Medvedev Flirting with Democracy: What Stands Behind

Yevgeny Volk / April 20, 2009

The past week saw an unprecedented number of President Dmitry Medvedev’s public acts towards civil society institutions. He was interviewed by the opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta, met with representatives of civil rights NGOs and had a protracted televised talk on NTV channel deemed the most liberal of the government-run television channels.

The President said the right things – that Russia’s democracy was similar to everybody else’s and did not need to be adapted, that political rights and freedoms cannot be traded for stability and prosperity and NGOs are an inalienable civil society institution. Medvedev also supported softening NGO legislation.

Many experts interpreted Medvedev’s pronouncements as covert polemics with his predecessor Vladimir Putin who repeatedly said democracy needed to be adapted to Russian environment and did his utmost to solidify government control over NGOs. (more…)