Putin Tries Making Nice With Angry Russian Voters

Russian president-in-waiting, Vladimir Putin, has been the source of much disdain since the Dec. 4 Parliamentary elections. His party, United Russia, was accused of fraud. No criminal charges have occurred since. United Russia also lost over 50 seats in the Parliament to rival Communist and Liberal Democrats, which, ironically, are not liberal democrats but are a pro-nationalistic anti-immigrant party. Their voters, and others, have taken to the streets to demonstrate their disdain for Putin and his party, which he leads. Putin is expected to be voted in as President once again in March. He is now Prime Minister. So to calm the rabble, Putin penned an op-ed in Izvestia, a daily newspaper, earlier this week where he wrote about corruption and what he heck Russia should do, after they elect him.

Putin, the charismatic ex-KGB agent, called politics “short of breath” and limited to matters of preserving or redistributing power and wealth.

“Traditionally, in Russia this situation was caused by weak public control over politicians as well as by an underdeveloped civil society. This is gradually changing, but still very slowly. There can be no real democracy without policies that are accepted by a majority and that also reflect the interests of this majority,” he wrote. “It is possible, for a short period of time, to captivate a large part of society by colorful slogans, by images of a wonderful future. But if people then do not see themselves in this future, they will permanently turn away from politics and society. This has already happened many times in our history.”

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