- By Mike Eckel
Russians Not Satisfied With Status Quo, Fear Change
Veteran Russian journalist Andrei Kolesnikov has cowritten a report for the Carnegie Endowment For International Peace, exploring a August 2017 survey, conducted with the Levada Center, of roughly 1,600 Russians. The survey found that many Russians don’t want profound changes and but also that increasing numbers also don’t support the status quo, albeit for differing and sometimes conflicting reasons. In this panel discussion on February 8, Kolesnikov discussed the findings in more depth.
RFE/RL Russian Service correspondent Yelena Rykovtseva sat down with political scientists Aleksandr Kynev, Vladimir Semago, and Mikhail Tulsky to discuss the final list of eight presidential candidates and the course of the election campaign so far.
At one point, RFE/RL asks whether Putin will hold on to the presidency until he dies. Kynev says he thinks Putin will leave office in 2024, as the constitution requires, but will remain as a powerbroker. "Various options will be discussed, but I think it will involve the preservation of the current governing model," he said. "The post of president, I think, will remain. They are unlikely to cancel that. But what is possible is the redistribution of roles among political institutions. That, I think, is realistic."
Путин и семеро хотят
Елена Рыковцева: Сегодня праздник у ребят. Мы хотим поздравить всех россиян с тем, что они наконец-то получили избирательный бюллетень, в котором наконец-то зафиксированы все 8 фамилий кандидатов в президенты Российской Федерации. Мы теперь понимаем, о чем говорим, не гадаем на кофейной гуще, не думаем, у кого сколько шансов, кому забракуют подписи, а кому, наоборот, пропустят все, что он насобирал. Мы обсуждаем эти 8 фамилий со знанием дела. С нами Владимир Семаго. С нами на связи Александр Кынев. Вы сегодня, наверное, тоже поражены тому, что сегодня увидели, – это такой сюрприз для вас как для политолога, этот список?
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- By Mike Eckel
'Proactive And Preventative' Election Monitoring
Golos, a Russian NGO, has long been respected as one of the country’s premier election monitoring organizations. The group was hit with “foreign agent” label in 2014, on account of some of the foreign funding it has received, a label that has hampered some of its operations. Still, last month, Golos accused state-controlled TV networks of delivering free campaign advertising for President Vladimir Putin ahead of the March presidential vote.
In an op-ed published this week in the Moscow Times, the group’s co-chairman Grigory Melkonyants called for extra vigilance to ensure that government does not try to artificially boost turnout.
More On Prikhodko
One might think that the revelations about Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Prikhodko that were released by anticorruption activist Aleksei Navalny on February 8 might have some effect on the presidential election less than six weeks away. The fact that they haven't and won't is a clear sign of the nature of the election.
Urals-based journalist and blogger Aleksei Shaburov (here is an RFE/RL interview with him from January 2016) has written a tight analysis of the significance of Navalny's revelations, including the fact that Prikhodko evidently conducted a secret meeting about Russian foreign policy on the territory of a NATO country, Norway.
"Obviously Prikhodko could not fly to Norway secretly: border guards definitely knew about his movements and, possibly, the Norwegian security services. Doesn't this put Russia's national security in danger?" Shaburov wrote.
The Deputy PM, The Oligarch, And His Lover: New Navalny Exposé Highlights Tycoon's Ties To Kremlin Bigwig
By Mike Eckel
Oleg Deripaska is a billionaire Russian metals tycoon who throws lavish parties in Davos, Switzerland, has been barred from the United States, and has done business with President Donald Trump's now-indicted former campaign manager.
He's also well connected with the Kremlin; Russia's foreign minister once helped him in efforts to persuade U.S. government officials to grant him a visa.
Now, according to a new exposé published by anticorruption crusader Aleksei Navalny, there's more evidence of Deripaska's close government ties.
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Communist Base Reacts To Grudinin
There are several stories on how Communist candidate Pavel Grudinin's candidacy is playing with the party's base. In Republic.ru, political analyst Aleksandr Kynev argues that it could radicalize the party.
And in Nevavisimaya Gazeta, Aleksei Gorbachyov reports that it could lead to a schism.
Zhirinovsky Vs. Animals
Candidate Vladimir Zhirinovsky has a long record of making outrageous statements on topics from women to nuclear weapons. Some animal lover collected a sample of clips showing the perennial presidential candidate's attitude toward animals over the years.
In the first clip he brags that on the second day of his presidency, all stray dogs will be destroyed -- "In one day."
Other clips show a younger Zhirinovsky shooting a gun out of a moving train, something he calls "VIP hunting." In one of them, he shoots a chicken.
In the final clip, he describes shooting a bird, saying: "I feel that I am stronger than the bird. That I am a person."
Center Of Attention? Putin Stands Out On Official Ballot
By Tony Wesolowsky
Opposition politician Aleksei Navalny has dismissed Russia's presidential election in March as nothing more than the "reappointment" of Vladimir Putin.
Navalny has urged Russians to boycott the vote, arguing that it is rigged, and is now noting even the most inconspicuous signs of possible electioneering.
For example, the layout of the ballot papers.
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- By Andy Heil
On The Less-Is-More Ballot Commotion
TASS (via Rambler.ru) quotes Central Election Commission Chairwoman Pamfilova as saying of the conspicuous brevity that some say gives Putin's bio an edge on the ballot:
"Everything is clear by law, he just has a short post, and everyone [else] has a long one. So it happened, there is nothing more to write about."
Each of the candidates' bios appears to list merely date of birth, place of residence, occupation, and body (or bodies) that nominated the said candidate. In Putin's case, running as an independent, the ballot includes no party information -- sizable portions of the other candidates' sections.
TASS elsewhere quotes commission Deputy Chairman Nikolai Bulaev as saying that "all information about each candidate strictly corresponds to the federal law [and] no preferences for any reason are given to any of the candidates."