A petition demanding the resignation of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev by August 7 was signed by almost 240,000 people. The collection of signatures on change.org began after the head of government advised teachers dissatisfied with their salaries to go into business at the Territory of Meanings youth forum. Political scientist Stanislav Belkovsky, in an interview with RFI, explained why this petition only strengthens Medvedev's position, and his resignation would not change anything.
RFI: What do you think of this petition? More than 200 thousand subscribers - is it generally a lot or a little?
Stanislav Belkovsky: I don't know who is really behind the petition and its promotion. It can be different people: some organized, others promote. There are two considerations that I consider fundamental. First: 250 thousand is very little. We remember that after the Brexit referendum in the UK, a petition for a second referendum was signed by 7 million people within a few days. This is absolutely not the scale of the phenomenon.
In addition, federal TV channels do not report this petition. It does not exist in the national informational context. It is the destiny of Internet users. That is, those same 15% who do not support President Putin. It seems to us that this is a gigantic scandal. I am sure that if you go to the central squares of even large Russian cities and try to conduct an express opinion poll, it will show that people do not know anything about this petition.
Second consideration: not knowing who is behind it, I know who benefits from it. Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev, the head of the government, wins from it, because he knows very well that President Putin never makes decisions under external pressure. And the more calls from outside to fire Medvedev will sound, the less incentive Putin will have to follow these calls.
- So this petition strengthens Medvedev's position?
- Yes, it strengthens his position: both before and after the elections.
- Were they in danger?
— Positions are always threatened by something. Especially in a closed, completely opaque system of making personnel decisions, when their heroes themselves often learn about these decisions on TV. The day before his resignation, the head of the Federal Customs Service, Andrei Belyaninov, through his press secretary, asserted that there could never be a resignation.
It is clear that Medvedev cannot be 100% sure of the firmness of his positions. I agree that they remain firm, and Medvedev is Putin's most trusted person and still his semi-official successor. But all the same, the fall of a brick on the head is never ruled out according to the law of universal gravitation. Therefore, in this sense, the petition strengthens his position. I would not be surprised if I knew that he also has a hand in its promotion, which I do not claim.
Context
No money. Health to you!
The Times 05/30/2016 Medvedev "cheered up" the hungry Crimeans
Observer 25.05.2016 Medvedev: risks for budget execution
Bloomberg 01/18/2016 Three Reasons for Erdogan's Apology
Russian service RFI 28.06.2016 Russia will be in NATO and the EU
Delfi.lt 06.06.2016 Instagram Kadyrov and the silence of the Kremlin
Russian service RFI 02.02.2016 — And if something happens, who could replace Medvedev as prime minister now?
- I can only formulate the criteria that would be presented to this person. These criteria have been formed over the long years that Vladimir Putin has been in power in one capacity or another. First: it should be a person of not too high stature, whom Putin should not look up to in the literal sense of these words. Therefore, Kudrin and Shuvalov are not suitable. Secondly, it should be a politically dependent person, 100% dependent on the president in terms of big politics. That is, these are candidates like Mikhail Fradkov, Viktor Zubkov or today's Dmitry Medvedev. This should not be a powerful demiurge who will outshine the president in the premiership and force people to say that he is a more effective manager of the country than Vladimir Putin.
- If Fradkov or Zubkov were appointed prime minister, would it change anything at all?
- I did not say that they would be appointed, I cited them as an example. They have already gone into oblivion. Fradkov remains the head of the foreign intelligence service, he is 66 years old. And Zubkov is over 70, and he is a de facto pensioner. I meant a person similar to them or to the current Medvedev.
- But if another person takes the post of prime minister, will it change something in the political situation?
- Fundamentally not, because Putin makes all the key decisions himself. He would eliminate the post of prime minister altogether as unnecessary, it's just that Putin is a traditionalist and a conservative, and he never makes radical decisions unless there is a special emergency need. And there is no particular emergency need to abolish the post of prime minister.
How would you characterize the attitude towards Medvedev in Russian society today compared to, say, 2008, when he was president, when there was a lot of talk about "modernization"?
- In 2008, the figure of Medvedev aroused great hopes for the Europeanization of Russia, that he would remain for a second term, that the most gloomy decisions of the Putin period would be disavowed. These hopes were not justified. Today he is not perceived badly, but rather not taken seriously by the active part of Russian society. But I wouldn't discount it. The most trusted person of the president and his semi-official successor is still him. At least for now.
- Can we talk about disappointment in Medvedev?
- There is no disappointment in Medvedev, because this disappointment happened in the fall of 2011. First of all, on September 24, 2011, when he ceded the presidential post to Putin. Then there was such a surge of disappointment that everything that happened later did not fundamentally affect the attitude of the active part of Russian society towards Dmitry Anatolyevich and only consolidated the disappointment that arose then.
But Medvedev is waiting in the wings. He is well aware that he can only sit out the presidency again if he does not show excessive activity and does not form any opposition to Vladimir Putin.
- And his various statements, which cause controversy, cannot be regarded as excessive media activity?
- It can not be called excessive activity. First, Putin loves frankness. She sometimes breaks through him and himself. For example, on the “Direct Line” with the people, when he answered that if you don’t have roads, why do you need cars. It's just that he will control himself much better than Medvedev in this regard.
But any public attacks on a member of Putin's team, to a certain extent, increase his "shares" in the eyes of Putin. They are treated as badges for wounds. Therefore, the situation here is non-linear. Not that Medvedev was scolded, Putin grabbed his heart and fired him. Rather, it encourages not to fire Medvedev, since he serves as a lightning rod and takes on public negativity.
Tags: MedvedevUnder the petition to Putin for the resignation of Medvedev on the spam server change.org has already subscribed 234.516 supporters. I don't write 234.516 idiots”, because there is no reason to think that living people leave signatures there: verification of votes by the voting procedure on Change.org is not provided. There is also no reason to think that any significant number of living signatories are citizens or residents of Russia. In general, according to the very first phrase of this petition, one gets the feeling that it was written closer to Hrushevsky Street than to Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment.
The first sentence of the petition reads:
Cabinet of Ministers should be headed by a competent, educated person who cares for the country
The petition to Putin for Medvedev's resignation on the change.org spam server has already been signed by 234,516 supporters. I don’t write “234.516 idiots” because there is no reason to think that living people leave signatures there: verification of votes by the voting procedure on Change.org does not ...
"/>On the site Change.org There was a petition for the resignation of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. The last straw that broke the author's patience was Medvedev's advice to teachers about low salaries. The number of signatures on the petition is growing before our eyes. /website/
“The advertising face of Apple, sleeping at the opening of the Olympics, a person advising teachers “somehow, somewhere to earn extra money in order to survive,” should not be at the head of the Cabinet. The fish rots from the head, maybe this is where the “efficiency” of the work of the ministries comes from?!” the petition says. The petition has already been signed by over 25,000 people.
At the Territory of Meanings on the Klyazma forum, Dmitry Medvedev, when asked about the low salaries of teachers, said that a teacher is a vocation, and those who want to earn money can become businessmen.
Among teachers, the words of the prime minister were perceived as another slap in the face, said Andrei Rudoy, a member of the council of the interregional trade union "Teacher". “Everyone is already used to spitting from the authorities. It’s just another slap in the face that will be accepted,” he concluded. Rudoy stressed the meaninglessness of Medvedev's statement. If all teachers go into business, then who will teach our children? There are enough problems in the education system, he believes. In addition, out of 40 start-up businesses, only one survives, Rudoy recalled.
you stay here
The advice to educators is not the prime minister's only optimistic statement. In May 2016, during a visit to Crimea, a pensioner approached him with a complaint about small pensions. In response, she heard a phrase that spread all over the country and became an aphorism: “There is simply no money now. If we find money, we will index it. You stay here, all the best, good mood and health to you.
After that, the catchphrase "There is no money, but you hold on" appeared on the gingerbread of Buryatia. Next, the Russians were reminded of Medvedev's aphorism by an advertising banner of the mobile operator Tele2, on which it was written: “Competitors, but you stay there! All the best to you, good mood, health!” True, after that Tele2 terminated the contract with the advertising agency.
Federations are big fat cats
Got from Medvedev and representatives of the sport. After the unsuccessful 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, Dmitry Medvedev criticized the leadership of the sport. “At the forefront should be the figure of the athlete himself - not the federations, which we sometimes have big and fat like cats, let alone the leaders of the federations and not even the coaches, with all the colossal respect for them: athletes achieve success - they should be the epicenter attention,” he said at a meeting with the leadership of United Russia.
Stop screwing up business!
Medvedev, in his role as president, voiced his first flying aphorism in 2008 at a meeting on the development of small and medium-sized businesses in the city of Gagarin, Smolensk region. “It is necessary that the authorities, law enforcement agencies stop terrifying business,” he said.
However, in the same year, he retorted to the complaints of businessmen at a meeting in Magadan: “I understand that it is not easy for business to work, that our bureaucracy is still heavy, but there is no need to whine.”
What am I saying - cast in granite
This aphorism of Medvedev hit the nail on the head and characterized all his further statements. In 2009, after Dmitry Medvedev's speech at a meeting of the commission for the modernization of the economy, the head of Rostekhnologii, Sergei Chemezov, asked for a reply "to his remark".
Medvedev reacted quite sharply to his statement: “My remark is not already, but a verdict. You have replies. And what I say is cast in granite.
Unsuccessful jokes of foreign politicians
John Kerry
In November 2006, US Senator John Kerry, during a speech at California College in Pasadena, admonished students: “Do not neglect education. Study well, do your homework. If you make an effort to become smart, you will succeed. Otherwise, you will be stuck in Iraq."
United States Department of State Secretary John Kerry. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images
His speech caused outrage among Americans. They took his joke as a mockery of the American army: they say that those who serve in it are those who are no longer capable of anything.
Prime Minister of Hungary
In February 2005, after a football match between Hungary and Saudi Arabia ended in a draw, Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany said: "Our footballers fought selflessly against a team that had a lot of terrorists."
The ambassadors and consuls of the Arab countries held an emergency meeting in Budapest, after which the Saudi Arabian ambassador left Hungary. Diplomatic relations between the countries were interrupted.
Kremlin to petition
Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov, in response to the petition, recalled that no one canceled the task of raising the income of teachers to the average salary in the region's economy. “These parameters of the May Decrees have not been revised,” Peskov answered the question about the salary of teachers, Life reports.
The Kremlin has not yet read the petition for the resignation of Dmitry Medvedev from the post of prime minister, said presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Over the past 24 hours, two petitions for the resignation of the prime minister have appeared on Change.org
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (Photo: Donat Sorokin/TASS)
The Kremlin has not yet read the petition for the resignation of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, which appeared on the website Change.org. This was announced to journalists on Thursday by the press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov, answering a relevant question from journalists, RBC correspondent reports.
“No, we don’t know about it yet, I don’t think it requires any kind of reaction,” Peskov said.
On August 4, a petition appeared on Change.org demanding the resignation of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. The authors of the petition note that "the Cabinet of Ministers should be headed by a competent, educated person who cares for the country." “The fish rots from the head, maybe this is where the “efficiency” of the work of the ministries comes from?!” the petition says. At the moment, it has been signed by over 5 thousand people.
A petition also appeared on Change.org on August 3, urging Medvedev to apologize to teachers and resign. “According to his offensive logic, it turns out that if a teacher has a calling, then he can generally work for free. An excellent excuse for your own mediocre work,” writes the author of the petition and calls on the President of Russia to dismiss Medvedev. “I also think that Medvedev, with his statements about the lack of vocation, offended all the teachers in Russia, so I must apologize to them,” the petition says. This petition has been signed by about 1.5 thousand people at the time of writing.
Last Tuesday, Medvedev, during a conversation with participants in the Territory of Meanings forum, said that teachers who are dissatisfied with their salaries,. The statement came after one of the forum participants - a teacher - asked why teachers receive 10-15 thousand rubles each, and law enforcement officers - more than 50 thousand rubles.
“I get asked this a lot. And for teachers, and for teachers - this is a vocation. And if you want to earn money, there are a lot of great places where you can do it faster and better. The same business. But you didn’t go into business, as I understand it,” Medvedev told the teacher who asked the question.
Peskov also answered the question of journalists whether there are difficulties with raising the salaries of teachers, asked in the context of Medvedev's statements. “The situation in this case cannot be generalized, the situation is different from region to region. We know that in some regions, indeed, the criteria for teachers cannot yet be observed, but work is underway, ”Peskov said (quoted by TASS). He stressed that the criteria established by the May decrees, "as of today, no one has reviewed or changed." At the same time, the presidential press secretary noted that the situation in different regions can change in different directions from year to year. The President is following this topic, he assured.
The day before, Peskov commented on the publication of the Financial Times, in which, after the elections to the State Duma. This is a column by Timothy Ash, published in the August 1st edition. In it, the author, in particular, predicts the possible resignation of Medvedev from the post of prime minister. “Exercises about the upcoming resignation of the government are not new. We know that with enviable constancy, everyone is guessing on coffee grounds,” Peskov said, adding that “this is such a constant speculation that it has ceased to be perceived as information worthy of attention.”
