December 20, 2012, 20:45 From the editor

And a little about fishing

Journalists tired Putin with questions about the “anti-orphan” innovations of the State Duma and should have pleased him with the small number of specific requests

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Regional and federal journalists asked Putin very different questions

Alexey Nikolsky/ITAR-TASS Putin’s first big press conference after a four-year break was curious not so much for the quite expected answers, but for the obvious difference between what interests journalists from regional and federal media. “Salt of the Earth” has no time for the intrigues of big politics; the capital’s “creatives” are not interested in the little things of provincial life.

“Enough of Khodorkovsky, enough of Magnitsky. We invite you to go winter fishing,” this is how a journalist from Astrakhan addressed Vladimir Putin. And he continued with a complaint that the supervisory authorities require too many different papers from fishermen. “Maybe I walk along different streets, maybe I ride in different trolleybuses, but in our regions we still have some other agenda,” said a journalist from Saransk and proposed discussing the question of whether the championship will become World Cup is the locomotive of development for Mordovia.

“As for the agenda in the regions of the Russian Federation and in the capital, it is indeed a little different. And in fact, I appreciate you pointing this out. It’s somehow awkward for me to talk about this, but it’s a fact,” Putin answered her.

A distinctive feature of the president’s big press conference (Gazeta.Ru reported online from the press conference ) was the unusual activity of representatives of the federal media, who asked him many uncomfortable questions - first of all, about the “anti-orphan” innovations of the State Duma . And, in general, the presence of two agendas at the event at the World Trade Center was obvious.

The gap in interests and reasons for frustration between the capital and “big Russia” may have manifested itself so clearly primarily because the amendment on international adoption to the “anti-Magnitsky act” looks very wild (with the text of which, as it turned out, Putin before the press I didn’t have time to get acquainted with the conference). It horrified the intelligentsia so much that it turned out to be completely impossible to restrain itself.

For Putin to be subjected to so many attacks at his public events, even from loyal “ Arguments and Facts ”, even from a Channel One correspondent who expressed “the feeling that Russia lacks a completely independent judicial system” - this has never happened before.

But the regions really have a different agenda, other reasons for concern. A different perception of the causes of their troubles and misfortunes. And another understanding of the extent of responsibility that senior management bears for the state of affairs. Even a completely national, moreover, general economic issue about the increase in utility tariffs sounds like a local pain and is accompanied by a request to the head of state to come and fix everything.

It is impossible to blame journalists from “Russia beyond the Ring Road” for inattention to issues of a general nature or for maintaining faith in the “good Tsar.” It is difficult, if not impossible, to discern from there the clear face of alternative political forces, especially non-systemic ones. And “your own shirt” requires continuous washing and darning. Moreover, the federal structure of the country is built in such a way that the success of any local initiative depends on Moscow officials, who have only one authority - Putin.

The enthusiasm with which faith in him was demonstrated at this press conference, however, has faded greatly compared to previous years.

Perhaps due to the trend recorded by sociologists of a decline in trust in the supreme power, the honesty of its motives and the effectiveness of the measures it takes. Vladimir Putin remains the final authority, but less and less hope is placed on him. By the way, this time he did not provide a series of private benefits to the petitioners.

But the obsession with one’s own problems, demonstrated locally, will obviously only grow with growing disappointment in the “good Kremlin wizards”. Accordingly, there will be a growing misunderstanding towards the capital’s “educated class” with all its talk about an unjust trial, corruption and the cannibalistic habits of Duma figures

This is not what the representatives of this “class” care about; the subject of their indignation is as commonplace as the sharply continental climate.

Putin seems to feel this instinctively, and gets really irritated precisely when general political questions that are atypical for the province are raised from the ground. “I ask you not to return to this issue again. We’ve been going on and on about this issue for many, many years, well, listen at least once and hear me: we are for – and I personally am for direct elections of governors,” he reprimanded an Omsk journalist who expressed concern about whether this will be canceled order again.

So the unity of Putin and the Russian province is based on the fact that the federal center alone is capable of benefiting it with budgetary subventions, while at the same time severely limiting possible independent activities there. The destruction of this connection between the top and bottom will, unfortunately, only occur with the emptying of the federal trough called the oil and gas budget surplus.