Moscow, 20 August: Consecutive evolutionary development rather than populist solutions to problems are among the key principles advocated by the Russian president for the country's development, the first deputy head of the presidential administration, Vladislav Surkov (who has previously been referred to by media outlets and analysts as the Kremlin ideology chief), has said.

Speaking at the Public Chamber today on President Dmitriy Medvedev's (recently-published) article headlined Forward Russia, Surkov in particular said: "What I thought was the main point was of course the modernization objective. The key moment is that this objective is to be achieved through an evolutionary way."

In Surkov's opinion, "the president is making a brave move by advising everyone against falling for populism". "The rejection of the illusion that development can be fast, a sort of great leap, is a very important moment.
Not forcing modernization is the key aspect of all this philosophy. Are we ready to move into new social arrangements without forced methods?" he said.

Every individual should "modernize himself" without expecting the state to deal with one or another problem on his behalf every single time, he said.

On the criticism of the authorities by the opposition, Surkov said that he was not at all opposed to such criticism but that criticism should focus on problems themselves rather than be directed towards the authorities in an abstract way. "I am not against criticism. Let criticism be there to one's heart delight. It is necessary to criticize the Kremlin. This is what the Kremlin is for. However, in our country everyone has been in opposition to the authorities rather than in opposition to problems," Surkov said.

In established democracies, opposition organizations "are first of all tackling problems and are criticizing authorities in addition to this because this (criticism) is of secondary importance to them", he added.

On statements that there is no democracy in Russia, Surkov stressed that "the shouts that there is not enough democracy are direct evidence that it exists".

(RIA Novosti news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1252 GMT 20 Oct 09 quoted Surkov speaking at the same meeting, inviting the opposition to submit constructive and thoroughly-prepared proposals to the president, who is working on his forthcoming address to parliament. "The voice of the opposition has been heard," Surkov also said.

Ekho Moskvy news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1302 GMT 20 Oct 09 quoted member of the Public Chamber and prominent commentator Nikolay Svanidze commenting on the speech by Surkov and Medvedev's article itself. Svanidze told editorially independent Ekho Moskvy radio station that the pace of modernization proposed by Medvedev was rather fast. "Russia has always had problems with modernization. If we do in fact become an innovative economy in 10-15 years' time, this would be a great blessing indeed," Svanidze said.

He also said that Surkov's speech had not been accompanied by much applause or heckling and that those present had simply taken note of it.)

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