Page 24 - RusRPTMar20

Seminar participants were not specifically told how to do so, as they should already know from the presidential election, but some suggestions include organizing buffets and cultural events at the polling stations and conducting additional polls about local issues that residents feel strongly for.
The life expectancy of Russian citizens has improved thanks to reducing alcohol consumption, ​a World Health Organization (​WHO​) report has indicated, according to ​China Daily​. The amount of alcohol consumed per person in the country fell by 43% from 2003 to 2016, the report says. Russia has long been considered as having one of the world’s biggest alcohol intakes, and the report describes drinking patterns as “hazardous” and says they are associated with the high levels of alcohol-related deaths. The worst period in recent times came during the 1990s and 2000s, when, according to research, one in every two men of working age died prematurely because of alcohol abuse. In 2012 Russia drank 1.37bn liters of the spirit, making the country the world’s biggest vodka market and its people experts in the art of its consumption.
A new Levada Center poll shows that Russians are ambivalent about the government reshuffle.​ While 38% of respondents think the political changes will lead to an improvement in the domestic situation, 46% expect nothing to change. 9% expect changes for the worse. One thing most can agree on: Dmitry Medvedev’s government was no good. 74% of Russians say Medvedev, who presided over a period of low pensions, falling wages, and rising taxes, was unable to improve the situation in Russia. In a survey conducted two years ago, more than half of respondents wanted Medvedev’s government to resign.
Russians approve of the proposed constitutional changes ​that will shift some of the power away from the president and to the Duma.. A recent Levada Center survey revealed that 64% of Russians plan to vote on the amendments, with 72% voicing support. Yet the contents of the amendments are poorly understood. While 84% of respondents have heard of the reform, only 14% know its substance well. As the Kremlin intended, many support the reform due to the inclusion of social amendments. Two-thirds of Russians think the most important amendment to the constitution is the regular indexation of pensions. The creation of the State Council, by contrast, is deemed the least important, with just 6% of respondents giving it first-priority significance. When asked to name specific amendments, top responses were pension indexation (16%) and help to families (15%)—which is actually not included in the constitutional reform but was announced in Putin’s Federal Assembly address.
24​ RUSSIA Country Report​ March 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com