Russia’s Economy in April 2013: Preliminary Data and Major Trends

The socio-political background of April 2013 was determined by the ongoing attacks on the government launched by the RF President and the law enforcement agencies; by the continuing debate around the issue of how to find the most effective way of stimulating economic growth; and by the Kremlin’s massive onslaught on civil society organizations. I n his speech at a government meeting in Elista, Vladimir Putin threatened to sack the entire cabinet. Although that outburst was reputedly ‘not for the record’, somebody leaked the relevant fragment of video footage to the central TV channels controlled by the Kremlin. The campaign launched by the law enforcement agencies against the Skolkovo Innovation Center at the same time indirectly targets the government, and so creates a negative information backdrop for its chairman, Dmitry Medvedev. Public opinion surveys indicate that corruption remains the Achilles’ heel of the current Russian administration, because it seriously undermines public confidence in Russia’s political system. According to a number of commentators, the activities of the law enforcement agencies aimed against Dmitry Medvedev’s personal project, and the evidently orchestrated issue of ‘the inefficient use of funds’ at Anatoly Chubais’ Rosnano, the questions about which were put to Putin at his recent major press-conference, must be viewed as an attempt to pin the blame for corruption on the ‘modernizer wing’ of the regime.