Putin’s Pike

Vladimir Putin’s fishing expedition in Tyva lit up the Russian blogosphere over the weekend.  There were lots of bromance jokes about Putin and Medvedev, and debates about the size of the fish Putin caught (conclusion: much smaller than the claimed 21kg).

But there was also an interesting post by Andrei Malgin on his LJ blog with the conspiracy theory that the fishing trip did not take place at all.  And that the photos released were actually from a previous trip to Tyva in 2007.  He notes that the Kremlin never noted Putin’s visit to Tyva on the dates he was allegedly there.  Furthermore, the Kremlin press pool was not informed of the trip, nor were they present.  Finally, the cutter Shoigu and Putin are in has an MChS (Emergencies Ministry) tag on it.  This is important because Shoigu was the long-time Minister of the Emergencies Ministry until last year.

The evidence does not look good, but… here is the thing: we know Peskov lies.  It is an open secret in Moscow.  Someone once joked, “When Peskov lies, you know he is lying, and he knows that you know he is lying.”  Frankly, I don’t think he can help himself.  But there is a difference between lying in an interview about how much Putin’s pike weighed (and who really cares anyway?), and posting photos that are 6 years old and trying to pass them off as being only a week old.  Why would you lie about something like that?  What does it get you?

One commenter joked: “Maybe Putin has already died, and we don’t know it.”

Putin’s Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov denied on Sunday that the photos were from the 2007 trip.

Duma Election Update

Levada Center has come out with its latest poll numbers.  The numbers should come as no surprise.  Everyone is staying pretty steady in the polls.  I’ll break it down for you, anyway.

• United Russia (Party of Crooks, and Thieves) is up one percentage point from last month at 54%.
• Coming in second are the Communists with 18% (up one percentage point from last month).
• Third place goes to LDPR at 12% (down one percentage point).
• A Just Russia trails at 7% (up two points from last month).
• And Misha Prokhorov’s party (so much easier to remember than it’s real name, Right Cause) got 2% in the Levada poll.

Quite frankly, these numbers are all a little sad.  United Russia’s numbers are pitiful when compared to the previous election.  But I have a feeling that there are a few announcements coming that will make this election a bit more exciting.

First, Prokhorov is planning a big PR campaign starting next month.  I haven’t heard any details yet, but will be sure to share when I find out more.  This will, I think, get his name out there, and help his poll numbers.

Second, United Russia have postponed their congress until late September (this may turn into Gazprom: Part 2).  The congress is supposed to finalise United Russia’s platform (something that I’m still not sure they have), and decide who will head the party list.  Apparently, according to RIA Novosti, United Russia is hoping that Putin will head their list.

So some exciting things may be coming, but all in all, I think that this election cycle will be pretty bland, and predictable.

At least there are always the competing Putin Medvedev posters scattered around Moscow to keep us entertained.

Levada Center

has released their most recent poll for the March 2012 presidential election (in Russian).  Those being polled were asked, “If the election were held next Sunday, would you take part, and who would you vote for?”

As of now, Putin is leading in the polls with a paltry 23%.  That is only 1 percentage point ahead of “I don’t know who I will vote for”.  Medvedev is 5 percentage points behind Putin with 18%.  12% say they would not participate at all.  11% don’t know if they would vote.  Zyuganov gets 6%, and Zhirinovksy gets 5%.

Basically, apathy is killing Russia, and this election specifically.

And speaking of apathy, has anyone seen Gennady Zyuganov recently?  The man looks seriously worn out, and kind of over it, despite the rhetoric he puts forward in article I linked to.  It makes me kind of sad.  He needs to give up the mantle to someone younger, I think, but he’s kind of in the same place as VVP.  He can’t.  There is no one else (in their minds, anyway).

Go Russia!

This was the Kremlin’s translation of the phrase, “Россия, вперёд”.  Most analysts have translated the word “вперёд” as either “Forward” or “Ahead”.  The latter two make way more sense.  Plus, “Go Russia!” just brings back memories of Sergei Ivanov, who moonlighted as a cheerleader when he was Minister of Defence.

As for the actual article, there are some great quotes in here.  I could take it apart piece by piece but Aleksandr Ryklin has already done an excellent job of that over at RFE/RL.

Some hi-lights from Ryklin:

At least it would be hard for me to imagine anything more charming.

My first reaction when I read the piece was a desire to copy it and rework it a bit. For example, maybe put it on a pink background and decorate it with flowers here and there. To mark out particular paragraphs with lipstick kisses and others with smiley faces.

I can totally relate to this, because one time (on a trip at Uni), I took my prof’s newspaper, and ripped out an article on Akhmed Zakayev, and started drawing all over it.  My prof never said anything, but I think he was pretty upset by this (thank goodness he had already handed out grades!).

As soon as I read it, I was asking myself: What is this? A cry of the soul? A suicide note? A letter to Vladimir Putin? To his wife? To posterity? To historians? No, no, my friends. This letter is addressed first and foremost to idiots. But you and I are not idiots. At least, not all of us.

The one quote that Aleksandr did not address, but that I found kind of sad was this one, “…the situation would not be so critical if the socio-economic development of southern Russia were more viable.”  Well, naturally.  We all know what (to paraphrase Medvedev) “barbarians” those “bandits” in the south are.

This was a less positive version of the annual speech to the Duma, and I am not sure what the point was.  Why not just go to the Duma, and give a speech?  And what are you going to say to them in November?  You just said it all.