:: Opinions split over Russian leader's article in popular online daily

The article by Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev headlined "Go, Russia!" published in a popular online daily Gazeta.ru (http://www.gazeta.ru) on 10 September has received scathing comments in the blogosphere. Officials and political scientists interviewed by Russian news agency RIA Novosti on the same day, on the contrary, gave favourable reviews.

The official pundit community agreed that Medvedev's article was a new step towards developing a dialogue between the authorities and society and will serve as a basis for the president's address to the Federal Assembly, which is due in October-November this year.

Vyacheslav Volodin, secretary of the presidium of the general council of the ruling One Russia party, called the article "a model of political address to society", which describes the new stage in Russia's development by outlining "absolutely transparent and understandable objectives". It marks a qualitative change in relations between the state and the citizen as it focuses on living standards, and not macroeconomic indicators, Volodin said.

A member of the Public Chamber, political scientist Iosif Diskin described Medvedev's article as a very bright and emotional call for national dialogue and a clear message to foreign partners about what Russia wants. Medvedev "gives to understand that there will be no return to the 90s and that the authorities will not allow stagnation", Diskin said.

Political scientist Dmitriy Orlov said the article may be developed into a road map for the country's modernization. "I think the article is an invitation to a detailed conversation about the modernization of Russia, it coerces into it inert elites, which de facto back corruption and backwardness based on raw-material-oriented economy," he told RIA Novosti.

Vitaliy Ivanov, vice president of the Centre for the Political Situation in Russia, pointed at the novelty of the format of addressing citizens - an article on a leading news web site instead of short speeches published in a video blog. However, Ivanov did not see much new in the content of the address. "Medvedev at times repeats and at times further develops the thesis about sovereign democratic development which was voiced in (former President, current Prime Minister Vladimir) Putin's address (to the Federal Assembly) in 2005," he said.

Journalist and political scientist Leonid Radzikhovskiy pointed out that Medvedev's rhetoric in the article differs from "the one we'd been hearing for years". "I like the way the president talked about foreign political ties. The president says that we should abandon resentfulness, haughtiness, complexes and mistrust in relations with leading democratic countries. Medvedev's statement is very important in this sense," he said. The main this is that all this gets implemented, Radzikhovskiy added.

LiveJournal bloggers were able to post their comments to Medvedev's article directly on the gazeta.ru website. By 1600 gmt on 10 September the article had gathered around 700 comments, a vast majority of them bursting with criticism. At 1556 a message appeared on the website: "The option of leaving comments was temporarily switched off"; no further explanations were given.

Bloggers described the article as "hot air", "right words accompanied by complete absence of action", "PR material written by presidential staff", "fantasy and fairy tale", and "Kremlin farce".
Most bloggers were sceptical about Medvedev's rhetoric. Subbotine (http://subbotine.livejournal.com) wrote: "Nobody will believe, Dmitriy Anatolyevich, that a dialogue is possible. Because for the first decade of the new millennium the dialogue between the authorities and the people has been purposefully eliminated".

Even those who liked the article said they did not believe a word of it. Inco-2000 (http://inco-2000.livejournal.com) wrote: "I subscribe to every word. I like Medvedev more and more. But I don't believe in changes. As before, any good intention will bog down in our reality and will acquire ugly forms and shapes."

Many criticized the article for not reflecting the real state of affairs. Vlarad (http://vlarad.livejournal.com) wrote: "Mr President, your words, right in many ways, have nothing in common with what is really happening in the country your are leading. I don't believe you. And there is no need for so many words. First do something!"

Akim-trefilov (http://akim-trefilov.livejournal.com) wrote: "I was amused by (the phrase) "half-paralysed state of the nineties. It was progress, it gave the country democracy and market economy. All that Medvedev and his boss (Putin) did was to throw us back to the seventies. So Dmitriy Anatolyevich you'd better not call for a bright future. We don't believe you!"

Calls for restoring direct elections of governors as part of the democratic rule were repeatedly voiced.

The sentence "Democratic institutions have in general been formed and stabilized" was mocked in many comments. Bloggers compared it to a statement in Stalin's address to the nation on 3 July 1941 which said that "the enemy's best divisions and best aviation units have already been crushed and found their grave on the battlefields". In that address, Stalin also called on the people "to mobilize and save the country".

Comments praising the article and expressing support for the president were in stark minority.

Many bloggers posted quite long commentaries containing specific proposals on how to overcome Russia's problems and shared their views on the country's development.

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