Putin Tightens His Grip

By Henry Srebrnik, [Fredericton, NB] Daily Gleaner
 

At the start of the Second World War, Winston Churchill famously said that Russia is “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” But, he continued, “perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest.”

And so it remains today. We don’t really know how severely the COVID-19 pandemic has hit Russia. We do know, however, that President Vladimir Putin has won a referendum allowing him to continue governing the country until 2036. 

Russia has become the country with the third-most cases in the world, after the United States and Brazil. According to official figures as of early in July, Russia had more than 715,000 confirmed cases and over 11,000 deaths. But it may be far worse.

When the Financial Times in mid-May reported that the actual death toll, estimated using excess deaths, could be 70 per cent higher than the official tally, a Russian official suggested their press credentials should be revoked. Others immediately spoke of “Russophobia.”

Russia’s media regulator, Roskomnadzor, asked Google to block a Russian-language story based on the article from its website.

There is reason to believe some regions of Russia are hiding a much higher number. The ethnic republic of Dagestan, for instance, provided figures more than 20 times higher than Moscow’s official figures for the region. Many COVID-19 deaths were described as “community-acquired pneumonia.”

Meanwhile Russia held a nationwide referendum June 25-July 1 on some 200 amendments to its 1993 constitution. Voters approved the measures by 78.5 per cent on a turnout of almost 68 per cent of the electorate. A far northern district, Nenetsia, was the only place where a majority opposed it.

Putin appealed to what he termed Russians’ core values as he sought to rally support. “We have a common historical code, moral foundations,” he declared at a Moscow rally on June 12. These included respect for parents and family and “love for our soil.”

The passage allows Putin another 12 years in power after his current term ends in 2024, should he win two more presidential elections. The 67-year-old Putin has governed the Russian Federation since 2000, longer than any other ruler in the country since Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

Other constitutional changes further strengthen the presidency and emphasize the priority of Russian law over international norms. The Constitutional Court can block the implementation of decisions of international organizations.

Another related change makes it easier for the president to replace prime ministers without having to dissolve the cabinet. Cabinet members will also answer directly to the president.

Furthermore, the president will have the power to fire justices from both the Constitutional and Supreme Courts.

The amendments adopted also mean the Constitution will mention marriage as the union of a man and a woman, and faith in God.

This will strengthen what Putin has referred to at times as “sovereign democracy,” the centrepiece of ideological legitimacy and political stability for his regime and his personal power as “national leader.”

The concept was introduced into Russian political discourse in 2006 by Vladislav Surkov, whom many considered Putin’s chief ideologist at the time.

Surkov defined it as the state in which authorities and decisions are controlled by the Russian nation. The implication was that Russia’s previous attempts at democracy were somehow compromised in the 1990s by foreign control under President Boris Yeltsin.

This “weak” Russia was “conquered” or “occupied” by the West through its “agents,” the Russian “liberals,” “reformists,” “Westernizers” and their foreign “consultants.” Under Putin, Russia has regained its great power status.

“Sovereign democracy” conveys two messages: first, that Russia’s regime is democratic and, second, that this claim must be accepted. Any attempt at denial is regarded as unfriendly and meddling in Russia’s domestic affairs.

Putin has demonstrated that politics and the media can be manipulated to guarantee governments a permanent monopoly of power while maintaining a veneer of electoral competition and normal constitutional practice.

He has provided a justification for rejecting established democratic principles by insisting that every country has the right determine its own path. It is really a mix of authoritarianism and assertive nationalism.

What else is new? This is a longstanding feature of Russian political culture, whether under tsars, Bolsheviks, or now, Vladimir Putin.