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#16 - JRL 2008-51 - JRL Home
Moscow News
http://www.mnweekly.ru/
March 6, 2008
A Report Card on Putin's Term in Office

HIGH MARKS:

1. Consolidation of state institutions and formation of a common legal space. Consolidation of the power vertical and state institutions, and restoration of the constitutional order in the entire country were one of the first steps towards overcoming Russia's systemic crisis.

The common legal space has been restored, and the legislation of the regions tailored to the federal laws. At the same time, the powers of the Federation, regions and local bodies of self-government have been strictly delimited. At the same time, a considerable amount of the functions in the socio-economic sphere have been transferred to the regional and local levels. In other words, the powers have been seriously decentralized.

2. Social orientation in domestic policy. President Putin has adopted a new approach to social problems. He has described it as a "policy of investment in people, and, hence, in Russia's future." Government policy has focused on improving the living standards of the Russian people. This is the goal of the priority national projects, which were introduced in 2006. The projects cover the most important and lagging spheres, such as health care, education, housing, and agriculture.

The results are obvious. Under the public health project, more than 40,000 units of diagnostic equipment and over 13,000 ambulances have been purchased; more than 90 percent of mothers have received birth vouchers; free medical care has been provided to 1.3 million women and more than 300,000 children; 1.2 million newborn children have been screened for five congenital diseases; 300,000 patients have been given high-tech medical assistance; massive campaigns on preventive medical examination and vaccination have been conducted.

3. Improvement in the demographic situation. The alarming trends of a growing death rate and declining birth rate have been overcome in the last few years. In 2007, 145,000 more children were born, which is 10 percent more than in 2005. Over the same period, the number of deaths was reduced by 178,800. The nation has not seen such figures in the last 15 years.

The situation has been improved thanks to reforms in medical care and measures to promote the birth rate, such as the introduction of the maternity voucher. Last year, vouchers were received by almost 314,000 women. This year, maternity awards have been increased to 271,250 rubles (over $10,850). Social benefits for families with children have been raised substantially.

4. Stabilization of the situation in Chechnya. Consolidation and reformation of the army. The country's disintegration was prevented by a great effort. The war in the North Caucasus was brought to an end. A serious blow was dealt to separatists. The Chechen Republic became a full-fledged member of the Russian Federation. It had democratic elections of parliament and president, and adopted a constitution.

IMPROVING

1. Corruption. In some estimates, kick-backs from government purchases amounts to about 10 percent of their total cost, or some 300,000 billion rubles (over $12,000) in value terms.

An anti-corruption bill has not been adopted despite large-scale debates on the problem. Moreover, Russian legislation does not even define corruption. However, there were attempts to combat the problem - in 2007 more than 1,000 cases of bribery by high-ranking officials were taken to court.

2. Dependent and non-transparent legal proceedings. Contrary to verbal declarations, the conditions making the judicial system truly independent of the executive and legislative branches of power have not been created. Illegal verdicts are still being made on the basis of telephone calls or for money.

3. Mounting xenophobic and nationalistic attitudes. Despite appeals for tolerance and numerous educational measures, radical nationalism continues to grow. Cases of race-related violence have become more frequent. Xenophobic attitudes are still running high in public mentality.

NEEDS WORK

4. Political apathy. According to the findings of VTsIOM, the polling group, 60 percent of Russian people do not care about politics. In a poll conducted by the Levada Center, together with the EU-Russia Center, 94 percent of respondents said that they can do very little to influence current developments in Russia. Some analysts explain this by the failure to create an effective mechanism of checks and balances, which would not allow one branch of power to dominate over the others, and which would promote interest-driven public dialogue and guarantee active public participation.

The recent changes in the election legislation are driving ordinary people and the elite further apart. This applies to the cancellation of governors' elections, introduction of party lists, a ban on the right to recall an objectionable deputy, and abrogation of the "against everyone" column.

5. Plurality and Private Insti­tutions. The number of television companies, radio stations, and newspapers independent of the government or local authorities has witnessed a drop in recent years. The hope that television and other media will become the fourth branch of power, which would be truly independent, yet not an all-out security threat as in the 1990's, have still a ways to go.

Combined Analysis, RIA Novosti, MN