|
Russian Press at a Glance, Thursday, December 15, 2011
http://en.rian.ru/papers/20111215/170259830.html
10:08 15/12/2011
POLITICS
A governor whose biggest claim to fame is perhaps his decision to delay an Aeroflot flight because he was running late will run for president against Vladimir Putin.
(The Moscow Times)
State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov said he would not take up his seat, ending eight years at the helm of the lower house of parliament. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov and presidential chief of staff Sergei Naryshkin are the most likely candidates for the speaker’s post.
(Kommersant, The Moscow Times)
A Russian humanitarian aid convoy for Kosovo Serbs was blocked on the border. EULEX refused to let a Russian Emergencies Ministry motorcade cross the border without police escort and offered an alternative route. Russia says European police officers exceeded their authorities. The problem will be addressed at the Russia-EU summit in Brussels.
(Kommersant, Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
European Union leaders will discuss election fraud and anti-Kremlin protests with President Dmitry Medvedev at a Brussels summit Thursday, however, the two sides are unlikely to move forward quickly on easing visa restrictions, diplomats said.
(The Moscow Times)
South Ossetia is on the verge of civil confrontation again. The republic’s parliament failed to approve the resignations of the prosecutor general and the Supreme Court head, despite the opposition’s agreements with the Kremlin.
(Kommersant)
Deputy Head of Russia’s Central Election Commission, Leonid Ivlev, said all irregularities at the December 4 parliamentary elections in Russia will be thoroughly checked.
(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Russia will face the "largest impact" from the global slowdown in the first half of next year, bringing annual economic growth to 2.3 percent in 2012, Renaissance Capital said.
(The Moscow Times)
Russia’s second largest mobile communications operator MegaFon was the first from the “big three” to cut the price for roaming calls in Europe.
(Kommersant)
SOCIETY
Dashing fears that a second major rally over the State Duma elections would be banned, City Hall on Wednesday authorized a protest for Dec. 24 in downtown Moscow.
(The Moscow Times, Kommersant)
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will address the nation in a live televised call-in for the tenth time.
(Vedomosti)
A Moscow Region court used a new law for bribe takers for the first time, fining an official 75 times the amount he received as a bribe. The official, Muradkhan Islamov, will have to pay 21 million rubles ($658,812).
(Kommersant)
For more details on all the news in Russia today, visit our website at http://en.rian.ru.
The new Duma: United Russia and the opposition stand to gain
http://en.ria.ru/analysis/20111214/170249879.html
22:28 14/12/2011
RIA Novosti political commentator Dmitry Babich
It is becoming clear that President Dmitry Medvedev’s meeting with parliamentary party leaders on Tuesday has produced a stabilizing effect on Russian political life. All sides have registered gains as a result of the votes they received at the December 4 elections. In the new Duma, United Russia will receive 15 out of 29 committees, and will also hold a majority in the Duma Council. However, the party will no longer be able run the show as was the case in the Duma of the fifth convocation where it had 26 committees versus six of the opposition.
This meeting revealed another important point – a negative consensus on the part of systemic politicians with regard to the radical street opposition. It is sufficient to recall the words of Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, a man who “is categorically against the Orange contagion that is able to paralyze a nuclear power on the eve of a severe winter.”
Zyuganov made it clear that he was referring to the rally on Bolotnaya Square, which he equated to the color revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine.
Statements made at the meeting by Zyuganov and Just Russia leader Sergei Mironov are sending an important signal both to party activists and voters. Although Just Russia deputies spoke at street rallies on December 10, and Communist Party flags could be seen waving here and there, the leaders of these two parties are clear in their denial of support to street protests. This amounts to a reorganization of the political space in which the systemic and non-systemic opposition began their rapprochement since the 2007 United Russia victory.
According to Alexei Mukhin, head of the Political Information Center, “In essence, Zyuganov supported the Kremlin on the Bolotnaya Square issue. I believe that protesters in the opposition will start ignoring him after this statement. But he has nothing to lose, personally – he already has a parliamentary party and there are five years to go before the next Duma elections – in the meantime, everything will be forgotten.”
Despite individual appeals from the Communist, Just Russia and Liberal-Democratic parties for an inquiry and a vote recount at contentious voting stations, it has become clear that the Duma opposition does not share the demands of the activists on Bolotnaya Square. For them, it is not a matter of annulling the election results or of surrendering mandates.
“Whoever comes up with these delusional ideas should be the first to give up their mandates,” Liberal-Democratic party leader Vladimir Zhirinovksy told journalists. If you're looking for Vaclav Gavel, go to the Czech Republic. There will be no Gavel here. We’ll have Stenka Razin instead,” he added.
Political reform within the system will be continued. President Dmitry Medvedev emphasized that nobody can criticize him for not dealing with this. “We need to take more decisive steps towards removing the restrictions that have accumulated on political activities,” he said at the meeting, adding that the opposition needs to expand its influence in the Duma committees.
The question is, where to begin? Parliamentary opposition is deeply critical of the work of electoral commissions. They demand that the opposition parties should expand their presence in these commissions, and are calling for the resignation of Vladimir Churov, head of the Central Electoral Commission (Mironov and Zyuganov want him to step down). In general, criticism is primarily directed at those who count rather than those who rule.
President of the Political Technology Center Igor Bunin said, “I think the government may decide to carry out reforms. The problem is that the most obvious of these – declarative registration of parties and return to elections of some MPs in certain single-mandate constituencies – go against the interests of the current Duma opposition. Registration of new parties will produce more rivals and some single-mandate deputies will take over some of the seats of the Duma opposition. It may well happen that the opposition will impede these political reforms.”
Most experts agree that the country is simply becoming normal. After all, all civilized countries combine legal protests with reforms drafted by professionals.
The result is obvious and was desired by the majority – United Russia has simple rather than constitutional majority, parliament has become stronger and the country’s range of control is fine. All these goals are being met so far.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s and may not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: | 
