His political group, People of Freedom, has absorbed the right-wing National Alliance party, he has shed one unreliable ally in the centrist UDC party, and his main partner, the Northern League, will be reluctant to unseat him.
Butoncehereturned to full fitness, he struck up a good understanding withhismainstrike-partner Nicolas Anelkaand hisprecisionpassingcreated a number of goalsforotherteam matesas well.
Before Putin's election, the banking and media tycoon had helped finance the Kremlin's main opponents, powerful Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov andhispartner, former Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov.