Levels of Public Trust Falling in Russia, Further Limiting Country’s Development, Experts Say

Paul Goble

            Staunton, December 1 – Low levels of public trust have been a problem in Russia from Soviet times onward, but now there is evidence that they are declining still further and thus imposing even more constraints on the development of the country, according to experts surveyed by Polit.ru’s Olga Savina (polit.ru/article/2020/12/01/doverie2020/).

            Russia currently ranks 26^th out of 26 countries surveyed in terms of public trust, the Edelman Trust Barometer reported earlier this year, and Darya Avdeyeva of the Higher School of Economics says it has been on the decline since a brief uptick at the time of the Crimean Anschluss (council.gov.ru/media/files/ZuyffAndc55HCTkMIVsA5A1r22tq2ZQx.pdf).

            These trends have been confirmed by the Consumer Confidence Index compiled by the Conference Board and Nielsen which found that Russia has fallen to the lowest level in 15 years and now ranks 61^st out of 68 countries surveyed (nielsen.com/ru/ru/insights/article/2020/indeks-potrebitelskogo-doveriya-rezko-snizilsya-vo-vsem-mire/).

            Konstantin Ordov, a legal specialist at the Russian Economics University, roots the low level of trust in the absence of an independent and effective legal system. People can’t count on the courts to defend them, and they see that as emblematic of the system as a whole, one tilted against them.

            Viktor Vakhshtayn of the Moscow Higher School of Social and Economic Sciences agrees that the courts contribute to the distrust Russians feel but he says that other institutions, including the bureaucracy, local officials, the police, and the health care system also are to blame (freeconomy.ru/mneniya/viktor-vahshtajn-my-vpervye-stolknulis-s-situatsiej-raspada-sotsialnyh-svyazej.html).

            He notes that “in Russia, 52 percent of the population prefer to die rather than go to the hospital” unless they know a doctor there personally.

            The fact that Russians do trust the president ironically makes the situation worse, Academician Aleksandr Nekipelov says, because it suggests to Russians that he is the only one they can trust and they are fully justified in not showing trust to anyone else (council.gov.ru/media/files/ZuyffAndc55HCTkMIVsA5A1r22tq2ZQx.pdf).

            And in fact, Russians don’t trust anyone now, including other Russians. Only 25 percent of Russians say that it is possible to trust most people, a far lower share than is the case in China or Sweden, Moscow State University economist Aleksandr Auzan points out (youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=2bEe37CZO4g&feature=emb_title).

            This lack of trust keeps Russians from going into business as they fear that any progress they might make would be at risk of confiscation by the state, other experts say (council.gov.ru/media/files/ZuyffAndc55HCTkMIVsA5A1r22tq2ZQx.pdf). Unless that changes, they suggest, through the strengthening of the independence of courts and limits on the police and state, Russia’s economy will continue to stagnate.

            Unfortunately, Savina sums up their conclusions, there seems to be little chance that anything will be improved in this regard anytime soon.