MOSCOW, September 8 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Vladimir Putin recently announced a "new social policy" for the country, consisting of federal education, health care, and housing programs, which are designed to radically improve the quality of life for ordinary citizens, a popular daily reported Thursday.

Experts told Novaya Gazeta that this "left-wing initiative" of the president was the only chance the current team had of staying in power.

Andrei Ryabov, the deputy director of the Gorbachev Foundation Center for Political Programs, said that from the outset Putin's presidency had been based on a fundamental contradiction between the state's need for further market reforms and the conservative paternalist expectations of the majority of the population. Previous reforms aiming to commercialize health care and education had disappointed voters, who had expected the state to maintain its social function.

Preparations have begun in Russia for the next round of parliamentary and presidential elections in 2007 and 2008 respectively. Ryabov said that in an attempt to remain in power the current team was using "any available methods," including the "left turn," which was designed to gain the support of the silent majority, which favors conservative paternalism.

However, the analyst added that a state with an economy based on high oil prices that was not fundamentally restructuring the economy to promote dynamic high-tech sectors did not have a future.

Boris Kagarlitsky, the director of the Institute of Globalization Studies, said the authorities were in a kind of active paralysis. "They are twitching without making headway in any direction," he said.

"Putin makes one statement for liberals, another for the former KGB officers, one more for foreign states, and still another for his own people," the expert said. He added that this "new batch of presidential initiatives" should in practice "check the harmony of the most democratic presidential state of the nation address," which was delivered this April.