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PUTIN CONVINCED OF RUSSIAN DEMOCRACY'S VIABILITY
RIA Novosti
April 25, 2005
MOSCOW (RIA Novosti political commentator Vladimir Simonov) - Clearly responding to Western criticism of "backsliding on democracy" in Russia, Vladimir Putin expressed his firm conviction of the viability of Russian democracy, despite its growing pains after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Ensuring human rights and freedoms is critical for economic development and political life in Russia, the Russian president said in his state of the nation address.
Putin does not see an impenetrable wall between the historical improvement of democracy in Europe and Russia. In his opinion, Russia "was, is and will be a European power," and so Russian society has always viewed European ideals of freedom and justice as a guideline.
Russia and European countries jointly, hand by hand, attained such democratic landmarks as education reform, development of parliamentarism, the creation of similar legal systems in the past 300 years, Putin recalled. And he promised that Moscow would continue moving along the road to European democratic standards.
Those Western critics who accused the Kremlin of an excessive concentration of state power probably heard something new in the president's address. Most importantly, Putin wants to put a limit on the omnipotence of state structures. "The state has no right to regulate scientific, religious and artistic endeavor," the president said categorically. "It must not interfere in moral, family and everyday life, or curtail economic initiative without good reason."
At the same time, Putin hinted that he would not give up the original national character of Russian democracy. Those who think that there can be only one ideal democracy stamped "Made in the USA" and that this democracy should be exported to all countries were disappointed. The president clearly said that Russia, as a sovereign country, "will independently decide how to apply the principles of freedom and democracy with due regard for its historical, geopolitical and other specifics."
Putin put forth several interesting ideas about the Russian mass media, especially the electronic media, whose slide toward curtailed freedom worries Putin's critics, including US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, so much.
The president recalled that only in the recent past - meaning the Yeltsin era - Russian oligarchic groups enjoyed unlimited control of information channels, which exclusively served their corporate interests.
The media situation has improved since then, yet it does not satisfy Putin. He called for increasing the control exercised by the Public Chamber, a new national agency of respected citizens and human rights champions, over "respect for the principle of the freedom of speech on television." The media must be equally accessible to all parliamentary factions and reflect the entire range of social and political forces, the president said.
Putin also wants to simplify public access to information held by state structures. He instructed members of parliament to adopt without delay a law on the information openness of state agencies.
The broad audience that listened to the president's address in the Kremlin undoubtedly left the hall knowing that his patience over the situation with ethnic Russians abroad had all but been exhausted. Putin called on the global community to protect them. In a harshly worded part of the address, which was apparently meant above all for Latvia and Estonia, the president demanded that they "prove in actions their respect for human rights, including the rights of national minorities." The situation of the Russian-speaking communities in the former Soviet republics that have become NATO and the EU members cannot be an issue for political and diplomatic bargaining, he stressed.
Judging by this year's state of the nation address, Russia will not deviate from the road to the European standards of democracy but intends to demand that its partners and neighboring countries respect these standards too.