In an implicit acknowledgement that public support for Vladimir Putin may be soft and in fact falling, the head of the domestic politics section of the Presidential Administration says that getting 70 percent of Russians to take part in the upcoming presidential elections and 70 percent support for Putin are no longer priorities, Paul Goble reports:
Andrey Yarin who made that declaration to a conference of the Foundation for the Development of Civil Society earlier this week. His remarks on this score were relayed by two participants in that meeting to Elena Mukhametshina, a Vedomosti journalist…….. Up until now, the journalist says, sources in the Presidential Administration “have spoken about the necessity of achieving 70 percent participation [in the elections] and 70 percent support [for Putin].” But now, Yarin is saying that the Kremlin expects to do that well.
The latest in a string of videos showing students and teachers sparring over opposition politics and the wisdom of street protests have seized national attention, RFE/RL reports, highlighting a potential generational clash brewing over Russia’s political course under Putin — and the often ham-handed efforts to foster youth fealty to the Kremlin.
