Survey says

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov weighs in on negative attitudes toward Russian officials

During a press conference on Friday, December 4, journalists asked Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov to comment on the results of a new survey conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM). Responses to the survey indicated that the majority of Russian citizens believe government officials aren’t doing their jobs. Peskov, a government official himself, offered a personal take on the survey results — and quoted some figures that weren’t quite right.

Kommersant FM: The Public Opinion Foundation conducted a survey among Russian citizens. It turned out that 61 percent of citizens believe that government officials are not doing their job. Officials received a positive assessment from 19 percent of respondents. What does the Kremlin think? Are Russian officials doing their job?

Dmitry Peskov: You understand that I, as an official, am certainly very upset to hear this. Of course, there’s a black sheep in every flock, as they say. But the majority of officials are people who work very hard, honestly, and, indeed, for the good of the country. And they perform their functions with dignity. But there are also bad officials. Who do not work well, who do not care about their work. And this, unfortunately, gives the wrong impression. This is what I can say.

But at the same time, if we’re talking about this opinion poll itself, there is — if I’m not mistaken, I just looked at it yesterday...If I’m not mistaken there’s a very interesting point there. Among all of these figures, there was a question asked to the respondents: “Would you like you or your children to work as government officials?” And, I believe, 65 percent responded: “Yes, I would.” That is here, of course, specifically, it differs, it differs slightly. But nevertheless, it’s an interesting social survey, of course. And of course in any case this underlines once again the need for greater openness and more clarification with regard to what officials are doing.

Kommersant FM: Strictly speaking, is openness and clarification exactly what the Kremlin thinks needs to be done about this negative attitude toward officials?

Dmitry Peskov: No, [officials] need to improve their work, of course.

Kommersant FM: Are there any additional measures, perhaps, being planned or discussed?

Dmitry Peskov: No, nothing is being planned.

Fact checked. In fact, 55 percent of respondents gave a negative response to the FOM survey question “Would you like your child to work as a government official or not?”