Dirty Laundry, Public Cleaning

This month, during a meeting of regional representatives in the Kremlin, President Medvedev said he looked forward to having the government’s economic policies criticized, while telling regional officials to be very attentive to social issues that need addressed.

AFP Photo / RIA Novosti / Kremlin Pool / Dmitry Astakhov

“It’s obvious that discussion of matters that lie in your area of responsibility… is quite acceptable and even necessary. I want to underline the urgent importance of communication with various social groups. I want you to understand that today we live in a new reality,” the president added.

The president himself has had many media appearances, many of them televised, where he speaks directly to the people about what his government is doing to offset the global economic crisis.

But the openness does not stop at the president. On Thursday, it was announced that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will deliver an anti-crisis report to the State Duma on April 2.

The Duma address is unprecedented, but is in line with Medvedev’s decision to amend the Russian Constitution to provide for such timely reports by the prime minister.

Russia is currently facing one of its most challenging economic periods at least since the collapse of the ruble in 1998. Like most other major economies, Russia is suffering from a decline in production, a rise in unemployment and a general sense of fear and frustration from a growing number of people from all social classes. This presents governments around the world with the unenviable task of putting their economies in shape before the social thermometer reaches undesirable levels.

In the meantime, Moscow continues to publicly present its anti-crisis initiatives for public consumption.

In a televised meeting on Thursday, Putin told his cabinet that Russia would run a budget deficit of 3 trillion rubles ($87 billion dollars) or 7.4 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

The prime minister ruled out the need for printing more money to cover the deficit, which he said presented no dangers to the economy. He also resisted the idea of waiting for a rise in oil prices to solve Russia’s crisis.

“There’s no point hoping for high oil revenues in the near future that would solve all of our problems in one shot,” Putin said.

Robert Bridge, RT