Vladimir Putin’s election campaign manager has attacked Russian president Dmitry Medvedev for failing to support his premier’s election campaign, and dismissed criticism of a decision to prevent a liberal opposition leader from contesting the March 4th ballot.
The Kremlin’s media managers made “a tactical retreat” in the wake of the democratic opposition’s resurgence, even allowing critical voices to appear on state-controlled media.
When former State Duma deputy and opposition activist Vladimir Ryzhkov appeared on a late-night talk show, “because that was so rare, the program got a huge 25 percent ratings share in Moscow. But viewers watched while Sergei Kurginyan, a Kremlin apologist, shouted at Ryzhkov that he was guilty of “national betrayal” for meeting with [US ambassador Michael] McFaul.
But Putin is losing the battle for hearts and minds on the internet, reports suggest. Opposition blogger Alexey Navalny’s contest for the best video denouncing Putin’s party and regime is attracting some wonderful entries, according to reports:
One of the leaders of the contest is a video entitled They Have Stolen Our Country [above], which contains parts of programs aired by Russian state-run TV channels promising, among others things, the doubling of GDP and elimination of traffic jams.
The video contains deep sarcasm and paints a bleak future for Russia, all edited to a dramatic soundtrack. The presenter asks where truth, freedom and justice have gone in Russia, and the answer to these questions is Mr Putin saying: “It sank.” Mr Putin’s words “it sank”, which are said with a half-smile, refer to the Kursk submarine which drowned during a military exercise, killing all 118 crew members
