By Vestnik Kavkaza
VCIOM presented up-to-date data on what problems are thought to be the most urgent for the country in general.
It turns out that the biggest problem is still thought be inflation (59% of respondents). The second place in the rating of state problems is taken by housing and public utilities (54%). Third place is living standards in the country (45%). Corruption and bureaucracy take fourth place (44%), drug addiction - 42%, alcoholism – 39%.
31% of respondents are wary of pensions. 30% of them can’t find or fear to lose their jobs. 27% pointed out the problems of young people; the situation in the educational sphere concerns 22% of respondents. The situation in the sphere of morals and goodness concerns 21% of respondents. 20% of Russian citizens point out the importance of inter-ethnic relations and migration. The index hasn’t changed since last year. However, in Moscow and St. Petersburg 54% of respondents are wary of the situation in the sphere of inter-ethnic relations.
Farkhat Patiyev, a member of the Council under the President of Russia on International Affairs, told Vestnik Kavkaza: “The prosperity of a region and the country in general depend on our attention to the problems of citizens in each region. We should pay attention to all regions without discrimination. Citizens should feel citizens of a united country.”
According to Patiyev, “we should pay more attention to ethnic relations, seek for common points between representatives of various nationalities. Speaking about the Caucasus separately, due to the events which are happening in Ukraine, it is another reason for paying attention to developments in our own country and its provinces, including the Caucasus and the most southern places of Russia. I think a wrong policy by the central authorities, the federal authorities, leads to the occurrence of various disputes in society – inter-ethnic or inter-religious disputes, depending on the society. In the Caucasus people’s attitude toward religions and nationality is completely different. The mentality of the Caucasus people differs from the mentality of people who live in other regions of Russia. In building an ethnic policy, the state should consider the specificities; they shouldn’t be ignored, they shouldn’t be artificially turned into an attitude similar to other regions. We should recognize it and build an ethnic policy with regard to this.”
