The Yury Levada Analytical Centre published on its site the results of the public opinion poll where our compatriots were asked to say whose interests are expressed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev. In their opinion, Putin has not managed to disassociate himself from security-related agencies.
The sociologists compared answers at different times. Thus, in September 2000 39% of those polled had no doubts that Putin represented the interests of security agencies. In October of this year their share fell by 12%. In an interview with RBC Daily, Alexander Konovalov, president of the Institute of Strategic Assessments said: "It is quite natural that in the beginning of his activities Putin was associated with the KGB." In his opinion, the prime minister is now primarily associated with state corporations and big business companies, where "key posts are occupied by Putin's former neighbours in the Ozero cooperative and other buddies."
Konovalov said that this fact was reflected in the poll. The number of people who believe that Putin defends the interests of oligarchs, bankers and big businessmen has increased by 6% in nine years.
Yevgeny Minchenko, the general director of the International Institute for Political Analysis, told RBC Daily that the results of the poll merely "echo the government's anti-crisis policy whereby it did much to help the bankers out." This "echo" also affected the Russians' opinion of Medvedev. The number of those who believe he upholds the interests of oligarchs has increased by 8% since December 2007.
During his presidency, Medvedev has managed to brush off the image of Putin's placeman and assert himself as an independent politician. In February 2008, 42% of respondents believed that President Medvedev represented the interests of Putin's closest entourage, whereas in October 2009 that number had fallen to a mere 25%. Minchenko said that this figure could be lower if Medvedev's words about economic modernisation turned into deeds. "People need a real picture but nobody has made a space flight yet," he said.
At the same time, the priority of fighting corruption set forth by the president has convinced people that he does not support government officials. As a result, the number of people who believe that he supports the bureaucrats went down from 20% to 16%.
The respondents voted in Putin's favour when asked about the protection of their interests. As a result, the number of office employees, workers and rural residents who believe that Putin upholds their interests has grown by 3%. On the contrary, Medvedev lost 3% of respondents from this category.
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Prime Minister to sweep away intermediaries
Speaking in Kaliningrad, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that the government was preparing an exhaustive list of government services that may be rendered to the public for money. "We are working at government level on an exhaustive list of paid services to the public. All other services must be free, Prime-TASS agency quoted Putin as saying. He added that it was necessary to get rid of intermediaries that are making money by helping people to obtain the necessary documents. "We must sweep away all intermediaries. No organisation should be allowed to operate between a citizen and a government agency and compel people to pay money for its services," Putin said.
Yelena Fomina