United Russia must offer society the best solutions to the problems facing the country, the party's leader, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, said at the party's interregional conference in Bryansk. Experts say he is increasing the party's involvement in decision-making.
Putin's speech in Byansk was mostly devoted to United Russia's new role in regional development. "If a party wants to support people it should know their problems. It is no accident that United Russia has undertaken to draft development projects for all regions of Russia," he said.
The instructions he gave the government after previous party conferences have yielded good results. In particular, gas prices have gone down in Kamchatka, and modernisation programmes for AvtoVAZ and for improving municipal development in Togliatti and other single-industry cities have been launched. United Russia played a crucial role during the crisis, when decisions had to be made very quickly, Putin said. But "this is not enough anymore because we need to move forward," he added.
"We need to advance and look into the future. And the United Russia party needs to mobilise its resources. It must find and offer our society appropriate short-term and strategic long-term solutions to the problems Russia is facing," he said. "We must find solutions that allow the country to develop steadily while also giving the majority of citizens the opportunity to experience the impact of this development in their own lives, to see for themselves how it has improved their lives and the lives of their children, to reap the benefits of this development – not in the remote future, but today."
Putin recalled that "the parliamentary vote is scheduled for December 2011."
"This year is going to be a crucial one for any political party, including United Russia," he said.
The election programme the party plans to adopt in September should include a section on regional development, Putin said. Dozens of the party's regional projects have been included in the regions' development strategies. Judging by what the prime minister said at the conference, United Russia will also assume responsibility for drafting models for regional development with due account of each region's advantages, such as the central Russian regions' advanced industry and technology, developed educational system, and intensive business activity, which therefore attracts investment.
Dmitry Orlov, general director of the Agency for Political and Economic Communications, said Putin's speech in Bryansk is proof that he is drawing even closer to the party. "He is now transferring people's confidence in him to United Russia, while at the same time figuring out what the public needs through the projects initiated by the party," Orlov said. "Overall, United Russia is using party projects to become integrated in the system of government, economic and legal decision-making."
Yury Politov