How can he arrange Russia?

Vladimir Putin delivered his last presidential address

It is now impossible to imagine how Vladimir Putin’s last presidential message would have sounded if the world had not seen off the first president of Russia the day before. The death of Boris Yeltsin greatly changed the current political circumstances, and the reflection of a bygone era forced us to look at both today and tomorrow differently. He forced everyone, including Vladimir Putin. And it’s not the plan he announced yesterday to create a modern, world-class presidential library named after Yeltsin. The point is different. The message leaves the impression that Putin still wants to accomplish a lot in this last year. So much so that the fruits are visible and “long-lasting”.

“I think it is inappropriate for you and me to evaluate our own activities here, and it is premature for me to make political testaments,” these words from the final part of the message will probably break or have already broken citation records. Of course, there is ground for speculation about when the time will come for a “political testament,” but something else is more important: Putin proposed a detailed description of a whole list of projects and financial mechanisms in the social and industrial spheres that have a clearly creative, positive nature. In this regard, it is noteworthy that the 8th message is one of Putin’s rare program documents that was not focused on the notorious “threats.” For example, corruption, terrorism and extremism were mentioned once each and virtually in passing.

The set of initiatives, by and large, reflects the proportions of what has been accomplished during Putin’s presidency. More than enough has been done in the political system - and it is only necessary to adopt amendments to the legislation that will tighten responsibility for extremist actions; and there is no need to worry about the democracy of future elections. A lot has been done in state building - and the president only proposes to “tweak” the mechanism for forming the Federation Council, agreeing that a senator must live in his region for at least 10 years. The principles of independent international politics have become established, and here Putin gave a specific answer to “comrade wolf.” He proposes declaring a moratorium on participation in the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE). This treaty between NATO and the Warsaw Pact countries, which limited the deployment of military forces, required new ratification after the collapse of the Soviet bloc and the transfer of obligations under it to Russia. However, only Russia adhered to these obligations, while partners not only placed bases at their own discretion, but also brought NATO’s borders significantly closer to ours. Putin stressed that Russia fulfilled all the terms of the agreement “even in the context of the aggravation of the situation in the Chechen Republic.”

The balance of what has been done in the economy has shifted in recent years: oil revenues have made it possible to begin implementing “national projects” in the social sphere and to try to begin shaping industrial policy. But the scale of the existing tasks in the area that is commonly called “development policy” is enormous. Putin emphasizes that the newly created Development Bank and other institutions should help solve three problems - eliminating infrastructural restrictions on growth, increasing the efficiency of using natural resources and developing high-tech industrial production.

Here, by the way, there are analogies with the Soviet “construction projects of the century” - for example, we are talking about a new “version” of the Volga-Don Canal, the construction of roads and ports, and a qualitative breakthrough in a number of industries. And in the energy sector, according to Putin, “we are talking about the ‘second’ large-scale electrification of the country”: by 2020, energy production must be increased by two-thirds. This will require an astronomical figure of 12 trillion rubles of investment. Not counting on the fact that the gas industry will be able to meet the needs of the domestic energy sector, the president proposes “significant changes in the structure of electricity generation - by increasing the share of nuclear, coal and hydro generation.” Putin believes that “it is necessary to begin the construction of large hydroelectric power stations - first of all, in Siberia and the Far East.” However, these regions are now energy surplus, and the demand potential in the future is rather vague. Therefore, obviously, such an initiative is subject to discussion. The same applies to nuclear energy, where, Putin says, “over the next 12 years we must build 26 units, and based on the most modern technologies.” The coal topic looks most realistic, where, as the president rightly notes, “we have the largest coal reserves.”

But what is especially impressive are the direct financial injections into the “quality of life” - this includes co-financing of pension savings, a program for the construction of new housing, and the creation of a special fund for reforming housing and communal services. The proposal to fill this fund with, among other things, funds from paying off YUKOS tax debts sounded unexpected, but probably logical. Such a “deal” could finally constitute the collapse of the oil company in the mass consciousness, giving it a clear feeling: the money from the sale of YUKOS assets went not “to God knows where,” but to a “people’s” project. By the way, nothing forced Vladimir Putin to mention YUKOS in his last message. But, probably, he also understands that the collapse of this oil empire is part of his presidency, and there is no escape from it. However, the philosophical justification for this story was the words from the final, “lyrical” part of the message: “I am convinced that only then will our country take a worthy position in the world, only then will we be able to preserve our statehood and sovereignty if our citizens see, will feel and be confident that all the efforts of the state are aimed at protecting their vital interests - at improving their lives, at increasing their well-being and their security.”

Andrey Denisov