MOSCOW - An expert from the Committee of Civic Initiatives, an organization led by former Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Kudrin, expects economic protests in Russia amid the weakening ruble and a financial crisis.
“A high level of support for the incumbent authorities remains in place, but a majority supports them because of the absence of alternative. The people approve of the president’s foreign policy but are frustrated by the situation inside the country,” economist Mikhail Dmitriyev told journalists on Dec. 24.
“The creation of a foreign enemy image has helped redirect the vector of social aggression from the inside (for instance, aimed at migrants or government officials) to the outside,” he said.
“However, growing economic instability is likely to change this situation. The crisis has started to repress the foreign political threats,” Dmitriyev said citing findings by a number of sociological surveys, including the monitoring of the people’s political attitudes the Committee of Civic Initiatives conducted based on 14 focus groups in Moscow, Vladimir, and Gus-Khrustalny in the Vladimir region from December 6 to 14.
“The inclination toward economic protests is very strong, and the resumption of protests on basic economic demands is quite likely under the influence of the crisis,” he said.
The political leadership’s approval ratings could well decline amid economic problems, judging by trends observed in previous years, he said.
At the same time, most of the respondents have negative attitudes toward political protests, he said.
“People express serious concerns. This is associated mainly with the Maidan, which is perceived as a destructive phenomenon due to official propaganda. Virtually all respondents are sure that the authorities will not allow mass protests, and they see this positively,” he said.
The research also found that the people feel significant shortage of impartial and detailed information on domestic social and economic trends and are looking for alternative sources in western media and on the Internet, including the social media, Dmitriyev said. At the same time, the level of trust in official media as concerns foreign political issues remains very high, he said.
