Internet Showing Russians Other Countries are Doing More for Their Peoples and Businesses than Moscow is, Zubarevich Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, April 10 – One of the most interesting aspects of the current crisis is that the Internet is giving Russians the opportunity to see that other countries are doing more for their peoples and businesses than Moscow is for them, Natalya Zubarevich says, and encouraging them not only to speak out but to demand change.

            Indeed, the Russian regional specialist says, they are beginning to recognize that the authorities must be frightened and that when Russians speak out even in social networks, the Russian government acts. Otherwise, it won’t bother as long as it thinks it doesn’t have to change anything (fontanka.ru/2020/04/08/69076963/ repeated at business-gazeta.ru/article/464553).

            That can be seen over the course of Vladimir Putin’s three addresses on the crisis. With each new one, he has been more forthcoming about doing something for the economy and thus for the Russian people. “These reactions are the result of the important role of the Internet” in this crisis for Russia.

            Unlike in other crises which either weren’t analogous to what was happening in Russia or did not in fact exist, this time everyone is in much the same difficulty; and as result of the Internet, Russians are acquiring information about how the governments of other countries are helping their populations.

            Unless Russians continue to raise their voices on the basis of this information, the Russian powers that be aren’t going to do much. “Noise and noise in the social networks” is a sine qua non for getting the Kremlin finally to do what is necessary.  “Otherwise, the service sector will simply die,” and its 10 million employees will be left with nothing.

            Kremlin officials aren’t reading her analyses, Zubarevich says. “The powers that be listen only to noise “not only in the columns of the independent media but also on Facebook and other social networks.” Those matter to the regime, and the noise on them is an important form of pressure on the Kremlin.

            Where the role of society is large and growing, she suggests, is on the difficult challenge of balancing the survival of the economy and recovering from the pandemic. Once the dust settles, of course, the authorities will revert to their usual practices, punishing the innocent and rewarding the non-participants.