Alexei Ilyin, Pierre Sidibe
Political scientists comment on United Russia's 10th congress
Dmitry Orlov, Head of the Political and Economic Communications Agency:
The President and Prime Minister's speeches could be called United Russia's message to society in the midst of the deteriorating economic situation.
The main theme of both addresses was social problems. Specific issues discussed included: ensuring that the government follows through on the social liabilities it has taken on; making the elites responsible for the nation's well-being and social stability; a number of other measures put forward by the party's chief, ranging from raising unemployment benefits and guaranteeing timely salaries to state-paid employees to suspending advance payment of income tax and a sharp increase in tax refunds for apartments worth up to 2 million roubles. These measures concern state-paid employees, the middle class, and SMBs.
The party can serve as an effective means of controlling fulfilment of these measures. The Prime Minister's televised Q&A session with Russian people, scheduled for December, is a mechanism of gathering feedback that will help in understanding the public's attitude towards government policy.
Thus, on the one hand, the party will become a mobilisation mechanism, pushing federal and local governments to execute social programmes. On the other hand, it will provide feedback that will help track the progress of these programmes.
Valery Khomyakov, General Director of the Council for National Strategy:
Frankly speaking, Mr Putin's speech was impressive. Great relief to business was announced, including tax reduction. I hope that all these measures will be realised. Putin's concept of more freedom for small businesses shows that the government is afraid of serious social consequences that may accompany the aggravating financial crisis. Speaking of the financial crunch, both President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin noted that it is turning into an economic crisis and is affecting industries. Although the crisis' social and political consequences were not highlighted as such, the President and Prime Minister could not help touching on them when speaking about other issues.
In general, the current crisis may prove beneficial to Russia. A crisis always exposes an economy's ills, and if the doctor is a professional, a correct diagnosis is made, and effective treatment is prescribed, we will certainly take advantage of the crisis and make our economy more diversified. Perhaps, by the end of the crisis, new industries will constitute the backbone of this country's economy, along with the traditional hydrocarbons and metals. Much has been said about it today, and I hope that these forecasts will come true. Many obstacles stand in the way, corruption first and foremost. Unfortunately, many financial injections do not reach industries.
United Russia has many local offices throughout the country. It is very important, especially during the crisis, that the party use these outposts to trace how social conditions change in Russia. It is no secret that many governors feign to the federal government that everything is fine, while, in the meantime, a calamity breaks out; an example of this was during the monetisation of social benefits in-kind. Therefore, it is now vital for United Russia to carefully and thoroughly monitor the social temperature at the local level and remain in control of this temperature.
Mikhail Vinogradov, Director of the Petersburg Politics Foundation:
Mr Putin's address should be analysed in several dimensions. As far as the factual side is concerned, one can discern a combination of liberal and social methods. At the same time, the Prime Minister addressed ordinary people on the one hand, while on the other hand - bureaucrats. This speech probably will not answer economists' questions about a solution to overcome the economic crisis, but a number of measures aimed at reducing social risks, as well as SMB-related risks, were outlined in Mr Putin's speech.
I think it would be a little bit illogical if Mr Putin joined United Russia, since his rating is much higher than the party's.
