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Main page > Products > Politics in Russia: power, lobby, conflicts - The weekly bulletin > Politics in Russia: power, lobby, conflicts. Issue No (5) 798
Politics in Russia: power, lobby, conflicts. Issue No (5) 798
January 25 - 31, 2010
Main tendencies of political week
Last week’s key informational lines were related to United Russia. Confirmation of UR’s status of the ruling party by the state leadership at a State Council meeting may result in new informational attacks on it, but so far they have been rather weak on the media field. In particular, the party is accused of its unwillingness to “share” votes with the opposition at the upcoming spring elections, although such sharing out contradicts principles of political competition promoted by the president. The campaign around the bill on parliamentary control is also indicative; the presidential administration allegedly retreated on this issue. Meanwhile, UR continued maintaining its image of supporter and implementer of the modernization project simultaneously showing backing and development of the president’s ideas (Forum 5+5) and refuting claims that it hindered modernization.
The first meeting of the new Pubic Chamber that took place last week was held under the sign of succession. Its new structure was approved and heads of Public Chamber units were elected at the meeting. The PC secretary and his deputies were reelected just like chairs of some commissions. Other commissions are now chaired by their previously common members. At the same time, personnel continuity does not mean complete conservation of the staff and the PC structure: the number of commissions was reduced, old joint commission groups were disbanded, while some new ones were established.
Intensification of mass politics should be singled out as another trend, which so far developed in Russia’s enclave, the Kaliningrad Region. According to different estimations, an action of protest against social and economic policies of authorities (growth in the transport tax, housing and utility tariffs, etc.) that took place last Saturday in Kaliningrad gathered from 7,000 to 13,000 people. Kaliningrad may claim the status of the most seditious region in Russia – a similar action organized in December was attended by about 5,000 people (participants in other Russian cities numbered from several dozens to hundreds). Expecting to see a “full house” the action was visited by representatives of the opposition of different levels – from Solidarnost to CPRF that tried to position themselves as co-organizers of the action.
Major events January 25 - 31, 2010
| Event | Winning side | Defeated side | Development Outlooks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dmitry Medvedev attends an enlarged meeting of the FSB board | Dmitry Medvedev, Alexander Bortnikov | President will keep sending positive signals to law enforcers and toughening his rhetoric | |
| The first global development forum 5+5” | United Russia | UR will try to create and supervise a maximal number of non-party discussion grounds | |
| Dmitry Medvedev meets with anti-monopoly service head Igor Artemyev | Igor Artemyev | Oil companies | Fighting overrated prices on the market of oil and oil products will receive utmost support of the president |
| 3rd Public Chamber holds its first meeting | Positioning of the 3rd Public Chamber won’t noticeably differ from the previous two chambers | ||
| Pravoe Delo’s political council decides to postpone approving request of PD co-chair Boris Titov to resign | Boris Titov | Leonid Gozman | In the next two months there will be active struggle for the post of co-chair and the structure of managing the party |
| The 1st congress of representatives of employees of Russia convened by the communist party | CPRF | Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia (FNPR) | Communists may try to take over levers of managing trade unions at enterprises from FNPR |
| FAS head Igor Artemyev says his service is not going to seek operational and investigative activities in the next few years | Igor Artemyev | Administrative expansion of FAS will continue but it will be more latent | |
| A protest action in Kaliningrad against social and economic policies of authorities | CPRF, Solidarnost | The opposition will try to highlight a mass character of the action | |
| Vladimir Derbin is reelected as chair of the trade union federation of Petersburg and Leningrad Region | Mikhail Shmakov | Positions of FNPR head Shmakov in regional offices will remain firm |
Volume: 13 pages
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