Experts evaluate the first message of the President after the start of the conflict in Ukraine

Vladimir Putin’s message to the Federal Assembly can be assessed as a strategic view of the country’s leader on the “different” life of Russia in the medium term in the new conditions – relying only on his own strength, knowledge, business, etc., the Chairman of the Board of the Civil Development Fund told Vedomosti Society Konstantin Kostin.

According to Kostin, the message has several addressees: the citizens of the country as a whole, the Russian elites and the world community, and clear and logical messages are addressed to everyone. Western partners are told about the need for equal relations and building a new architecture of global security and cooperation, but without trust for many years. The message to the political class is to work for the country and the people – and its effectiveness will be assessed by elections, the format of “Nationalization of Elites 2.0” has been formulated for business, and the state has an important task to create conditions for this – infrastructure projects, legal guarantees, etc., the expert noted .

“But to the citizens [обращено] the most important thing is that we were, are and will be a great country, where the interests of people always come first – social guarantees, increasing incomes, improving the quality of life,” Kostin said.

This was the first message from the president since the beginning of the special operation, therefore, especially great interest and public expectations were associated with it, Viktor Poturemsky, a sociologist and director of political analysis at INSOMAR, believes. “Request from his [общества] the parties were, first of all, on the assessment of what is happening – what is happening now, the forecast of the situation, what the authorities will do in these situations and what will happen to the country. All these questions were answered during the president’s speech,” he told Vedomosti.

Despite the crisis situation in which Russia is located, the social sphere, the quality of life of citizens and security remain the absolute priority of the authorities, the expert notes. “Yes, the development of the country’s defense capability and the maintenance of the army, but not at the expense of reducing the rate of economic growth and the quality of life of citizens,” he says.

There are main presidential themes related to the criteria and goal-setting for the work of power – power as a ministry that works primarily in the interests of residents, Poturemsky believes, and this topic will certainly become a cross-cutting one for 2024, which is planned elections of the head of state. But in general, he is not inclined to transfer the topics and assessments of the beginning of 2023 to next year’s campaign. Everything that was said on February 21 concerns, first of all, the results of 2022 and the immediate tasks.

Putin’s message to the Federal Assembly passed for the first time since 2021 in Gostiny Dvor in Moscow and became one of the longest – it lasted 1 hour 45 minutes. In addition to members of both houses of parliament and heads of regions, participants in the special operation were also invited to the message this year. In his speech, the president spoke about the reasons and goals of the special operation of the Russian Federation and the geopolitical situation in the world, announcing, in particular, the suspension of Russia’s participation in the Strategic Offensive Arms Treaty (START III).

He also promised new support measures for all those who work for the victory of the Russian Federation in the conflict in Ukraine – participants and veterans of hostilities, defense industry workers, and announced the creation of a special state fund for targeted assistance to veterans of the special operation and the families of the victims. Putin instructed the government to prepare additional measures to deoffshorize the economy and urged businessmen to invest in Russia.