Judging by the opinion polls, Vladimir Putin is right not to bother campaigning actively for the March 18 presidential election: Russia’s largest pollsters predict he will win with up to 70 percent of the vote. But this week, the Russian president will at least tell the country what he intends to do with his next term.
On March 1, Mr Putin will use his State of the Nation address — delayed for more than two months to fit the electoral calendar — to lay out his policy agenda for the coming six years. That is a tricky topic: despite the president’s high support ratings, ordinary Russians are anything but satisfied with their lives and pro-market economists are urging drastic reforms. There is no doubt Mr Putin will focus on the economy and will promise change. His spokesman announced last week that he would address the two houses of parliament, the government and other dignitaries not in the Grand Kremlin Palace’s sumptuous St George Hall as usual, but at the Manege, a former military riding school now used as an exhibition space. The reason is that Mr Putin plans to use infographics projected on to screens. Here the FT looks at data the Russian president might use and the challenges he will face in coming up with the reforms his country needs.
