Regional Governments in Russia Set Up Hotlines to Combat Panic about Ukraine

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Feb. 28 – The clearest sign that Russian officials now recognize that their regime is in trouble is the decision of a number of regional leaders to set up special hotlines to respond to the concerns of their populations about what is taking place in Ukraine, something far fewer of them did even during the pandemic.

            Because these have not yet appeared in Moscow or other major cities, they have not attracted much attention; but in regions far beyond the ring road, they are growing in number and suggest the appearance of a kind of panic that officials aren’t completely sure how to deal with. Obviously, repression alone won’t work. So they are trying this form of therapy.

            Officials who have established a hotline in Kolyma say that a large number of people are worried that the events in Ukraine will affect the banking and transportation systems and the impact of those developments will be felt in the Russian Far East (govoritmagadan.ru/na-kolyme-otvechajut-na-goryachie-voprosy-voznikshie-iz-za-voennoj-specoperacii-na-ukraine/).

            And three experts have commented in detail about the reasons behind the setting up of a hotline in Krasnoyarsk, explaining both why people there are worried and also why such a hotline is more an example of the need of officials to do something than an action that will have much of an impact (club-rf.ru/27/detail/6080).

            Grigory Govorukhin, a sociologist at the Amur State University, says that the establishment of the hotline reflects a growing sense among officials that “something must be done” but not a clear idea of what will work. Few people will call in because most in the region don’t trust officials, but if even a few do, officialdom will feel it has done something.

            Roman Larionov, a political scientist there, also doubts that the hotline will be widely used; but people in the region have close ties to Ukraine either because they are from there, have relatives there, or have other relatives serving in the Russian army. They are worried, regardless of who distant Ukraine might appear on the map.

            And regional political commentator Oleg Zhunusov says that hotlines are all very well, but they highlight a more fundamental problem: Moscow should be taking the lead in explaining what the real consequences of the fighting and sanctions will be rather than losing control of the information agenda of ever more Russians.

            “Local and regional authorities could explain the specific regional manifestations behind panic attitudes,” he argues, “but the main explanatory work should be undertaken by the federal organs.” They aren’t doing that now, and so the regional leaderships feel they have no choice but to try, however limited their resources.