Politicians from the ruling party and the executive rated President Putin’s address to parliament as an important program of national development while the opposition noted it lacked precise instructions and ways of fulfillment.
The address did not dwell too much on detail, as it is really a sort of a program document, the head of the National Strategy Institute Mikhail Remezov says. He observed the address was not a list of successes, as often happens in Russian politics but touched upon strategic objectives. “In my view, with such agenda the leadership can be assured for the near future", Remezov added. The head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Russian Lower House, Aleksey Pushkov told RT that Putin’s message on the international politics was that no nation can dominate the international arena alone. The leading Russian MP added that it should be especially applied to the United States and to the US political class. “Putin’s message on today’s world politics was very brief but very reasonable – have a look at the world, have a reasonable assessment of your own capacities and resources and come to the conclusion that if you act alone you will fail,” the politician said. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov singled out the presidential order to ease the granting of Russian citizenship to former Russian residents who seek to return to their motherland. “This is our old dream, I hope that the structures that have previously reacted to our initiatives with little enthusiasm will receive this second signal for sure,” the minister noted. In the address Putin announced the national idea of maintaining, strengthening and developing Russia as a sovereign country, said United Russia MP Irina Yarovaya who heads the Lower House’s Committee for Security and Countering Corruption. According to her, Putin once again confirmed that the current anti-corruption campaign is not made for show but is a continuous policy aimed at strengthening national security. Yarovaya noted that she was especially impressed by the president’s position that civil servants should not be allowed to have accounts in foreign banks. “It must become a signal for those who used to be in business and now work for the state that they should return their money to Russia and strengthen our economy, our national wealth. By the way, I am absolutely sure that the majority of them would do exactly this and make their choice in favor of our country,” the politician told reporters.The head of the opposition leftist party Fair Russia Sergey Mironov also assessed Putin’s address as “positive and interesting” and expressed satisfaction that he dealt with social justice and equality. At the same time, according to Mironov, the address lacked political will that could help solve the outlined issues. Mironov said his party welcomed the statements on demographic policy, on national issues, education and the economy and added that the timely solution of the problems would allow the country to avoid social clashes. The leader of the Russian communists, Gennadiy Zyuganov, also noted that he saw no feasible mechanisms to implement the “timely and reasonable” theses that Putin outlined in his address.