After he cites data that support the argument that the Russian government is declining in its support among the public and the likely reasons for this, The Saker writes:
Meanwhile the general population has no effective levers of pressure to affect or correct government policy. The public political sphere has become a desert. United Russia (Edinaya Rossiya) is the only political party still de—facto existing in public politics. By now its ideological and organizational capabilities have become exhausted. Other “political parties and organizations” are just media constructs designed to defend the interests of a narrow group of their sponsors. It is hard to find a lawmaker in the State Duma or the Federation Council, who is not affiliated with the cliquish top political elite and oligarch clans.Others have noticed this split between President Putin and the Prime Minister Medvedev, but The Saker adds specific poll data and analysis to this phenomenon. It is worrying indeed. In the Russian government, the president is in command of the armed forces and likely foreign affairs while the prime minister is in charge of domestic affairs. Putin and Medvedev have been exchanging these roles during the past number of years.
In the media sphere, the government has failed to explain its current course to the population. A vast majority of the initiatives of Medvedev’s cabinet face a negative reaction from the population. A spate of scandals involving high and middle level government officials made the situation even worse.
