Vladimir Putin has held a diagnostic meeting with the country's population: he heard all the "case histories" and issued recipes and prescriptions.
We have a tradition: shortly before the New Year the whole nation gathers in front of their televisions, telephones, computers, and TV cameras and communicates directly with Vladimir Putin. The nature of "conversations with Vladimir Putin" does not change with the change of his official status. Nor do the main topics change: arbitrary behaviour of bureaucrats, bad roads, pensions, terrorism, Khodorkovsky and of course "are you planning to run for president again?" The unchanging form and content provokes mixed feelings. On the one hand it creates a sense of stability, on the other hand, it creates a sense of déjà vu, a sense that a country is faced with the same old problems again and again.
To the credit of those who arranged the event, it was totally depoliticised. It will be recalled that during his last phone-in, Putin acted not so much as the Prime Minister as chairman of United Russia. At the time the links with Moscow were established by United Russia public reception offices in the regions. That slant has now been changed: the words United Russia were never pronounced during the last "conversation."
Putin chose to discuss current social and economic issues rather than big political issues. He was, as usual - perhaps even more than usual - witty, competent and in command of details. And one cannot deny the topical nature of the absolute majority of the questions put to Putin. Suffice it to say that the conversation with the Prime Minister began in a mono-city whose name has become symbolic, Pikalyovo. And the first question was: "What are we to do?" For comparison, a year ago the first question asked during the live phone-in was about Russian-American relations.
Even so, the format will probably have to be modernised sooner or later. Even metal can suffer from fatigue, and the case in hand involves much more delicate matters. Of course if one looks at "Putin's conversations" as a kind of video-conferencing that helps Moscow to get an insight into local problems and solve them on the spot, perhaps no change is required, but this method of government has its down side: Putin is physically unable to react to all the questions addressed to him. And the number of questions is growing year in and year out, which means that the number of unanswered questions is also growing.
Of course, not all of the two million plus letters are substantive and profound. The running subtitles that appeared on the screen from time to time presented unedited vox populi, much of it coming from emotionally volatile citizens or mischievous young people. There were questions about the Prime Minister's favourite kind of jam and his favourite Pokemon.
But there were also pleas for help, veritable distress signals coming from places where people were freezing because of broken heating pipes, from idle factories, complaints about poor healthcare and the injustices committed by local bureaucrats... One recurring request was: "Come to us incognito (or "without warning") and you will see the horrible things that are happening". Do the authors of such requests understand that Putin is one and the country's problems are myriad? Not likely. Most probably they will become convinced of the truth of the Internationale, the revolutionary anthem quoted by the Prime Minister: "We want no condescending saviors/To rule us from their judgment hall."
Putin merely meant to say that one should not sit on one's hands waiting for the state to come to the rescue. True, the following line in the Internationale comes across as somewhat ambiguous: "We must ourselves decide our duty,/We must decide, and do it well". It is unlikely that the Prime Minister intended to provoke such a massive "grassroots initiative." However, whether mass discontent can be kept at bay depends on how many people are satisfied with their communication with the authorities and Vladimir Putin personally.
Putin's trademark efficiency - quick and precise actions to mend things-- partly comes to the rescue. But amid the economic crisis the Prime Minister has to tackle the same issues again and again. Take the case of Pikalyovo: barely six months after he resolved the situation there the people of that industrial city are again looking to Putin for help. This time around Putin did not have to go to the place personally: he informed the people of Pikalyovo that "a contract between all those involved in the process" that guarantees the continued operation of the city's industries next year "will be signed soon." If it is not for this optimistic piece of news Pikalyovo might have been dropped from the TV linkup programme.
The same criteria were used to select other points to which camera crews were sent. All these points - the Sayano-Shushenskaya Hydroelectric Power Plant, Togliatti, Komsomolsk-on-Amur and Naberezhniye Chelny - had been visited by Putin and everywhere he personally helped enterprises and their workers. Problems still remained. The Prime Minister again and again has to move by hand the gears of the management mechanism he has created in order to get contracts signed, make sure that wages are paid on time and that budget money sent from Moscow reaches the addressees on time... in short, to make sure that the state of affairs which normally should be maintained automatically, or in any case without the involvement of the country's leaders, is actually maintained.
That applies not only to mono-cities. A vivid example is the complaints by Category 1 disabled people which reached the Prime Minister. During the course of one of the previous phone-ins Vladimir Putin promised to spare them the humiliating and meaningless procedure of annual medical certification. The government passed a resolution to the effect two and a half years ago. And still many bureaucrats demand that disabled people appear before the Disability Assessment Commission (VTEK) time and again. "I remind all the officials of the need to strictly fulfill the government's decisions," Putin warned. In response the people reminded Putin of what the bureaucrats say in such cases: "Putin gave you the promise, go and ask Putin."
Although the Prime Minister promised once again to deal with the people "who give such answers" clearly he cannot reach every such "saboteur." Violations of administrative discipline are inherent in the system, and phone-ins, no matter how long they last, cannot cure that disease.
Andrei Vladimirov