MOSCOW, January 17 (RIA Novosti)-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's decision not to run for a second presidential term triggered December's mass protests, as people felt they did not have a resolute leader, Federal Agency for Youth Affairs chief Vasily Yakemenko said on Tuesday.
In an interview with the Lenta.ru news web site, Yakemenko, who headed the biggest Kremlin-backed youth group Nashi (Ours) until 2007, said thousands who came to the streets in protest against the conduct of the parliamentary elections were disillusioned by the president's lack of ambition to continue.
"Actually, all these people [protesters] realized they had lost a leader on whom they relied after Medvedev voiced his decision to stay away from the next presidential race," Yakemenko said, referring to the milestone congress of the ruling United Russia party in late September, where Medvedev proposed Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to run for presidency in 2012.
Many hoped that Medvedev, who was appointed in 2008 as Putin's successor, would carry on his agenda as a reforming president, focusing on modernization, civil society and strict adherence to law.
Boris Makarenko of the Center for Political Technologies, a Moscow-based think-tank, also said that December's protests date back to September's United Russia congress when "people had lost faith in the rotation of power."
"December 4 [the date of the notorious parliamentary elections] just rubbed salt in this wound," Makarenko told RIA Novosti.
Yakemenko also claimed it would have been possible to avoid the protests had Medvedev proposed measures to reform Russia's political system before the elections, not after them.
On December 22, during his final state-of-the-nation address, the outgoing president proposed a return to direct elections for regional governers, scrapped by Putin in 2004, as well as easing the registration of political parties and presidential candidates. He sent a bill to the duma on the reforms on January 16.
Asked why he had decided to openly share his opinion on the political situation in Russia while also being a part of the Russian government, Yakemenko said that since state-controlled TV broadcast opposition rallies, he could no longer keep silent.
MOSCOW, January 17 (RIA Novosti)-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's decision not to run for a second presidential term triggered December's mass protests, as people felt they did not have a resolute leader, Federal Agency for Youth Affairs chief Vasily Yakemenko said on Tuesday.
In an interview with the Lenta.ru news web site, Yakemenko, who headed the biggest Kremlin-backed youth group Nashi (Ours) until 2007, said thousands who came to the streets in protest against the conduct of the parliamentary elections were disillusioned by the president's lack of ambition to continue.
"Actually, all these people [protesters] realized they had lost a leader on whom they relied after Medvedev voiced his decision to stay away from the next presidential race," Yakemenko said, referring to the milestone congress of the ruling United Russia party in late September, where Medvedev proposed Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to run for presidency in 2012.
Many hoped that Medvedev, who was appointed in 2008 as Putin's successor, would carry on his agenda as a reforming president, focusing on modernization, civil society and strict adherence to law.
Boris Makarenko of the Center for Political Technologies, a Moscow-based think-tank, also said that December's protests date back to September's United Russia congress when "people had lost faith in the rotation of power."
"December 4 [the date of the notorious parliamentary elections] just rubbed salt in this wound," Makarenko told RIA Novosti.
Yakemenko also claimed it would have been possible to avoid the protests had Medvedev proposed measures to reform Russia's political system before the elections, not after them.
On December 22, during his final state-of-the-nation address, the outgoing president proposed a return to direct elections for regional governers, scrapped by Putin in 2004, as well as easing the registration of political parties and presidential candidates. He sent a bill to the duma on the reforms on January 16.
Asked why he had decided to openly share his opinion on the political situation in Russia while also being a part of the Russian government, Yakemenko said that since state-controlled TV broadcast opposition rallies, he could no longer keep silent.