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Opinion
December 15, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 18
Once he calmed down a little Putin proceeded with the little history lectures he loves to give, pointing out that Ukraine joined the Russian empire in 1645 “when it got a lot of extra lands” and that Crimea was “illegally under the then laws” merged into Ukraine in 1954. But the core point he made was that Kyiv was the home to the Slavic nation and that Ukraine and Russia need to “come together” again eventually — all themes that went down very well in the stalls.
The other hot button international topic Putin addressed was the investigations into the Trump campaign’s Russian links, where he was equally dismissive.
Putin was asked about the numerous contacts between Russian diplomats in Washington and members of US President Donald Trump’s team in the run-up to the 2016 US elections, and the furore that followed, including four arrests of senior Trump-team officials.
“That has been invented by the opposition. They delegitimise the power of the president. They don't respect the election... Should we ban contacts between governments? They meet with diplomats but that is standard practise. They discus what they will do when they come to power. What is so strange about it? Why do you have
this Russian spy hysteria?” Putin answered in a puzzled voice.
He followed up with a defence of the Russian- sponsored international media outlets. “Take media. Take RT and Sputnik. Their share of
[the US] market is tiny compared to what US companies doing there and even here in Russia. What about freedom of the press? You need to do your homework and draw the right conclusions,” Putin said.
The marathon session continued with one of the hardest questions: without any real opposition, won’t the March 2018 presidential elections be boring?
The subtext of this question is that the biggest problem the Kremlin faces is not getting Putin re-elected; the problem is getting his people
to come out and vote. Putin’s popularity rating remains in the 80s and a November poll from independent pollster the Levada Center found 67% of respondents would vote for Putin vs.
4% for his closest challengers: the head of the Communist Party Gennady Zhuganov and Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky.
“Why should I train opposition candidates to run against me? We could have better lives but take a look at the platforms of opposition leaders. They need real agendas. They can’t base their campaigns only on buzz. But I am sure we will have a real opposition leader sooner or later,” Putin answered simply before moving on.
The election year will be crucial for Russia as once the elections are past Putin, who will almost certainly be re-elected for his fourth and — according to the terms of the Russian constitution — final term, the Kremlin has to make a choice about which economic model it wants to follow.
The old petro-fuelled economic model was clearly exhausted in 2011 when growth began to falter despite oil prices that remained persistently over $100. GDP growth fell close to zero in 2013, well ahead of the current showdown with the West began or sanctions were imposed.
Since then the Kremlin has been preoccupied with geopolitics and the prosperity that Russian citizens enjoyed in the boom years of the noughties was sacrificed as every spare kopek was poured into re-equipping the military from 2013 onwards.
However, with the campaign in Syria officially over and the one in Ukraine never having officially started, in the New Year the Kremlin has to
turn back to the question of restoring the lost prosperity — or face social unrest.