http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/printArticle.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=341006&version=1&template_id=39&parent_id=21
Kremlin presents a radical vision
Publish Date: Thursday,4 February, 2010, at 12:21 PM Doha Time
AFP/Moscow
A think-tank linked to President Dmitry Medvedev yesterday proposed
radical changes in Russia that would see the country with a thriving
multi-party democracy, joining Nato and considering EU membership.
The report by The Institute of Contemporary Development (INSOR) said
Russia was at a crossroads in its history where it faced a choice between
becoming a modern country or losing its status as a great power.
Entitled '21st Century Russia: the Image of the Tomorrow We Want', the
report has been keenly anticipated for disclosing the vision of the modernizing
figures seen as close to Medvedev.
INSOR was set up by Medvedev after taking power in 2008 to advise on
economic policy and is seen as a key pillar of his vow to modernize Russia's
economic and political system.
Medvedev has made modernization and innovation his mantras over the last
months. But sceptics argue his ambitions carry little weight given the real
power in the country is still wielded by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
"Russia's leaders have to make a choice on how we see our country in the future
and what we are going to work for so we do not miss a unique historic chance,"
the report said. Igor Yurgens, head of the institute, told reporters there was
"great hope" that Medvedev was the right man to implement the changes. But on
Putin he was more cautious.
"The role of Vladimir Putin will be what he sees for himself. This is a
man who has earned a worthy place in the history of Russia. His popularity
allows him to take any kind of decision. We count on his common sense," Yurgens
said. Whereas Russian politics is now dominated by the ruling party United
Russia, the report said Russia should have a multi-party system where the lower
house is elected half according to party lists and half on a regional basis.
Regional governors should be elected by direct suffrage, as was the case
under the presidency of Boris Yeltsin before Putin changed the law to
presidential appointment followed by approval by the regional parliament. On
foreign policy, Russia should become a member of a reformed Nato organisation,
while the "prospects for full membership of the European Union should be
considered."
The Russian military - still heavily reliant on conscripts - should
become an entirely voluntary force. Helped by high oil prices, Russia enjoyed
political and economic stability under Putin's 2000-2008 presidency
unprecedented in its post-Soviet history.
But the economic crisis hit Russia hard, exposing its failure to
diversify its hydrocarbon-dependent economy and raising concern amongst the
authorities of an upsurge of social unrest. At the weekend thousands of people
demonstrated in Russia's western exclave of Kaliningrad, in the biggest protest
since the economic crisis began, with some of the protesters calling for Putin
to step down.
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