State of the Nation: Medvedev talks tough
06/11/2008 | Moscow News ?-44 2008
By Anna Arutunyan
In his first state of the nation address, President Dmitry Medvedev
brandished his liberal streak by suggesting sweeping changes on both
the domestic and foreign policy fronts. And he also took sharp aim at
the United States, promising to "neutralize" America’s missile shield
in Eastern Europe. He continued the tough rhetoric when he blamed
global financial woes on irresponsible economic policies that allowed
what he called a local problem to get out of control.
And yet, in what started out as a tough speech, comparable, perhaps,
with former President Vladimir Putin’s address at Munich in 2007,
Medvedev went on to outline some of the most liberal domestic reform
measures proposed in Russia for a long time. While he lashed out at the
United States, he decried big government at home and underlined the
need to foster democratic procedure. For the first time in a decade,
the president, in effect, proposed giving more powers to regional
parliaments and small parties, even as he suggested extending the
presidential term to six years.
Medvedev spoke Wednesday in the white-columned Grand Kremlin Palace
before the Federal Assembly, which includes both chambers of Russia’s
parliament. Seated in the front rows directly in front of him were
parliamentary figures, including Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the
leader of the United Russia party. Though it appeared at first that the
United States would bear the full brunt of abuse, Medvedev criticized
the role of the government and called for the need to bolster democracy
– from the top, if need be.
"We have a state apparatus that is simultaneously the largest job
creator, the largest publisher, the best producer, its own court, its
own party, and even, in the end, its own people. This is an ineffective
system," Medvedev said. "The democratic institutions that were created
from the top over the years must become rooted in all social strata. In
order to do this, we need to continually prove the viability of
democratic procedure. Secondly, we need to entrust more ordinary
citizens with a larger number of political and social functions.
"First of all, I propose taking measures to increase the level of
popular representation in the government. Over 90 percent of voters
elected parties that entered the Duma in 2007. But 5 million voters…
did not get representation on the federal level. This is not fair. And
it should be corrected."
The president then went on to list ten proposed reforms to
parliamentary election procedure.
The first measure would guarantee that parties that garner 5-7 percent
of the vote get at least 1 seat in parliament. In a second, more
radical measure, Medvedev proposed giving the power to nominate
regional governors to majority parties in regional parliaments, instead
of the president. In other words, the power to select a regional leader
would go to "public, open political structures that represent the
population of the country." Medvedev also proposed gradually decreasing
the number of signatures that parties had to obtain in order to take
part in the elections, getting rid of fees to participate in elections,
and even reducing the minimum number of members an organization must
have in order to be registered as a party. Finally, he proposed
extending the term for legislatures from four to five years, and the
presidential term from four to six years. A spokesperson for the
president later clarified that the changes would not go into effect
during Medvedev’s term.
Medvedev also took serious aim at poor media coverage of "underdog"
parties – something that Russia has been repeatedly criticized for in
the West. "Parliamentary parties should have clearly formulated
guarantees regarding coverage of their activities in the mass media.
Freedom of speech must be provided for technologically. Experience has
shown that trying to convince officials to leave the media alone is
practically useless. Instead of convincing, we should widen the sphere
of the Internet and digital television. No official will be able to
block discussions in the Internet or censor thousands of television
channels."
These were some of the most pointed statements yet regarding the state
of Russian democracy coming from the President. Putin’s administration
had drawn heated criticism from the West over its decision replace
regional governor elections with appointments. Medvedev’s proposed
measure, however, would give more power to a majority party, which, in
this case, is United Russia, currently headed by Putin. Throughout the
address, Medvedev underlined the necessity of rooting out corruption
and "legal nihilism," and protecting small business from red tape.
Against this liberal backdrop, Medvedev’s attacks on the United States
sounded all the more menacing. But much like Putin’s landmark address
in Munich, when he mentioned the "asymmetrical response" that Russia
would adopt against NATO expansion, Medvedev’s comments did not contain
any inherently new threats.
"Considering what we have been faced with in the last years (a missile
shield, Russia being surrounded by military bases, NATO expansion, and
other `presents’ for Russia), we are getting the impression that they
are simply trying to test out patience. Of course, we will not allow
ourselves to be drawn into an arms race. But we cannot fail to take
these actions into account in our defense policy."
"We earlier planned to take three missile regiments within the missile
division stationed in Kozelsk off combat duty and discontinue the
division itself by 2010. I have decided to refrain from these plans,"
Med – vedev said. "The Iskander missile system will be deployed in
Kaliningrad region to neutralize, when necessary, the missile shield.
Radioelectronic equipment located in the western region will jam
objects of the U.S. missile defense system."
While perhaps more specific than Moscow has revealed in the past, these
defense measures should not be interpreted as a direct confrontation,
analysts say.
"The logic is that we tried to negotiate, the negotiations didn’t work,
and now we are taking counter measures," Ivan Safranchuk, a former
Moscow head of the Institute of Defense Information and a foreign
policy analyst at Moscow State Insti – tute for International Affairs,
told
The Moscow News. "Medvedev, unlike Putin, is more willing to try to
implement changes in world policy. He believes there is a lot to
change."
The measures themselves, meanwhile, have been discussed for about two
years. The only thing that may appear surprising from the American
perspective, Safranchuk says, is that Moscow is actually going to carry
out the plans.
Medvedev’s firebrand speech was initially scheduled for October, but
was postponed a number of times. Officially, presidential spokespeople
said that Medvedev had been making changes to the address. But the
delay could have been connected to financial turmoil and the
uncertainty coming from the U.S. presidential elections.