Care for people in Russia has unexpectedly reached an exceedingly high level. Public in fear of another trick has even got nervous: What made the authorities forget about their own needs, and all of a sudden become preoccupied with the emotional state of people and welfare?

Firstly, those were new sign plates which put the people to confusion. Last week, instead of bumping into usual and clear “No Exit” in most Moscow metro stations and federal buildings one could see intriguing “No Passageway”. Looks like psychoanalysts, who consult our high officials from time to time (as the latter obviously never used the metro themselves), have pinpointed the blatant danger of the words hung up virtually everywhere. To their opinion, many people perceive this statement literally; in other words, the sign plates allegedly make them think that Russia has run into a dead-end. And on running into a dead-end, as we all know, one tends to berate the steersman.

I am not saying that the sign plate change has led to a surge of the public optimism. I actually think that our people don’t quite trust the printed press, except for the tragic currency rates reports. If there is anybody who has actually been reassured by the new signs, those are the authorities themselves. They feel a kind of relief having realized that an exit, or a way “out” theoretically exists somewhere, and it’s just a passageway or a way “through” which is blocked in this particular direction. With all my disrespect for Karl Marx I can’t help praising his perspicacity. The well-known philosopher said, “Ideological labels affect those, who invent them”.

For some reason it seems to me that in the Kremlin there is also some guy who puts up “No Exit” plates all over the architectural masterpiece. Those signs are intended to make Putin believe that there is “No Exit” for him out of the Kremlin. He is being persuaded that without him chaos will take over the country. That is why he has to mercilessly suppress all his personal desires and to stay in the Kremlin.

As Alexander Pushkin put it “To tell me lies is so simpleas I do love to be deceived”… Vladimir Vladimirovich also seems to be a volunteer victim of such a deception. For example, after he had met with Beslan mothers, it turned out that he didn’t know so far that the terrorists had made half of their way from Ingushetia along the federal highway, that the school held a lot more than 354 hostages… The use of the flame-throwers by the federal troops also appeared to be news for him…

And last week one could observe how President Putin had been completely plunged into deception. In the Kremlin Alexandrovsky Hall he promulgated his Action Program for the next three years, or in other words, until the end of his second term. Yet, the thing is that this Action Program looks more like Election Program.

Putin’s words have woken up gossips about the up-coming elections and his third term. A lot of events have thus lined up into a logical chain: the flight on the strategic bomber (with a successful launch of the cruise missile), the trek on the aircraft carrier (with perfect shots of the President dressed in a naval officer’s uniform), and maneuvering with China (America, don’t you fool around!). With all that in mind, the officials’ concern about the Russian society’s emotional state and welfarebecomes explicable (that is the total replacement of “No Exit” signs).

“But how should we interpret Putin’s statement about his future plans?” one might controvert. During his meeting with the Western kremlinologists, right before his “election” speech, Putin said, “I will not run for presidency any more. By the way, about those who wish to stay in the Kremlin… They have this right, let them fight for power. If they want to stay, then let them compete. If they win, they win; if they lose, they lose. This is how democracy works.”

The “court” political analysts insist that one should not regard the current events as a start-up of the election campaign. According to them, it is ridiculous to initiate it two years before the actual election. However, there is a serious counter-evidence to their argument: why should we be so sure that the elections will take place in 2008? For instance, in his interview to Ren-TV the former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov stated, “Taking into account all the actions and the initiatives of the authorities, in the social sector in particular, we have every reason to believe that the entire political schedule may be shifted”. He thinks that the authorities will do their best to hold elections no later than the next year.

Akram Murtazaev is a laureate of The Russian Journalist Award “Zolotoye Pero” ("The Golden Pen").

The article is written specially for "Eurasian Home".

September 16, 2005