (Russian: Алексей Леонидович Кудри&#1085 (born 12 October 1960) is a Russian political figure who served in the government of Russia as Minister of Finance from 18 May 2000 to 26 September 2011. After graduating with degrees in finance and economics, Kudrin worked in the administration of Saint Petersburg's liberal Mayor Anatoly Sobchak. In 1996 he started working in the Presidential Administration of Boris Yeltsin. He was appointed as Finance Minister on 28 May 2000 and held the post for 11 years, making him the longest-serving Finance Minister in post-Soviet Russia. In addition, he was Deputy Prime Minister in 2000–2004 and again beginning in 2007. As Finance Minister, Kudrin was widely credited with prudent fiscal management, commitment to tax and budget reform and championing the free market.
Under Kudrin, Russia's government paid most of the substantial foreign debt it had accumulated in the 1990s, leaving the country with one of the lowest foreign debts among major economies. Much of the revenue from exports was accumulated at the Stabilization Fund which helped Russia to come out of the 2008-2009 global financial crisis in a much better state than many experts expected. During his career, Kudrin has won several awards, including the "Finance Minister of the Year 2010" prize from Euromoney magazine. He was asked to resign from his position on 26 September 2011 by President Dmitry Medvedev.
( Info from Wiki)

What is going on ?
Alexei became Russia's Financial and Economic pin - up boy during the '07-'08 world recession . And rightly so .
His background is as a Putin man , having come out of the same St Petersburg academic class and then working alongside arch crook Putin .
Now he is bidding to be seen as a champion in his own right having fallen out with Dwarf Medvedev last year . Sacked but far from disgraced .
Or is it all part of a much deeper game?

Ever since being kicked out last September, he has continued to provide the Russian government with a wide range of economic advice for free. In an article published in the journal of Economic Policy on Friday, the former deputy prime minister challenged Russia's incoming government to provide vital solutions to ten key problems, ranging from tax and fiscal reforms to public administration and corruption. Some observers have pointed out, however, that some of Kudrin's latest economic and policy recipes are all about grandstanding that may harm his own chances of joining a new government.
The main thrust of Kudrin’s idea is that Russia must break away from its paternalistic economic policy – created by then-President Vladimir Putin 12 years ago – and establish an economic partnership in which the state interacts freely with both its citizens and businesses. A lot of reform programs were announced in the past, but they have mostly remained on paper, said the former finance minister. The results of government efforts to diversify the resource-based economy and stimulate investment were a fiasco, he said. "Perhaps a good example of the seriousness of the problem is the capital flight from Russia, which has been going on for nearly two years despite sustained high oil prices," Kudrin wrote.

The first task, Kudrin said, is to ensure macroeconomic stability and long-term predictability for business. Inflation should not exceed three percent to five percent per year, while tax rates should be stable and predictable. "It is wise for the government to abandon any tax increases in the long-term,” Kudrin wrote. The government must also restore the fiscal rule that limited the expenditure of oil revenues, he said. The second task is to reform the bureaucracy and make it more efficient. Among other things, Kudrin said officials should be made to declare all conflicts of interest in all areas of their responsibility. Failure to declare conflicts of interest, he said, should be grounds for dismissal, whether or not damages or malpractice are proved.

The third task is for the government to decentralize and transfer more regulatory and financial powers to regional and municipal authorities. “Regional and local authorities should be accountable to the public, and not to a supreme state body,” Kudrin said in apparent reference to Putin’s power vertical. The fourth challenge for the government, he said, is taking steps to stimulate growth and investment. The fifth is reducing the excessive state presence in the economy, protection of private property and development of a competitive economy. “There’s need to drastically reduce all government involvement, regulation and control and to undertake an active privatization of state companies,” Kudrin wrote. The government must also avoid the mistakes of the past, including "an attempt to save any company or companies that failed, either because of the wrong strategy, wrong investment decisions, or simply due to a hopeless lack of competitiveness," wrote the ex-minister.

The sixth objective is to strengthen industrial and municipal infrastructure, including roads, power and water supply, ports and airports, and utilities. Removing administrative barriers to goods and capital is the seventh task, Kudrin said. Businesses should be given more freedom and an increased degree of responsibility along with it. The eighth objective is developing human capital, which Kudrin says could require additional expenses on education and healthcare. Modernizing the labor market to raise employment levels, as well as labor productivity and improving the social safety net, are the ninth and tenth tasks set out by the ex-minister.

This is a guy clearly outlining a manifesto and a serious opposition stance .
Is it possible that he could move into the leadership of United Russia now that Putin has distanced himself somewhat by resigning the Presidency?
Would this allow a change in policy without necessarily making Putin look out of date and frankly intellectually inferior to the smart AK .
Is Kudrin actually part of Putiin's exit policy?