Last week the ruling tandem again communicated with Russian citizens through the media. It again demonstrated the trend observed by NG: the Russian journalists are given unsophisticated propaganda vinaigrette, whereas their foreign counterparts are offered chef's specialties. As usual, President Dmitry Medvedev makes the vinaigrette whereas Prime Minister Vladimir Putin surprises the public with gourmet dishes.
A week ago the president came into the First Channel studios to give a routine interview virtually live. Its text became the subject of lengthy and heated debates. Medvedev's press service noted that in modern history presidents did not come to television networks and called this an interesting experience.
The subtext is obvious - in the past television channels saw themselves as official government servants whereas now our head of state is a true liberal, all the more so since he promised to come to the Rossiya and NTV television networks. However, judging by the content of the presidential interview, it was impossible to see any difference simply based on who came to see whom. Medvedev did not say anything very interesting. It is common knowledge that the crisis is coming to an end but that Russia has still registered a budget deficit. The president said that the government has been given the task of eliminating the deficit in the near future and that he has issued the necessary instructions, but this is nothing new, either. As for the declaration that Russians will see visible results from the announced modernization plans no sooner than 10 or 15 years, it is a traditional promise for our government. Our people are used to hearing about a bright future.
Putin is a different matter. Last week he spoke about the present and this was interesting. During his visit to China he talked with the local media. Once again, the content of his interview proved to be no less important for Russian citizens than for Chinese. Although beginners may have been bored by Putin's discourse about the scale of economic cooperation with China, advanced listeners understood that our government is willing to sell everything to its currency-rich neighbour despite the difficulties in negotiating with it. Even more interesting were Putin's answers to questions by the Chinese media on more personal matters. It transpires that Putin derives great energy from his efforts to overcome Russia's difficulties. He was pleased to recall his presidential past but not in the context of a future comeback. Putin said that he is quite pleased with his unique position - he built a strategy of national development and is now carrying it out as the prime minister.
Needless to say, evil tongues have instantly given their own interpretation of this confession. They said Putin made so many economic blunders as president that he now simply has the opportunity of redressing them. Putin will not admit this even in a televised interview in the Sultanate of Brunei if he pays it a reciprocal visit. It is the current president who speaks about the mistakes of past leaders, albeit without naming names. Let's hope that we will hear some revelations from Medvedev during his conversation with the Serbian media. On October 20 he plans to visit that Balkan country. Upon his return he will meet parliamentary parties, three of which took offense after the October 11 elections. There is a rumor that Duma opposition was advised to riot by its Kremlin curators. The goal was to remind Medvedev of his September instruction to the regional authorities not use administrative resource against the opposition, an instruction that nobody bothered to implement due to established tradition.