Life has become better and bigger – Newspaper Kommersant No. 241 (7442) of 12/27/2022

The Expert Institute for Social Research (EISI) summed up the “political results of 2022” on Monday. The participants of the round table dedicated to this topic took on the difficult mission of proving that, despite the special military operation that began in February and a whole series of anti-Russian sanctions imposed after that, the outgoing year is still successful for Russia. For this, dry numbers were used: the main advantage for political scientists was the emergence of new regions in the Russian Federation along with “new Russians”, and VTsIOM sociologists added to this the data of their polls, according to which citizens paradoxically believe that 2022 was better than the previous one.

The EISI round table on December 26, dedicated to the political results of the year, was the second such event in recent days: last week, political scientists discussed a similar topic at the Civil Society Development Fund (ForGO). Aleksey Chesnakov, head of the scientific council of the Center for Current Politics, became a kind of link between the two events. He was present at the ForGO round table as a guest, and at the EISI he was announced as one of the two moderators – the second was EISI Managing Director for Interaction with the Expert Community Firdus Aliyev. This made it possible for both political scientists to both moderate the discussion and act as its full-fledged participants at the same time.

EISI experts, as well as their colleagues from ForGO earlier, mentioned some new consensus that they see in society. But, apparently, in order not to repeat themselves, they decided not to dwell on this in detail, but preferred to refer to figures that were supposed to show that the past year ended relatively well for Russia. Thus, political scientist Alexander Asafov immediately called for discussing the results in a “rational context” and noted that, despite the ongoing special military operation and the departure of many citizens from the country after the announcement of partial mobilization, the number of Russians, paradoxically, did not decrease over the year, and increased. “The special military operation, to the extent that it is ongoing, has already led to an increase in the number of citizens by 6.2 million people. Our population is now more than 152 million people, and this is still an accurate estimate, ”the expert explained. He also recalled that along with the new regions, Russia had a new nuclear power plant, and the Sea of ​​Azov became inland.

Western countries, according to Mr. Asafov, have realized that the “cancellation” of Russian culture does not work, but they should not relax, because in the future they, on the contrary, may try to “expropriate” our culture. The political scientist, in particular, saw signs of this in the mass production of the ballet The Nutcracker in the United States and the premiere of the opera Boris Godunov at the La Scala theater in Milan.

Fyodor Lukyanov, scientific director of the Foundation for Development and Support of the Valdai Discussion Club, tried to be ambiguous. For example, he noted that not all foreign countries agreed to follow US policy, but this does not mean that they automatically became allies of Russia. The expert even put forward a very bold thesis that the special operation did not go as planned and now it is necessary to convince others that Russia is stable as a country. “If we can show the world that despite all the obstacles, Russia is able not only to survive, but also to develop, this will greatly affect the perception of the country,” Mr. Lukyanov urged his colleagues.

On this high note, the floor was taken by VTsIOM General Director Valery Fedorov, who willingly undertook to demonstrate clearly that, at the very least, public opinion in Russia is really developing successfully, although sometimes unpredictably. So, according to the results of VTsIOM polls, in 2021, 58% of Russians considered inflation to be high, and in 2022, only 32% of them were such (in 2021, inflation was 8.4%, and by the end of 2022, the Ministry of Economy predicts 12-12, 4%). The share of those who consider the past year successful has also increased, and there are more such respondents than those who hold the opposite opinion. Finally, the president’s ratings, according to VTsIOM measurements, showed a steady growth over the year: in February, the policy of the head of state was approved by 66% of respondents, and by December – already 74%. “We lived the year of the pandemic harder than the year of the special military operation… The shock from the pandemic was much higher,” the sociologist concluded.

Here Firdus Aliyev promptly recalled that soon after the start of the special operation in Russia, the topic of canceling the elections was discussed, but the opponents of this approach won, which, in his opinion, can also be recorded in the results of the year. “Those who were in favor of holding elections believed that elections meant the preservation of political normality, it was important for people to have the opportunity to exercise their suffrage,” the political scientist explained. “The decision to keep the political system unchanged, to hold elections, to form new foundations for the further development of society is a very correct decision,” Mr. Chesnakov supported his colleague as moderator of the moderator.

“The mobilization of consciousness must take place for everyone, and for everyone,” said Darya Kislitsyna, director of the department of regional programs of the EISI, either to threats or to forecasts for the next year. She also presented a series of top 3 results of the year according to the EISI. President Vladimir Putin, head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov and Secretary of the United Russia General Council Andrey Turchak got into the nomination “Politician of the Year”. The main political debutants of the year were the new leader of the Liberal Democratic Party Leonid Slutsky, the governor of the Kirov region Alexander Sokolov (formerly an employee of the presidential administration) elected in September, and State Duma deputy from United Russia Ekaterina Stenyakina. Traditionally, the communists got from the EISI: two representatives of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation at once – the chairman of the Central Committee of the party Gennady Zyuganov and the head of Khakassia Valentin Konovalov – took first place in the nomination “Political Failure of the Year”. The third in their company was the deputy head of the Just Russia – For Truth faction in the State Duma, Oleg Nilov. And as the “projects of the year”, the experts of the EISI singled out a new school subject “Conversations about the important”, “The Committee of the families of the soldiers of the Fatherland” and the “DNA of Russia” project on the reform of higher humanitarian education.

Andrey Vinokurov