Russian society is obviously in love with President Putin. His predecessor was called names, was almost impeached, and was publicly accused of all possible sins. Putin's stable popularity rating protects him from any suspicion. No one asks now "Who is Mr. Putin?" However, there has never been a distinct answer to this question. Meantime, Putin's presidency is approaching its midpoint, and the preparations for the new election campaign are in full swing.
Can Putin answer this question? There are two types of politicians. Some are changing life in the country and are recognized in the history as reformers. Others do not carry out reforms and are trying to settle down the chaos around them and to make it possible for people to live some stable life - they are trying to stabilize the social tension. Historical role does not always coincide with personal inclinations of the leader: circumstances force them to do something different.
On the one hand, Putin seems to be a reformer: the State Council, federal districts, the new Federation Council. On the other hand - comparing to Yeltsin's reforms which included changing of the state regime, nationwide property redistribution, dismissal of the KGB, and so on - the present reforms seem to be just a renovation of a building built according to someone else's project. So there are not great reforming upheavals under Putin.
However, it is good: for fifteen years, Russia has lived expecting more sudden reforms and changes. Putin differs from reformers of 1985, and it is no accident that his major achievement is considered to be stability in the country.
What is this stability? It is Putin's merit, but on the other hand, Putin is a result of the historically natural stability period. Yeltsin was a perfect president for the period of primary capital accumulation and privatization of all kinds of properties. By late 1990s, this period had ended and Yeltsin became outdated. They often ask why tycoons do not appear under Putin - the matter is that tycoons cannot appear; people become tycoons. And it is too late to become a tycoon now, all the space has been taken. It is not an accident that the two most notorious tycoons of Yeltsin's time have left Russia. They do not need this country any longer. After the property redistribution, there is inevitably the period when influential and respectable people get tired of being concerned about their lives, of looking at their compatriots and their country from behind the broad shoulders of their bodyguards or through darkened windows of their limousines. They want some calm and stable life and a positive image in their own and in foreign countries. That is why temporarily there will be no new tycoons, no redistributions, and revolutions. Even Putin cannot know how long the "temporarily" will last.
However, it is unfair to say that Putin is just a puppet of some behind-the-curtain rulers. Putin is a strong and integral person and he does not seem to have changed much due to his rapid career. It is natural for him to create stability not for a close circle of selected people only, but for everybody and everything he has to deal with. Now, he has to deal with the issues of the whole country - this makes the task more complicated but it does not cancel it.
Apparently, Putin's state machine reforms have been caused by his internal necessity of his to put things in order. Trying different reforms - State Council, presidential envoys, Prosecutor General's Office, and bringing regional legislations in conformity with the federal constitution - and moving the few people he can rely on from one position to another, Putin is trying to form the optimal administrative system. Moreover, he wants the system to be optimal for the state purposes rather than for private and clan interests like under his predecessor.
So now the main question is: "What has Putin done?" If he manages to return the state machine to fulfillment of its direct and first- hand duties - it has got unused to it over the past decade - it will be an extremely important achievement for the country. Moreover, it will be a real wonder.
Putin has understood it from the very beginning. In November 1999, being the prime minister, he said in his interview, "The society is definitely expecting a wonder. I cannot promise to work a wonder; I do not have the right to promise it. There are many issues in the country beside the Chechen problem, and none of them has an easy and quick solution.... It took Germany and Japan almost twenty years of hard work to work their economic wonder."
Is the Russian society able to do such hard work for at least five years? Putin cannot answer this question. Putin does not put on a mask of a fairytale ruler, who pretended to be a magician in order to be worshipped. He has taken his mask off in advance: he does not promise miracles, but advises people to work harder. He talks to his citizens without boasting, unlike many Russian minor officials. Unfortunately, many Russians still prefer miracles - like in 1985-1999 - rather than hard work. They want Putin to be the fairytale magician. Who knows, perhaps, in the end they will force the second Russian president to pretend to be great and omnipotent. (Translated by Arina Yevtikhova)
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