Vedomosti
Putin has no election strategy
Vladimir Putin has taken United Russia’s November document as the basis for his presidential election platform, omitting only the party’s name. He is expected to launch new initiatives next week.
The site www.putin2012.ru, which went live on Thursday, is Putin’s official website as a presidential candidate, his press secretary Dmitry Peskov said. The site features a Program 2012-2018, which is not the final version of his platform, Peskov said. Its sections, currently very modest, will be augmented as the candidate’s policy is fleshed out. He said that Putin is doing this himself.
Asked if the prime minister will use United Russia’s ideas, Peskov said: “Nothing will be overlooked, bearing in mind that any presidential campaign has peculiarities.” The document published on Putin’s website is virtually identical (excluding the preamble and conclusions) to the program United Russia drafted for the presidential elections. It was posted on the party’s website immediately after the United Russia convention in late November and was said to be based on the Popular Program compiled for the State Duma elections. Indications have come from United Russia that Putin will publish his new initiatives in an address to the electorate early next week.
Although many paragraphs begin with “We…,” they do not mention United Russia, mentioning the Popular Front instead. Putin is a candidate for both United Russia and all rational political forces within Russia, said Alexander Khinshtein, a United Russia deputy in parliament. He said Putin could also hope to win over part of other parties’ electorate, a possibility endorsed by recent polls.
The headline is that Putin backed the Supreme Court’s idea of administrative courts. In 2000, the State Duma adopted a draft law stipulating the establishment of courts to preside over election disputes and complaints about officials’ actions and authorities’ decisions. However, it failed to come into force, along with the draft Administrative Procedure Code, which the Supreme Court submitted to the State Duma in 2006, apparently due to lack of funds.
Putin’s economic program is focused on increasing investment from 20 percent to 25 percent of GDP by 2015, and on balancing the budget – drawing on Economic Development Ministry forecasts. But it does not propose a way to combine economic growth and increased spending on social development, defense and infrastructure with the need to balance the budget and slash sovereign debt, said Vladimir Tikhomirov, chief economist with financial corporation Uralsib.
Putin’s election strategy is an inertia-based campaign designed for TV viewers who are not active on the Internet, argues political analyst Igor Bunin. But this may change if dissent grows, the analyst said, explaining the lack of new ideas in Putin’s current platform.
Moskovskiye Novosti
Gas versus cheese
Russia’s consumer protection watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, is dissatisfied with Ukrainian cheese.
Chief health inspector Gennady Onishchenko’s agency is discontent with the quality of cheese imported from Ukraine. The claims posted on the agency’s website coincide with the latest chapter in an ongoing gas dispute. This is a scenario familiar to Georgia, Moldova and Belarus.
Rospotrebnadzor reported that the quality of Ukrainian cheese deteriorated in late 2011. Specifically, the cheese allegedly contained a larger proportion of vegetable oil content including palm oil. Russian regulations allow non-dairy content in cheese provided it does not replace any milk content. Onishchenko, who believes the Ukrainian product must be referred to as “cheese product” rather than cheese, intends “to prevent this breach of the law.”
The agency named nine violators. Milk Alliance Board Chairman Sergei Vovchenko commented to Moskovskiye Novosti, “We produce only organic cheese made with organic milk. We are ready to prove it to any commission at any time, something we have done many times before.” Interestingly, the list includes several companies that never exported products to Russia.
Experts differ in their view of Ukrainian dairy products and their importance in the Russian market where imported cheese makes up roughly half of the market and comes mainly from Belarus, Ukraine and Germany, according to Euromonitor.
The National Dairy Producers Union, Soyuzmoloko, estimates Ukraine’s share of total cheese and curd imports at only 8.5 percent. The union’s chairman Andrei Danilenko believes that an embargo against Ukrainian cheese will not affect the market drastically. “Russia and Belarus will be able to release their warehoused inventories.” Euromonitor suggests otherwise referring to the country’s insufficient production capacity.
In referring to previous issues with the quality of Ukrainian cheese, Danilenko has proposed a comprehensive inspection. He points to the contradictory fall in milk production against the growth of cheese production in the country – and, additionally, to the fact that Ukraine is the world’s largest importer of palm oil.
Rospotrebnadzor’s announcement coincided with increasing tensions in gas relations between Russia and Ukraine after Naftogaz of Ukraine announced its intention to reduce gas purchases from its contractual 52 billion to 27 billion cubic meters due to high prices. Within hours, Onishchenko, referring to a Ukrainian legislative bill that would reassign food regulatory control to the country’s veterinary service, announced stricter control could be imposed over all of Ukraine’s agricultural imports.
Later, at his meeting with Dmitry Medvedev, Gazprom chief Alexei Miller expressed concerns over Ukraine’s unilateral decision to reduce gas purchases. Kiev said the Naftogaz-Gazprom deal allows for an annual volume adjustment, though Gazprom disputes this claim.
This is not the first time a Rospotrebnadzor ban has appeared to reflect Russia’s discontent with its trading partners. Nevertheless, the agency denies any link with politics. Georgian wines and Borjomi mineral water, and Moldovan wines and cognacs were all banned for “quality issues.” Suspended milk imports from Belarus in 2009 were an alleged response to Minsk’s refusal to sell 12 dairy plants to Russian investors – a deal which had secured a $2 billion loan for Minsk in 2008.
Kommersant
Orthodox Christian party may diversify Russian political landscape
Father Vsevolod Chaplin, an outspoken Orthodox Church official, suggested that an Orthodox Christian party may be organized in Russia to mediate between the state and society.
Chaplin, who oversees church and society relations for the Moscow Patriarchate, said on Thursday that the idea emerged as part of a new wave of political party activity, which has intensified following the recent protests against election fraud. Although the Orthodox public has largely welcomed the initiative, analysts warn that Russian law does not allow political parties based on religious grounds.
“The time seems right for a new wave of political party creation,” Chaplin said. “It's true that religious parties are prohibited by law, but no one can prevent people from organizing a group with an Orthodox or Christian ideology, provided they do so without mentioning this explicitly in the party name,” he said, adding that the church does not see any obstacles either. He quoted a reference document regulating relations between the church and the state which says the church welcomes any independent Orthodox Christian political groups or similar units within broader political associations because they help lay people unite together for political activities. Father Vsevolod called for a debate on the creation of Orthodox political groups and their prospects within the framework of today's leading political parties.
His statement came a few days after Patriarch Kirill, leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, gave his assessment of the latest political developments, calling for reason and dialogue between the government and society. “We need to learn sensible ways of expressing discontent. We shouldn’t let ourselves be provoked into destroying the country. We have exhausted the limits of tearing it apart. The government should listen to the people and correct its policy through dialogue,” he told Rossiya 1, the main TV channel.
Until recently, the church has emphatically distanced itself from politics and refrained from expressing opinions.
Analysts point out that the statements by Patriarch Kirill and Father Vsevolod came in response to the mass protests that followed the December 4 parliamentary vote.
The Moscow Patriarchate has supported Chaplin’s initiative. “The Church will not be organizing parties of course, but society does need stronger Christian ideas. Believers often find themselves at a loss because they do not know which party will defend their interests,” said Moscow Patriarchate spokesman, Father Vladimir Vigilyansky.
While public associations loosely affiliated with the church also supported the initiative, analysts remain skeptical. “This proposal sounds far-fetched given the current political realities,” political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin said. “There are Muslims, Jews and Buddhists in Russia as well. They, too, would want to have their own parties, which is against the law.”
“Political parties cannot be formed on the basis of members’ professional, racial, ethnic or religious identity. This requirement applies to the party charter and all of its policy documents, not only to its name,” said Roman Lunkin, who heads the Guild of Experts on Religion and Law.
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