Gloomy morning of the spring session

The Duma opened the spring session, the fourth of the eighth convocation, with a plenary session on Tuesday, January 17, without signs of joy. Dissatisfaction with the situation in the country resulted in mutual dissatisfaction in the chamber. As if those who said about the wrong policy are to blame, and not its authors.

As always, the main critic of the party in power was the chairman of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov, and bumps fell on him.

“Yes, we have overcome great difficulties, but this year will be much more difficult, due to the fact that the old has been destroyed, the new has not been created, and the party in power has not determined the path the country should move forward, has not determined the image of the future. It seemed to me that the president then told journalists at Valdai 15 months ago that we had reached a dead end, capitalism does not work, measures would be taken and, above all, they would be reflected in the budget. Unfortunately and unfortunately, this did not happen,” Zyuganov said in a statement from the Communist Party faction.

Among other things, Zyuganov said about the deplorable state of sovereignty: “As for internal sovereignty, pay attention (I don’t want to spoil anyone’s mood today, but we will have to decide this), internal sovereignty consists of the corresponding components.

Economy. 60 percent of large property belongs to foreigners.

Machine tool building. 5 percent of machine tools of own production. In America, 80 percent of machine tools are numerically controlled, in Japan – 90, and in our country, at best, every fourth and fifth only works.

Energy. We reached the 1990 energy results only last year. If our enterprise was working with a load, we would have had a shortage of electricity long ago.

Finance. Everyone shrugged it off: they saved up 320 billion dollars and gave it to their uncle. They are now managing this money and are fighting against us. And again they are trying to hide money in a jar instead of investing in development. What kind of financial sovereignty do we have here? So far, not even close. The dollar dictates its position to us, not its own ruble.

Trade. We have been selling our resources for more than 20 trillion rubles every year for many years in a row, but the budget has never included more than eight. What is hard for us to decide? Even the oligarchs do not pay normal taxes in our country.

Technologies. Next year it will be 300 years since Peter the Great created the Academy of Sciences. Let’s work, give back to the Academy of Sciences what they have earned. We have Alferov, and Melnikov, and Kashin, and our entire team has been offering you for many years. Everything is ready, tested really.

End of quote.

After listening to the main communist, Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin urged people to learn to listen to each other

“Dear colleagues, I draw your attention, let’s learn to listen to each other. This is extremely important not only for the one who speaks, but for all those who oppose him during the election campaign and not only. You need to know the subject. And without his understanding and the ability to study by listening to the source, it is impossible or difficult,” said Chairman Volodin.

Vladimir Vasilyev, head of the United Russia faction, opposed Zyuganov: “The course has changed. But in what direction did he change? towards the interests of Russia. I saw all this: how the Communist Party of the Russian Federation lost ground, and how these young reformers came, who were led by the ears by instructors from the Chicago school from the presidential administration and special services, I saw all this, how Grozny surrendered, how brother and brother were pushed together, have you forgotten, and how Putin came and where he started – from the Kursk, from Botlikh, he stopped the collapse of the country.

“Dear colleagues, just think about what Vladimir Abdualievich said, consolidation is at the heart of all the decisions that we will make, because only based on consolidation can we overcome challenges with you,” Viacheslav Volodin emphasized.

Aleksey Nechaev, head of the New People faction, came forward with alarming information.

“In December, the government believed that the budget deficit would be 1.3 trillion rubles, but it turned out that this budget deficit was 3.3 trillion rubles, that is, we had an additional deficit of two trillion in December,” Nechaev said.

Further, deputy Nechaev frightened with a sequestration: “Of course, I am sure that in the spring the government will sequester the budget based on the results of the first quarter. But, perhaps, we can offer them to do this earlier, because in February, March we will lose both time and money, but we can not spend this extra.

There is still talk in the country about economic mobilization. I believe that the transfer of our national economy to a military footing is a very harmful idea. It will empty the store shelves. This will reduce budget revenues. This will deprive people of many jobs and freedom.”

End of quote.

After spending three sessions on Okhotny Ryad, the New People could not decide on their political orientation, whether they were for the Whites or for the Reds. I don’t know the invisible author of the New People project, but an unquestionably great connoisseur of the Russian mentality and thesaurus wished for it. “What to do? From stories about new people” is the full title of Chernyshevsky’s novel. Nechaev is the real prototype of the key character in Dostoevsky’s investigative novel “Demons”. Hence the formula “Tie them with blood.”

The “New People” project, designed to return to the political and economic agenda, goes through the “Yabloko” injected into the body of Russia, at the same time covering with an umbrella the longing for all the revolutions that have taken place and have not come true.

The traditional speech of the Chairman of the Chamber before the opening of the session was short.

“The fourth session will be rich with you. There are 1,365 bills in the legislative portfolio. Our priorities are: ensuring security, developing the economy, improving the quality of people’s lives,” Volodin immediately warned.

Volodin repeated the wording of the president’s tasks to support various components of the sovereignty of motherhood and childhood.

The chairman ended life-affirming: “The agenda, dear colleagues, as you can see, is very tense. 2023 is a special year, it will determine a lot. Good luck!”

Under the pressure of circumstances, Volodin, as a representative of Putin’s team, introduced a new attitude regarding the authorship of legislative initiatives, which in fact works in the interests of the opposition. The impersonal authorship of the Duma is changing to the preservation of the author’s name.

“You and I must realize the seriousness of the challenges, increasing the efficiency of our work in the first place. Each bill, dear colleagues, must have a name, an author who takes public responsibility to the voters for the solutions he proposes. We are talking not only about deputies, but also about ministers. (Applause.) In this regard, it is necessary to increase the effectiveness of interaction with the Government of the Russian Federation. Much has been done. We have learned to listen to each other. The new formats have justified themselves, it is right to develop them to solve the problems of our citizens,” Volodin said.

It’s commendable, but useless. The name of the originator of a deliberately toxic bill in the government or the presidential administration becomes known extremely rarely, only if it makes you very angry.

The state of the chamber reflects the situation in the country. The influx of currency did not bring happiness, there is nothing to buy with it. People’s wages are falling. Foreign employers refuse to transfer money to Russia and impose the condition of emigration in order to continue working. Russian companies refuse to pay for work, especially creative work. Transfer employees to the status of self-employed without labor guarantees and reduce payments.

Most revealing is the unpromising state of science. Let me remind you that international collaboration in science is absolutely obligatory. Russian scientists do not have the right to establish their own international journal without the participation of scientists from the United States under the pretext that science is the strongest there. Cannot use financial compensation to pay for publications. They cannot publish articles without peer review in the form adopted in the United States, that is, in fact, without censorship. Indexing became inaccessible not only for Scopus and Web of Science, but also for the RSCI.

No one removed the requirement for publications, but it can be fulfilled only by emasculating the meaning. The editorial offices of magazines frankly admit that they are under the control of the West.

At the same time, the globalizing Anglo-Saxon model of science has lost its meaning due to false concepts of a very curious research planning format under the influence of four factors: fashion, market conditions, journalistic hype and the dictate of monopoly suppliers of research equipment.

For a combination of reasons, such a science has no results, except for reports on grants.

I wrote about this many times, and today I remembered in connection with the adoption in the first reading as a result of fierce disputes of the government bill “On Amendments to Article 22 of the Federal Law “On Strategic Planning in the Russian Federation”.

The document was submitted at the end of last year. According to the author’s declaration, it clarifies the procedure for developing and approving the forecast of scientific and technological development of the Russian Federation.

According to the annotation to the bill, it is proposed to expand the powers of the Presidential Council for Science and Education, giving it the authority to approve the forecast of scientific and technological development. The procedure for developing and updating the forecast of scientific and technological development of the Russian Federation will be determined by the president.

Currently, it is determined by the government.

Exclude the provision according to which the Ministry of Education and Science provides coordination and methodological support for the development and adjustment of the forecast of scientific and technological development of the Russian Federation.

The discussion was tough. The deputies saw no point in transferring powers from the government to the president.

United Russia Alexander Mazhuga said with enthusiasm: “We need to support this bill in the second reading and, of course, we need to take into account the opinion of the political parties of the State Duma as an institution that develops key decisions for our country, and, of course, focus on those key approaches and directions in science that needs to be developed today: this is genetics and bioengineering, this is military science in general.

United Russia state is supposed to be an optimist. And I can’t connect three parallel parts – the situation in science, the essence of the bill and the meaning of the Duma discussion. Obviously, the deputies do not have access to information for the simplest reason – fellow scientists began to lie suspiciously a lot literally from scratch. Academicians who survived in unnatural selection have always lied, especially to journalists. At the beginning of the year, there was literally an epidemic, as if lying was the key to survival.

In fact, the Duma discussion about science ended with the reform of the academy. The deputies who saved the academy from complete destruction have been removed. Deputy Chairman of the Duma Ivan Melnikov then found the goal of reforming the academy in stimulating the emigration of scientists.

On the first day of the session, only five bills were adopted. There is a buildup of the beginning of the session, at the end, as always, there will be an assault.

Lev MOSKOVKIN.

Photo by Olga Davydova.