Kremlin has Decided to Drop All Pretense of Democracy, Shevtsova Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 15 – The powers that be in the Kremlin would be far better off allowing a small number of opposition figures to be elected to various representative bodies, Liliya Shevtsova says, but they “have made a different choice – to do away with the imitation of elections and any playing at democracy” and to do so “openly and convincingly.”

            What is happening in St. Petersburg and Moscow shows that Moscow has decided to drop any pretense not only in the two capitals but throughout the country, the Russian political commentator says.  “Undoubtedly, this is a transition to a new quality of rule” (echo.msk.ru/blog/shevtsova/2464009-echo/).

                “Elections in Russia, with all their falsifications and manipulations were the only means of legitimating the powers that be. We have no other.  The authorities pretended that elections were occurring and the population pretended that it was participating in them,” Shevtsova says. But now that pretense is gone.

            “The powers that be have in effect said: I don’t need the legitimation elections provide anymore. We don’t need the reputation that they give us, we spit on your support, we will change people as we see fit without reference to you.” The decorative features of elections have fallen away, and what remains is “the naked force of an iron and concrete vertical.”

            Apparently, the Russian commentator says, “the Kremlin having weighed the alternatives came to the conclusion (and this happened not now!) that the risk of destabilization from allowing extra-systemic elements inside was much greater than the threat of political protests” that would surely arise if these elements were kept out.

            Consequently, “those running ‘the vertical’ decided that they must at any price maintain the monolith of power: any cracks in the system in which already are taking place destructive processes can entail uncontrolled consequences. The inner space must be kept clear for direct rule, especially given the growing dissatisfaction of the population.”

            Not only is the extra-systemic opposition to be excluded, but the room of maneuver for the systemic opposition is to be shrunken to nothing, Shevtsova continues. And “all this means that the path for the peaceful evolution of the system in Russia have been blocked.” The people have only the streets.

            The authorities have prepared for that, of course, she says.  But whether they can contain the situation forever is very much an open question.