In the Kremlin

PR Front

June 7, 2011 Alexey Makarkin

A month has passed since the announcement of Vladimir Putin about the creation of the All -Russian Popular Front. Enough time to consider the prospects of this project.

To begin with, the ONF is formed in a big haste - the deadlines are settled. The election campaign will take place in the fall, and by that time the front -line soldiers should be mobilized to fulfill their main task - to support the party of Vladimir Putin. The rush led to the fact that the mechanism of attracting everyone to the front was not thought out - it was originally planned that citizens would be able to enter into the ONF through public organizations. Then this scheme was considered too complicated - and an entry was announced via the Internet. So now “spotlights, seats”, striving to draw attention to the authorities, can try their hand - however, the chances of their success are ghostly.

If we talk about the election list of “United Russia”, then only a quarter will consist of ONF candidates - and it is not at all guaranteed that they will take passage places. Moreover, representatives of organizations that have long and closely collaborating with United Russia have the best chances to go to the Duma from among the “frontists” - many of them could get into the party list without participating in the front.

True, in the case of an Internet record, there is a danger that people unconscious, or even discrediting the Putin project, will fall into the number of front-line soldiers. However, this will not cause image damage to the front. The fact is that such scandals spread in modern Russian conditions mainly in the political segment of the Internet and very little - in the “high -quality” press, and not in the first lanes. I will give one characteristic example - not so long ago, the united Russia leader Oleg Matveychev published a text on the Web that it would be good for us to happen like in China: “The tank army would have been released and all the scenes would have wrapped it on caterpillars, burned everything with red -hot iron. And then we would also have 20-30 years in a row, there would be an economic growth of 10 percent a year. ” After the moderate network scandal erupted, Matveychev said that it was about advertising his future book, which has not yet been published. Further they did not promote history-bloggers switched to other topics, and Matveychev is now working as vice-governor of the problematic for the power of the Volgograd region. Its task is to increase the result of United Russia in the next elections, including, of course, using ONF technology.

Moreover, according to the recent reports of the Levada Center, 6% of Russians and 9% of Internet users were aware of the existence of Alexei Navalny. The second figure is even more indicative than the first. The Russian audience is looking for anything on the Web - the opportunity to buy a vacuum cleaner 500 rubles cheaper than in the nearest store, or download the thesis, which was already protected in a pair of cities of an immense country in order to present it in the third. But politics - both domineering and opposition - is only interested in the clear minority of even a sufficiently “advanced” network audience. As for the vast majority of Russians, they receive information from the television screen on which only good words speak about the Putin front.

But the lack of obvious protest does not mean an increase in enthusiasm. The people do not protest, but do not admire. A survey conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation on May 28-29 (that is, when a lot of information appeared on all television channels about the activities of the ONF) showed that 62% of Russians hear about creating the front for the first time. 17% stated that they approve of the front of the front, the same number - they did not approve, the rest found it difficult to answer (and this with the preserved high personal rating of Vladimir Putin). Attention to the front is weak - this topic is interesting only 27% of respondents. As well as alternative projects, hastily published by the parliamentary opposition, are also unlikely to inspire Russians - the Communists are creating a “people's militia”, “Socialist -Revolutionaries” - the USSR (union of supporters of “Fair Russia”), the LDPR announced its intention to organize the “Russian National Front”. All these are also PR projects, which is not surprising. The only such organization in modern Russian politics, which received autonomy from the “maternal” structure-the People’s Patriotic Union of Russia, created by the Communists in the 90s-in the end, ceased to be loyal to its own party and was used for the Semiginsky “riot” against Gennady Zyuganov. Therefore, no one will risk now. By the way, if you look at the ONF, then his connection with United Russia is large -scale - Vyacheslav Volodin (recent secretary of the party council of the party) and Andrey Isaev (deputy secretary of the general council) play a key role in the project (except, of course, Putin).

While politicians show increased activity, people are silent. However, this reaction should not reassure those in power. Behind the indifference of people is a “quiet protest”, a deficit of trust in the political system, fatigue from PR, disbelief that it will be possible to really change something for the better. This is unlikely to affect the result of the nearest elections (moreover, the ONF, with a successful “promotion”, can play a positive role in the United Russia campaign), but in the medium term is a serious problem for the authorities.

Photos of RIA Novosti