75% of the respondents said that the perception of Russia abroad has worsened, It is probably only true if you look at Europe and the United States. If people from other parts of the world were filling this survey they would not say that.
Valdai Index (Russian Development Index) was launched in 2009 and presents international expert community’s assessment of Russia’s institutional development trends. One of the leading Valdai Club experts Angela Stent reflects on the key results of the Index for 2011-2012.
If we take the first part of the question which has to do with domestic trends in Russia and the efficiency of the government and trust in the government, it appears that most people believe that public trust in the party, the president and the Duma has declined. I was a little bit surprised by how large those numbers were: 80% percent of the respondents said that, but I am not surprised by the trend. It goes back to the questioning of what went on during the election campaigns both for the Duma and for the Russian presidency. It’s not surprising for people to say that the influence of the non-parliamentary opposition has grown. We have seen a protest movement and the rise of the middle class.
And I do not think that it is very surprising that 63% of the respondents said that the standards of the civil rights and freedoms, including freedom of the press, have declined since September of 2011, because we have seen that during election campaigns and what has happened since then. The mixed results of the economy are not surprising. Some sectors of the Russian economy are doing quite well, although there is a lack of momentum in what was considered the economic modernization program, but there are signs that some of these issues are being tackled. And I agree that Russia should improve its competitiveness and stimulate foreign investment.
On the negative trends in the human dimension if you are referring to personal liberty and things like that, the numbers are also not surprising, although they might be exaggerated.
The trends of innovative development were slightly negative but there is also some evidence of scientific innovation, Skolkovo project and things like that.
When you look at the evaluation of diplomatic activity, it is interesting that the numbers declined, because it seems to me that Russia has been very active diplomatically in the last year. The report says there are disagreements at least between the Western countries and Russia on issues like Syria, although obviously not between Russia and China and some of the others – like India – where they agree with Russia. So, there has been a rise in Russian diplomatic activity. I would say there has been greater self-confidence in Russian diplomatic activity, maybe it is not reflected in this survey. When it says that 75% of the respondents said that the perception of Russia abroad has worsened, I think, that is probably only true if you look at Europe and the United States. I would suspect that, if people from other parts of the world were filling this survey they would not say that. I think that figure is very high, if you think this is a global group of Valdai experts.
Russian openness to the world – are slightly surprising, because it seems to me Russians travel more than people travel to Russia. I do not think there is a decline in Russian openness to the world. And I would agree with the conclusions that Russia is viewed as a strong and active global power, that its domestic situation is mixed, with the growth of a protest movement, and the strengthening of some laws against criticism. On the other hand, the internet is still free, maybe these things do not come out in this index. And that the Russian president has greatly strengthened his stance, I think, that is probably true.
