Paul
Goble
Staunton, July 17 – An article in
today’s Vedomosti suggesting that the
Kremlin has not been able to come up with “an image of the future” which
Vladimir Putin can use in the upcoming presidential elections has sparked
widespread comment in the Internet that perhaps this means that “Putin doesn’t
have a future” (e.g.,
newsland.com/community/4765/content/putin-bez-budushchego-prezidentu-nechego-predlozhit-strane-na-svoi-chetvertyi-srok/5920002).
In the Moscow paper, Elena
Mukhametshina and Olga Churakova report that sources “close to the Presidential
Administration” have told them that despite many “stormy” meetings, Kremlin
officials haven’t been able to come close to an agreement on what Putin’s “future”
should be (vedomosti.ru/politics/articles/2017/07/17/723958-obraza-buduschego-putina).
The difficulties have been so
intense, one source told the journalists, that Putin or his top aides have
replaced “the curator” responsible for this project several times and brought
in new people from polling agencies and the government media to give advice on
what might work as a campaign agenda.
Among those involved in this project
now are television host Valery Fadeyev, Konstantin Kostin of the Foundation for
the Development of Civil Society and Aleksandr Oslon of the Public Opinion
Foundation.” They have not been able to agree either with Kremlin officials or
with each other, the journalists suggest.
In addition, Mukhametshina and
Churakova say, the leadership of the United Russia Party, the All-Russian
Popular Front, and the VTsIOM polling agency are involved as is the Valdai
discussion club.
“The image of the future is the main
ideological message of the campaign, which explains the goal of policy of the new
term for various social groups and society as a whole,” one participant in
these discussions says. The current “triad
– justice, respect and trust” is insufficient as far as most of those
discussing this topic are concerned.
According to another, “the image of the
future must be ready by the end of September” so that the campaign can be
launched in earnest in December. That schedule
adds urgency for some but has led others to say that any final decision about “the
image of the future” need not be made just yet.
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