I don't see at all how one can read "rational democracy" in his interview. If anything, for someone willing to parse words, either he gets too academic in his answer or sounds a warning to nefarious forces planning anti-constitutional actions.

When he references this "reasonable/rational" bit the second time, it's clear that by "rational" he means legal and constitutional.

I can not find the translation of the original 2000 "Diagnosis: Managed Democracy", only can find the Russian original.

Returning to "managed democracy", I still contend that it is not accurate to name it an official ideology. I can not find Peskov describing Russian systen as managed democracy, and given New European BBC, I would not be surprised if they invented him saying that. Pavlovksy, being a head of a (private) political PR and consulting company, can shoot his mouth off whenever he likes, but when he does that, he does not speak in any official capacity.

The system built on the truth of one party alone proved its weakness 20 years ago. It was unable to cope with the new challenges arising and ceased to exist. In order to make our country competitive at the global level, we need to develop political competition too, but this should be reasonable competition, competition based on the law. This should be competition based on the law between political parties that want to take part in normal competition for building the best future for Russia.
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MICHAEL LUDWIG: After your election, you said that some people have been trying to undermine your partnership with Vladimir Putin. Mr Surkov said recently that, I quote, "some destructive forces in the country are trying to drive a wedge between you and Vladimir Vladimirovich".

Is this true? And who are these destructive forces?

DMITRY MEDVEDEV:  Everyone has the right and the possibility to comment on this or that process. My colleagues do this too, and this is absolutely normal. I am sure that there are some politicians out there who do not like the current power configuration, and part of the population no doubt does not like it either. But that is what democracy is all about. When elections take place the majority chooses a head of state, who in turn proposes the Government, and in this composition they work. I accept that not everyone may like the current set up, and I think that this is normal.

It would be ridiculous to list the names of destructive forces. I am not a supporter of conspiracy theories. Everything is a lot simpler in real life. But it is very clear that there is a system of political competition in any developed state. You asked me before about this too, about political competition. I think that this is a normal thing for any country. The main thing is not to let this political competition turn into anti-constitutional confrontation. Our country already had more than its share of this in the twentieth century. The President of Russia is the guarantor of the Constitution in order to be able to ensure general order in the country, ensure respect for the law and for rights and freedoms, give opposition forces the possibility to freely express their position, their views in the state structures, in the legislative bodies, in the parliament, and in the street, but all in accordance with the laws in force. Everything else is a question of evaluation.