The only potential presidential candidate, Grigory Yavlinsky (who wasn’t admitted to the presidential campaign), addressed the rally, saying politics should get back to morality and that “it’s just the beginning.”
Characteristically, an “anti-Orange” rally was staged simultaneously on Poklonnaya Mountain. According to the Interior Ministry, it gathered some 100,000 persons (a number of journalists and analysts doubt this statistic), including Moscow residents and people from other parts of Russia. Some media reported that people were forced or paid to attend this rally.
Such pro-Putin rallies showed a Ukrainian trace in the events that are taking place in Russia. Ukraine’s experience is obviously being used, even though never publicly admitted.
On Bolotnaya Square, rock groups performed and songs by Okean Elzy were played. True, the Ukrainian experience should be considered as a complex one, pertaining to the revolution as well as counterrevolution because there is no quality alternative.
In his fourth campaign article “Democracy and the Quality of State” (published yesterday), presidential candidate Vladimir Putin stresses the need to democratize Russia’s political system, contrary to the previous assumption that “sovereign democracy” sufficed: “Today, the quality of our state does not match civil society’s readiness to participate in it.” Putin admits that it is important to create a political system under which it would be possible and necessary to tell the people the truth. “Today, our society is very different from what it was in the early 2000s. Many people have become more wealthy, better educated and more demanding. The fact that people expect more from authorities today, and that middle-class people have gone beyond the small universe of building their own prosperity, is a result of our efforts. We have been working towards that goal.”
Putin suggests a number a measures aimed at working out the mechanisms of direct democracy, including “a mandatory revision in Parliament of those initiatives that collect 100,000 or more signatures on the Internet. A similar rule works in the UK, for instance. Certainly the anonymous Internet cannot serve this purpose, even though in a number of instances it helps discover the moods of society. A procedure should be developed for the official registration of those who want to participate in this system. An Internet democracy should be integrated into the overall development of institutions of the referendum democracy, and it should be particularly extensively applied at the municipal and regional levels.”
“Democracy needs to have mechanisms of constant and direct effect, effective channels for dialogue, social control, communications, and ‘feedback,’” indicates the candidate. “It is necessary to set up mechanisms of political system so that it would capture and reflect interests of large social groups in good time and would ensure the accommodation of those interests.”
In the fight against corruption Vladimir Putin suggested to introduce a rule of “absolute transparency” for a number of officials in the office of executive power and top rank officials of state corporations. They will have to report all expenditures and large purchases of their families, about their leisure time, and place of residence. It was proposed to introduce a new procedure for the formation of the Accounting Chamber and the Public Chamber with the participation of all factions of the Duma, as well as active use of the procedure of parliamentary investigation. “Both government and opposition should share political responsibility for the fight against corruption,” says Putin. He promises: “We will cope with corruption the way we did with oligarchy.”
Putin confirms that procedure of direct elections of governors will be set back in motion. “At the same time the president of the country will reserve the instruments of control and reacting, including the right for dismissal of the governor,” stresses Putin. In his article Putin does not mention “the president’s filter” in nomination for governor. The bill, tabled in the State Duma, does not provide such filter.
With the redistribution of powers and financial flows “you should not lose control over the country,” writes the current prime minister. At the same time he speaks in favor of the development of local self-government. Putin proposes to transfer the taxation of small businesses to the level of municipalities.
We need an extensive public discussion of draft laws and creation of “user-friendly interface” for receiving feedback on the websites of the authorities. Community councils in the executive branch should be formed not by the offices but the Community Chamber, says Putin.
Putin claims that during his tenure he managed to “restore the sovereignty of the people – the foundation of genuine democracy.” “The policy which was pursued in the 2000s consistently embodied the will of the people. This was confirmed each time by the elections,” writes the candidate for presidency.
Concluding his article, Putin stresses: “the practical implementation of the concrete solutions suggested in the article will make the power of the people-democracy-genuine, and will put the work of the state at the service of the society. All together it ensures Russia and the Russian modern society with sustainable and successful development.”
COMMENTARY
“PUTIN’S REGIME IS AFRAID OF ‘COLOR REVOLUTIONS’ ABOVE ALL”
Myroslav POPOVYCH, academician of the National Academy of Science of Ukraine, director of the Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy at the National Academy of Science of Ukraine:
“There is no [Putin’s. – Ed.] merit here. The attitude expressed by demonstrators and oppositionists from various positions is not only the result of the middle class formation. The current requirements to the Russian government coincide with the moods of the whole Soviet intelligentsia during the period of perestroika. This is something that has not died down and has remained the general democratic demands. The fact that today people have become more independent in Russia and that what we call middle class has appeared there only gives them a possibility to participate in these processes. So, saying that they ‘have worked’ for those demonstrations is just hypocrisy. The slogans of democracy, liberty and economic independence are equally topical today as they were when the Stalinism collapsed.
“I do not know what Putin means by ‘people’s sovereignty’. It is a mysterious formula and there is nothing behind it. There is as much people’s sovereignty in Russia as democracy. We cannot say that it is a completely authoritarian country since there is the opposition opinion there and the possibility to express it; however, in general it is the one-party authoritarian regime. When we had the orange developments this regime was an uncompromising enemy of the democracy that had great prospects in Ukraine. The Russian regime has remained the enemy of the velvet revolutions (the post-socialist regimes concerned). If some of those who sympathized with the Russian regime at Maidan still have some illusions, they should get rid of them since Putin’s regime is afraid of ‘color revolutions’ above all. This is the reason of all the Russian-Ukrainian conflicts concerning the oil, gas, etc. If these regimes were similar they would probably be able to compromise”.
Interviewed by Ihor SAMOKYSH, The Day
