Putin builds walls round Kremlin
Mar 10, 2012 13:41:19 GMT -5
Post by PrisonerOfHope on Mar 10, 2012 13:41:19 GMT -5
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March 9, 2012 5:47 pm
Putin builds walls round Kremlin
By Charles Clover in Moscow
Dmitry Medvedev, Vladimir Putin, Russian flag©Reuters
In numerous speeches, Mr Putin alluded to the presence of foreign plots against his rule and internal enemies of Russia’s sovereignty, accusing protesters of responding to “signals” from Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state, and being part of a foreign-inspired effort to “show us that they can rock the boat”.
While this may have been scripted for public consumption, analysts say that the behind-the-scenes Putin is very much like the one he projects in public, his behaviour symptomatic of the same outlook he evokes in political speeches.
In the wake of the biggest challenge of his career – demonstrations that broke out following flawed parliamentary elections in December – Mr Putin has grown distrustful of advisers and increasingly self-reliant.
“His entire campaign was based on the theme of ‘Putin is encircled by enemies’,” said Gleb Pavlovsky, who was fired as a political consultant by the Kremlin last year.
“The first part of the campaign Putin ran as a peacekeeper, as a guarantor of social stability. But by the end it was a campaign of fear ... This was, to some extent, a function of his own psychology.”
Experts grant that Mr Putin’s re-election campaign was tactically brilliant in the short term, playing on ordinary Russians’ fear of foreigners and of each other. But in the long term it has exacerbated rather than healed the divisions in Russian society that brought about the political crisis in the first place.
Meanwhile, they say, Mr Putin seems to be making the classic mistakes of cornered autocrats in retreating into isolation and showing an increasing reluctance to compromise.
“The most important implication is that Putin is no longer a tsar,” said Nikolai Petrov of the Carnegie Center in Moscow.
“He is a politician, he should look for political support and he should conclude deals with other politicians and political clans. He should play in a different way. But I am almost sure that Putin is not capable of doing this.”
Mr Putin’s distrust of his inner circle led him to cut ties with many of the most experienced political operatives in Moscow. Vladislav Surkov, formerly his master of political theatre, was exiled to a peripheral post in December. Mr Pavlovsky, a skilled spin doctor, was axed amid reports of infighting between Putin loyalists and those of outgoing president Dmitry Medvedev.
Mr Putin has also sought to distance himself from United Russia, the ruling political party which is now in political freefall. He replaced many of his advisers with a group of “trustees” and an amorphous party of random dignitaries known as the Popular Front.
Rather than rebuilding links with alienated middle-class protesters, Mr Putin has “given up on them”, in the words of an influential Moscow businessman who asked not to be named. Instead, the businessman said, he has narrowly focused his efforts on the provincial working class, goading them with hostility to what Mr Putin calls the “big talkers” of the opposition beau monde.
On election night, following a tearful speech in front of the Kremlin, where Mr Putin decried “political provocations designed to destroy Russian statehood and usurp power”, he thanked a group of workers at a tank factory in the Urals who had publicly vowed to come to Moscow and beat up protesters.
“You put those who would insult the working man in their place,” Mr Putin told the group on Sunday night via a video link from his campaign headquarters. “You have shown what the Russian working people are, that you are head and shoulders above all those idlers and big talkers, and that was for me the greatest gift.”
Experts say this focus on his electoral base which saw him through the crisis means Mr Putin will be a different president than he was in his first two terms from 2000-08. And the support of his base electorate depends to a large extent on whether he can deliver on promised largesse in terms of wage rises.
“There will be no reforms,” said the Moscow businessman. “They think that change is too dangerous. So they will try stick with the same thing for another year or two, and then they will be forced to change.”
Government spokesman Dmitry Peskov insists that one cannot argue with the results of Mr Putin’s strategy, which was to go “directly to the people”. “The main partner is the overwhelming majority of the population,” said Mr Peskov.
But, according to Valery Fedorov of Vtsiom, a Moscow sociological research agency that works closely with the Kremlin, this still marks a significant change.
“He is used to being President of all Russians,” he says. “Now he is just president of the majority.”
www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/92d455d8-69eb-11e1-8996-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1ojz1XP1l
March 9, 2012 5:47 pm
Putin builds walls round Kremlin
By Charles Clover in Moscow
Dmitry Medvedev, Vladimir Putin, Russian flag©Reuters
In numerous speeches, Mr Putin alluded to the presence of foreign plots against his rule and internal enemies of Russia’s sovereignty, accusing protesters of responding to “signals” from Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state, and being part of a foreign-inspired effort to “show us that they can rock the boat”.
While this may have been scripted for public consumption, analysts say that the behind-the-scenes Putin is very much like the one he projects in public, his behaviour symptomatic of the same outlook he evokes in political speeches.
In the wake of the biggest challenge of his career – demonstrations that broke out following flawed parliamentary elections in December – Mr Putin has grown distrustful of advisers and increasingly self-reliant.
“His entire campaign was based on the theme of ‘Putin is encircled by enemies’,” said Gleb Pavlovsky, who was fired as a political consultant by the Kremlin last year.
“The first part of the campaign Putin ran as a peacekeeper, as a guarantor of social stability. But by the end it was a campaign of fear ... This was, to some extent, a function of his own psychology.”
Experts grant that Mr Putin’s re-election campaign was tactically brilliant in the short term, playing on ordinary Russians’ fear of foreigners and of each other. But in the long term it has exacerbated rather than healed the divisions in Russian society that brought about the political crisis in the first place.
Meanwhile, they say, Mr Putin seems to be making the classic mistakes of cornered autocrats in retreating into isolation and showing an increasing reluctance to compromise.
“The most important implication is that Putin is no longer a tsar,” said Nikolai Petrov of the Carnegie Center in Moscow.
“He is a politician, he should look for political support and he should conclude deals with other politicians and political clans. He should play in a different way. But I am almost sure that Putin is not capable of doing this.”
Mr Putin’s distrust of his inner circle led him to cut ties with many of the most experienced political operatives in Moscow. Vladislav Surkov, formerly his master of political theatre, was exiled to a peripheral post in December. Mr Pavlovsky, a skilled spin doctor, was axed amid reports of infighting between Putin loyalists and those of outgoing president Dmitry Medvedev.
Mr Putin has also sought to distance himself from United Russia, the ruling political party which is now in political freefall. He replaced many of his advisers with a group of “trustees” and an amorphous party of random dignitaries known as the Popular Front.
Rather than rebuilding links with alienated middle-class protesters, Mr Putin has “given up on them”, in the words of an influential Moscow businessman who asked not to be named. Instead, the businessman said, he has narrowly focused his efforts on the provincial working class, goading them with hostility to what Mr Putin calls the “big talkers” of the opposition beau monde.
On election night, following a tearful speech in front of the Kremlin, where Mr Putin decried “political provocations designed to destroy Russian statehood and usurp power”, he thanked a group of workers at a tank factory in the Urals who had publicly vowed to come to Moscow and beat up protesters.
“You put those who would insult the working man in their place,” Mr Putin told the group on Sunday night via a video link from his campaign headquarters. “You have shown what the Russian working people are, that you are head and shoulders above all those idlers and big talkers, and that was for me the greatest gift.”
Experts say this focus on his electoral base which saw him through the crisis means Mr Putin will be a different president than he was in his first two terms from 2000-08. And the support of his base electorate depends to a large extent on whether he can deliver on promised largesse in terms of wage rises.
“There will be no reforms,” said the Moscow businessman. “They think that change is too dangerous. So they will try stick with the same thing for another year or two, and then they will be forced to change.”
Government spokesman Dmitry Peskov insists that one cannot argue with the results of Mr Putin’s strategy, which was to go “directly to the people”. “The main partner is the overwhelming majority of the population,” said Mr Peskov.
But, according to Valery Fedorov of Vtsiom, a Moscow sociological research agency that works closely with the Kremlin, this still marks a significant change.
“He is used to being President of all Russians,” he says. “Now he is just president of the majority.”
www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/92d455d8-69eb-11e1-8996-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1ojz1XP1l
