Статьи на ту же тему

СМИ о мероприятиях

| 06 сентября, 2012

The Russian Elite should be Russian

'Kommersant Daily' publication

By Maxim Ivanov, Irina Nagornikh

The authorities are launching a campaign to put a stop to the lure of foreign countries over its officials.

The State Duma is planning to exert more control over its representatives in an effort to ‘nationalise the Russian elite’. The business and political elite would be re-orientated towards

Russia so as not to be tempted into a dual loyalty with foreign countries. A round table meeting was held yesterday between members of United Russia, and senior representatives of the "All-Russian People's Front" (ONF) to discuss the ideological justification of such a move. Experts believe that following the Arab revolutions, the Kremlin wants to establish more control over its bureaucrats.

The State Duma is currently considering two alternative draft laws on the subject. The soft option involves increased accountability of the officials, and mandatory publication of information about their foreign accounts and assets. A more stringent option is to ban officials and deputies - as well as their spouses and children - from owning property abroad and from opening foreign bank accounts (see "Kommersant" on 10 August). And although none of the proposed rules has been introduced (their legality has not yet been reviewed by the government) according to "Kommersant", the Kremlin are leaning towards the "prohibitive" version of the bill.

The members of yesterday’s round table agreed that the upcoming innovations were ideologically justified. ‘It is important that both the political and business elite focus on developing the interests of Russia and are not tempted into dual loyalty’ - said the deputy speaker of the State Duma, the secretary of the General Council of "United Russia" Sergei Zheleznyak.

Vyacheslav Lysakov, First Deputy Chairman of the Duma Committee on Constitutional legislation, chief of staff of the ONF and a supporter of the tougher measures insists: ‘This will help

Russia be more independent and encourage impartiality in administrative decisions. How can a person who is in a position of power call on the people to obey the law of the country when he himself has one foot in a country which we call the enemy?’ He claims that this self-restraint should be part of a ‘new morality’ of ‘sovereign people’. The deputy suggested that in order to return assets to Russia,‘it makes sense to grant an amnesty to those people who have sent their assets abroad and are hiding them.’

Mikhail Remizov, President of the National Strategy Institute says: "Our society is perceived as being a class system in which the ruling class is the bureaucracy.’ And the government had a choice he says, either to destroy the class system (which would be ‘revolutionary’), or normalize it, by balancing class privileges with responsibilities.

Duma Deputy Valeri Trapeznikov, gives the following example: ‘The governor in the

Perm region, Oleg Chirkunov used to fly out to Switzerland every weekend because he had settled his family there.’ The Deputy went on to say that this annoyed the people and workers he talked to intensely and that they greeted the idea of these new restrictions with great enthusiasm.

The former head of the Department of Internal Policy of the President, and now Chairman of the Foundation for the Development of Civil Society Konstantin Kostin told Kommersant that he preferred the ‘tougher version of the law’ but with some reservations. For example, the ban on owning property abroad should not apply to those who have inherited it.

Vyacheslav Lysakov told "Kommersant" that the second reading may take into account the post Soviet atmosphere in the country and suggested that the circle of relatives affected by the new measures should be expanded. A source in the Presidential Administration (PA) told "Kommersant" that ‘this is not the time’ to make concessions for certain people and that ‘it is time for us to sign a new contract between society and our elite.’ Internal polls commissioned by the PA showed that the majority of civil servants don’t even vote at elections and so are not part of the electoral power base.

Georgy Satarov, President of the Indem Foundation told Kommersant ‘The proposals are fairly prosaic – this is an attempt by the new president to gain control over a bureaucracy which has gone totally astray - partly because of corruption.’

According to Alexei Makarkin, Vice-President of the Centre for Political Technology, this is a new turn in the Kremlin policy. ‘The authorities fear foreign influence, having seen how, during the Arab revolutions, the elite refused to support their leaders.’ In his words the political elite want to ‘close off

Russia, so it has nowhere to go - so that all its resources are under its control.’ All of this is part of the protective policy of ‘Vladimir Putin mark 2’ which envisages the introduction of ‘foreign agents’ for non-profit organizations and extending the retirement age for civil servants to 70.