“Kick this whore out the studio!” yells a bespectacled politician with a loose-fitting tie. He is Vladimir Zhirinovsky and this is a televised debate between Russia’s presidential candidates. Zhirinovsky, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (which is neither), is attacking his fellow candidate Ksenia Sobchak. A journalist working for the country’s sole remaining independent TV channel, she picks up a glass of water and splashes it over Zhirinovsky.
The only person missing from this joyless spectacle is Vladimir Putin. He is faithful to the principle initiated by Boris Yeltsin when Russia held its first presidential election in 1991: the top contender never takes part in TV debates. The one who wields real authority has no part in the circus.
So far, this cynical ploy is working well. Mr Putin is destined to begin his fourth presidential term with an inauguration ceremony in May. In February he crossed an important threshold, surpassing Leonid Brezhnev’s 18 years and a month as the master of Russia. That only leaves Joseph Stalin (who ruled for 29 years) to compete with.
The ballot this Sunday is not really an election. Rather, it marks Mr Putin’s self-reappointment as president. Yet the process itself is not devoid of political meaning. Although no one admits it, the Kremlin hand-picked the seven presidential candidates. That none of them ever raised the issue of Mr Putin’s non-participation in the debates is a defining characteristic of this charade. All seven are taking part in this show to give Putin what he badly needs: a semblance of legitimacy for what will probably be his last presidential term.
Each of them is supposed to cater to a specific segment of the population. Boris Titov, Putin’s own business ombudsman, is there to represent commerce. The communist Pavel Grudinin gathers the traditional left-wing and Stalinist vote, especially strong in provincial Russia.
Zhirinovsky is there for the uneducated imperialists, while Sergei Baburin, former vice-speaker of the Duma, represents educated Russian nationalists. The liberal and mild Grigory Yavlinsky stands for the weak, disoriented, middle-aged city intelligentsia – an endangered species in Putin’s Russia.
Apart from Grudinin and Zhirinovsky, none of the candidates has the slightest chance of getting more than 2-3 per cent of the vote. Kremlin-controlled electoral commissions can always throw a few thousand ballots into the boxes to steer the result in the “right” direction.
The brightest star of this game is the 36-year-old Ksenia Sobchak, who is my colleague at TV Dozhd (TV Rain). She is the daughter of the late Anatoly Sobchak, the first democratically elected mayor of St Petersburg, Putin’s boss and initial mentor in politics. Putin is her godfather, the rumour goes, but in his opaque world such information is off limits to the public. Mrs Sobchak is a former reality TV star and somewhat of a pro-democracy crusader “de luxe”. She is in the race to counter the influence of Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most famous opposition figure who was barred from participation because of a suspended jail sentence for larceny. His supporters and most observers believe the charges to be trumped up and the court hearings skewered by pressure from the Kremlin. Mr Navalny called on his (mostly young) supporters to boycott the elections, while Mr Putin instructed his administration to ensure a 70 per cent turnout with 70 per cent voting for “the main candidate”, as he is sometimes euphemistically referred to.
The “Navalny generation” – those who were born 20 to 25 years ago – are Mr Putin’s biggest headache. They do not buy into his “stability and patriotism” narrative. For those who have lived all their lives under his rule, it is rather “stagnation and hypocrisy”, with rampant corruption, ideological brainwashing in schools and on TV, and a struggle to find work, unless one lives in Moscow, St Petersburg or oil-rich western Siberia.
The Russian Orthodox Church, meanwhile, is encouraging Christians to vote. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, an ally of Mr Putin, has said that Orthodox believers should “definitely participate in the upcoming presidential elections”.
…….
Being close to the president, Mrs Sobchak can say things that are out of bounds for others. She criticises the annexation of Crimea – to do so is officially a criminal offence in Russia. She espouses gay rights and pours scorn on Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-sponsored strongman of Chechnya and one of the most feared people in Russia. She talks of liberalisation, transparency and democracy.
There is just one element missing, as in the TV debates – Mr Putin himself. Mrs Sobchak says she wants to concentrate on issues rather than personalities. She also claims she is for evolution of the system, rather than revolution, Navalny-style. And this is exactly why the smart, Dior-wearing, English-speaking TV star is in the race: to blunt the discontent and to generate false hopes that Putin’s regime can evolve and liberalise.
Such services will not be forgotten by Mr Putin, who appreciates loyalty above everything else. Ksenia Sobchak is going places, even if this month’s “election” is a foregone conclusion.
Konstantin von Eggert is a commentator and host for TV Dozhd, Russia’s independent television channel. He was the BBC’s Russian Service Moscow bureau editor from 2002 to 2009
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