There is no such thing as too much positivity, especially if you are the Prime Minister on the eve of announcing a new composition. Summing up the results of six years of work of his cabinet in the State Duma, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev outdid even the recent address of the President to the Federal Assembly in optimism, reporting on the many successes of the country in general and the economy in particular. For demonstrating loyalty to the old-new president, this is probably good, but for demonstrating an understanding of the seriousness and scale of the problems and challenges facing the economy and the new cabinet, perhaps not the best option.

The report on economic achievements sounded like a report of a triumphant person who can afford to look to the future with confidence. There are not so many obvious problems, if we believe the Prime Minister - except that poverty has not yet been defeated. The achievements - increased life expectancy, decreased mortality, growing construction rates, successes of industry and agricultural producers, new aircraft and spaceport, increased salaries of public sector employees, digitalization - are all the more valuable because they were achieved against the backdrop of unfavorable conditions, primarily external ones. The Prime Minister repeatedly referred to all sorts of pressure and infringement from outside, which, however, could not, in his words, "stop our development"; on the contrary, over these six years, Russia has gone a path "that many countries spent decades on."

From inside the besieged fortress, many of the successes mentioned by the Prime Minister seem undeniable. The Prime Minister called the total 5% GDP growth over six years and a slight decline during the crisis a success. But it depends on what you compare it to. Over the same years, global GDP growth, according to the World Bank, was 17.7%. As noted in the Stolypin Club report, Russia's results in 2013-2017 were worse than those of the vast majority of countries with a raw materials economy: its GDP remained at the 2013 level, while in Norway it grew by 8%, in Nigeria by 14%; neighbors also show better results: in Kazakhstan by 17%.

Medvedev's optimism did not go unnoticed by the deputies, who asked, not without irony, how and when, on the wave of such positivity, the cabinet plans to achieve the breakthrough growth that Vladimir Putin spoke about. But Medvedev redirected this question to the future cabinet.

Even the president could afford to be more critical on the eve of the elections, recognizing, in particular, the danger of Russia's continued backwardness. This partly reflects the government's position in the current state, where it rarely acts as a center for generating ideas, but is more often limited to the technical implementation of plans from outside and above. But for the prime minister, it is more important to demonstrate loyalty, to show that he is not a dove, but one of the hawks, determined to continue confrontation with the outside world, says political scientist Mikhail Vinogradov. The prime minister intends to remain a loyal assistant to the commandant of the besieged fortress in economic matters.

Six years of Dmitry Medvedev's optimism