Yesterday and the day before yesterday Russian cities saw demonstrations of protest against results of the presidential elections or demonstrations for support of Vladimir Putin. Majority of experts commented on the post-election situation. Sergei Mikheev, the head of the Political Situation Center, said that there are some grievances with the government, but within society a lot depends on people themselves and the way they handle certain situations, are they responsible or irresponsible about the development of their own country. “There are a lot of claims that our quality of live isn’t what it should be, the dialogue with the authorities is not active enough, etcetera. But unfortunately these problems are rooted in the way of life of the people themselves. I agree with Putin, who wrote in his article that there will be no civil society until society itself is ready to change and assume responsibility. The level of people’s requirements has grown, ambitions are egregious, but there is no readiness to work hard to achieve these ambitions. People see what a good life is, they understood that they want to live well, but I don’t think they are ready to make themselves worthy of it. In other words, I’m not sure they’re ready to work hard to live well. There is such a desire among the people: “Let there be order and ‘dry’ law, but let there be a wine-store in my home”. A lot of young people want to live like MTV stars but don’t want to work or study for that.”
Problems of corruption were described by Mikheevs by his own example: “I have three children and I’ve gone through the same ordeal three times: parents gather up a committee to collect money for a ‘gift’ to a school teacher. I asked them if the teacher told them to do so, or the principle, or were they threatened or hinted at? But no! They say we should do it because it’s how they do things in schools. People themselves reproduce the same vicious pattern that they generally stand up against as far as bureaucracy is concerned. And they blame the authorities, not themselves. They think that the government should make everything right on its own. But is this possible without cooperation between the authorities and society? I don’t think so.”
Answering the question on whether such position might be a justification for effective power, Sergei Mikheev said that he doesn’t excuse the inefficiency or crimes of some bureaucrats, he wants to say that the efforts should be mutual: “It won’t work if only the authorities make demands or vice-versa. Without achieving a compromise it will be hard to achieve anything.”
As for the current activity of the opposition, Mikheev is absolutely sure that those opposition figures who'll keep demanding the impossible and insist on the illegitimate character of the elections, will soon lose all remaining support. “And those opposition figures who’ll acknowledge a certain progress will be able to evolve and get additional points. I’m sure that all those who participated in the meeting with Medvedev came there to assure their own future. As for Zyuganov, I think that what he does today is ineffective and only harms his image.”
The expert is sure that both the governmental and independent oppositions have done all they could to help Putin win in the first round: “The governmental opposition played at give-away, while the independent opposition has spoken only of Putin day and night, round the clock via all possible information channels. They didn’t tell us about their vision of the future, they didn’t present their program, they were obsessed with Putin. And by doing that they PRed him, whether they understand it or not. I’ve participated in enough election campaigns to understand that it is the most standard PR move: make your rival speak only of you and it will raise your ratings even if he says bad things only. By speaking only of Putin the independent opposition made him ‘person #1’, helped him rise above the whole process. And of course, their irrational position (if Putin disappears all will be well at once) made some people who were not actually going to participate in the polls go and support Putin.”
