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The results of the year. Hard year

January 5, 2010 Alexey Makarkin

For Russians, 2009 was heavy. The crisis continued throughout the year, and December was no exception - rather, on the contrary, it turned out to be a very difficult month. According to the study of the Institute of Economics of the Transition period (IEPP), more than 60% of all Russian companies planned to reduce their employees in December, which is associated with a decrease in demand. The authorities themselves declare the exit of the economy from the recession, but the growth rate is still insignificant and connected, first of all, with the previous deep fall.

The year was difficult for other reasons. A whole series of tragedies showed that the “pain points” of the Russian life have not gone away. Total irresponsibility, the usual rate on the fact that “maybe it will cost”, coupled with corruption, became the causes of the accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station and a fire in the Perm Club “Lame Horse”. And in this regard, the actions of the station managers entrusting the complex repairs of the company affiliated with them are not much different from the behavior of the owners of the club, flagrantly violating all conceivable fire rules.

The undermining of the “Nevsky express” can be put on a par with the already familiar terrorist attacks in the North Caucasus: the authorities not only cannot end this phenomenon, but, on the contrary, the fire is increasingly flared up. The murder of the “strong man” of Dagestan General Adilgerey Magomedtagirov and the severe wound of the President of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Evkurov-evidence of the weakness of law enforcement officers, both local and federal. The appointment of a federal official responsible for the North Caucasus is unlikely to fundamentally change the situation - through a personnel solution, a multidimensional problem cannot be solved. Traditional Islam is increasingly losing “Wahhabism”, a Muslim version of Puritanism. Investors, as before, are reluctant to go to the region, permeated with clan relations and "leaning" even by Russian standards corruption. The unemployed disappointed youth continues to replenish the ranks of terrorist groups. 2009 also showed the weakness of the authorities in the fight against right extremism - this was evidence of the murder of activists of the anti -fascist movement, including the loudest of them, committed in the center of Moscow, the victims of which was lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova.

Other losses of this year were added to severity. Great Russian artists Oleg Yankovsky and Vyacheslav Tikhonov died. A shock for the liberal part of Russian society was the unexpected end of Yegor Gaidar, who showed the preserved split in society. So far, some people stood in the cold for hours to say goodbye to a person who was not afraid to take responsibility for extremely unpopular, but necessary reforms, others not only did not hide their gloating, but also showed him on sites and forums. For the first time in the history of modern Russia, a priest - Daniil Sysoev, who sharply polemicized with the adherents of Islam, was killed in a Moscow temple. Life did not become more safe for ordinary citizens - on December 22, another priest, Alexander Filippov, was killed, but any person who made a remark to drunken villains could be in his place.

Does this mean that the situation in Russia is completely hopeless. It seems not. Perhaps, for the first time, attempts are made systemic combating systemic corruption, holes in the legislation, gaping for many years, are shut up, data on the income and property of officials are published. Little by a little in depolitized Russia, political life begins to return with slow steps, although on an extremely limited scale. The prevailing imperious dioxentrium weakens the stiffness of the “vertical”. The election of the leaders of the constituent entities of the Federation has not been returned, but it is no longer possible to appoint a person absolutely unknown there as the head of the region. Last year, the Duma for the first time took advantage of the right of a parliamentary investigation, which she received several years ago - the created commission figured out the causes of the accident at the SSHPS and introduced a completely reasoned conclusion, not succumbing to the temptation to write, which was guilty of Chubais. A barrier was put on the path of resumption of death sentences, and the president and the Orthodox Church, headed by the new patriarch, resolutely condemned the crimes of Stalin, who in recent years was accepted to justify. After the scandalous October regional elections, a neat reform of the electoral system began at the level of the constituent entities of the Federation. The most odious limiters were removed for the activities of non -profit organizations. The dismissal of officials responsible for the most loud failures, such as explosions in Ulyanovsk and the already mentioned fire in Perm, began. Liberated Svetlana Bakhmina.

Is this not enough and not enough? Yes, hardware maneuvers, even if they become a little more transparent, cannot replace direct governor's elections. The Duma as it was and remains a purely peripheral institute, which is the proof of which is a quick change in the position of the parliamentary majority of transport tax. NPOs, as before, experience serious problems. None of the new batch last year could be registered.

All this is so. However, the trend is more important here - slow, gradual, contradictory, but still liberalization. Evolutionary processes are always less spectacular than revolutions, they cause a lot of criticism from different angles. Some condemn them for insufficient radicalism, others believe that liberalization can become the beginning of the turmoil. On the one hand, the effect of high expectations, on the other, is a protective reaction. This is probably natural - and the same trend will continue next year. I would like him to be not as heavy as 2009.

Author-First Vice President of the Center for Political Technology

Photo by RIA Novosti