Politics in Russia: power, lobby, conflicts. Issue No (48) 789

November 23 - 29, 2009

Main tendencies of political week

The president was confidently holding initiative on the domestic policy field last week, and the stylistics he employed could be characterized as moderately liberal. To a great extent this was attributed to the character of events he was involved in – a meeting with human rights activists, dismissals of some high-ranking servicemen, a meeting with the Belarusian opposition press (although that was rather a desire to respond to Alexander Lukashenko who argued ad hominem on relations of the Union State members) as well as a meeting of the council for modernization. The latter should be singled out because it was marked as the beginning of a second stage of activities, in which the composition of participants is to be substantially expanded by including institutions of development represented by state corporations.

Last week the pressure on state authorities was not decreasing through an anti-police campaign and the Dymovsky project that went on further. On the background of numerous reports about police abuses UR’s liberal wing member Andrey Makarov declared the interior ministry could not be reformed but it should be disbanded and established anew. Thus, the pressure on the police, one of the weakest links of state authorities, was rising. One should also mention attempts to assign a certain “color” to the Dymovsky project (in line with the post-Soviet velvet revolutions); the ex-major said he intended to found a movement called White Ribbon.

Another direction where informational pressure was exerted was institutionalization of different protest movements. In addition to Dymovsky, the Federation of Russian Motorists said it planned to establish a public and political movement. Thus, forces that previously tried to position themselves as defenders of social or professional interests are getting politicized. Some protest forces became radical expressing their readiness to resort to violence. In particular, the derailment of a Nevsky Express train as a result of an explosion can be considered an act of intimidation of high-ranking representatives of the ruling class who were killed and injured in this terrorist attack.

Finally, attempts to split the tandem did not stop, which became a usual practice. The anti-Putin coalition was creating more and more news-making occasions in this direction. This can be testified to by Nikolay Zlobin’s article, in which he claims that Cabinet members were allegedly openly opposing the president and initiatives he voiced in his state of the nation address. Levada Center surveys also became resonant; citing their results it was claimed that the trust of Russians in the government was declining, while the president and his initiatives were not perceived seriously. The results of the UR congress were also described with rather negative comments in the liberal press early last week.

Major events November 23 - 29, 2009

Volume: 15 pages