Putin doesn’t scare easy but takes economic steps
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with young lawyers and election observers in Moscow
Even though Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is still more popular than any other politician in Russia, his authority may be diminished. Putin, who is expected to win the presidential elections scheduled for 4 March despite widespread protests, acknowledged for the first time on 1 February that he might face a runoff but warned that it might result in the destabilisation of the country.
“There is nothing horrible” about a runoff, Putin said, telling a group of young lawyers in televised remarks that he was ready for it. But Putin said a second round would lead to a “certain destabilisation of the political situation”, reiterating his main campaign argument that he remains the country's best hope for stability.
On 30 January, Putin set out an economic agenda, pledging to boost Russia's global competitiveness. In a two-page article for business daily Vedomosti, Putin admitted Russia faced systemic corruption, an unsatisfactory business climate and an inadmissible dependence on energy exports.
"To have an economy that neither guarantees us stability, sovereignty or well-being is inadmissible for Russia," Putin wrote. Putin's article blamed “insufficient transparency and accountability on the part of state officials". "To call it by name, we are talking about systemic corruption," Putin wrote. "Clearing the way for business that is ready to win in fair competition is a fundamental, systemic task ... We need to change the state itself - executive and judicial power."
Maria Lipman, a Russia expert at the Carnegie Moscow Centre, told New Europe on 1 February that Putin sounds at the same time as an incumbent and a challenger. “He registers serious flaws of the Russian economy such as corruption, an over-blown role of the state, low efficiency, low competitiveness and he promises to improve Russian performance,” Lipman said.
“However, all these flows are his responsibility. And if he sees these problems so clearly why he failed to improve his policies over the previous years? This raises very serious questions. Why has he after almost 12 years of leadership run into such serious systemic problems? Why should Putin claim to go on being Russian leader? That’s the problem. The question arises and there is no way to ask this question of Putin.”
Putin also said that his government had been right to reassert control over the energy industry, an indirect reference to the breakup of Russia's largest oil firm, YUKOS, whose assets were largely bought up by state-controlled Rosneft and whose owner, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was jailed for tax evasion and fraud.
“I believe that our policy was correct when we increased the influence of the state in the resource industry,” Putin said. He also identifies continuing dependency on natural resources and de-industrialisation as Russia's greatest economic weaknesses.
Lipman noted that Putin was able to take big business under control. “Things that are technically privately-owned are actually owned by people who are very loyal to Putin. And as a result the government has control not just over government-run and government-owned property but also over property that is technically private,” she said.
Putin has run Russia for the past 12 years as a two-term president and then premier. “His credibility is not solid because of his performance during the years of his basically unchallenged authority,” Lipman said. “Another problem arises and this is Putin is weaker today than he used to be. He used to have this unlimited authority and didn’t deliver. Some of the goals in this article he has been talking about all through these years, for instance diversification of the economy or the need to increase the efficiency of economic performance, and competitiveness. He has spoken about all these issues and yet he did not deliver so when he had more authority and his power was more solid he didn’t deliver.
"How is he going to do this now that his stature and legitimacy is weaker than it used to be? It is not very weak. It is still enough to get elected but it’s certainly weaker than it used to be,” the Carnegie analyst told New Europe from Moscow.
But there is no alternative. “In large part as a result of Putin’s policies the political field has been cleared of any challengers, any competitors. The entry to the political field has been barred for years for anybody deemed unwelcome competition to Putin,” Lipman said, adding that the Russian strongman and former KGB agent created the sense that there is no alternative to him. “He is still more popular than any other politician in the country. But he’s operation without any accountability and competition resulted in all the ills that he himself listed in his [Vedomosti] article,” she said.
Putin has around 50% support among voters, far more than any other registered candidate, according to the state-run polling group VTsIOM. But some observers and politicians say a runoff scenario is distinctly possible due to the increasing opposition movement.
They note that the popular mood has shifted in Russia after tens of thousands of protesters turned out to protest alleged ballot fraud in a December parliamentary election. Moscow authorities allowed a mass opposition protest on 4 February where tens of thousands are set to challenge Putin.
And finally, Pussy Riot, a feminist punk collective from Moscow, protests through its dissident songs and unsanctioned performances, including a brief unauthorised concert in late January on Red Square.
The group performed a newly penned anti-Kremlin song called Putin Got Scared. Pussy Riot believes that more unsanctioned rallies will follow in view of the upcoming presidential election. But Putin doesn’t scare easy.
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