Konstantin Remchukov, an aide to the Russian minister of trade and economic development: Russia does not have the formal cause of all revolutions - elections. None of the revolutions, either in Eastern Europe, or in Georgia, started with revolutionary acts. They all came after the so-called revolutionaries disagreed with the results of an election campaign. Today, this situation is impossible in Russia. The president's popularity ratings are too high. In the former Soviet republics, people protested against candidates who had spent at least two terms in the office and the public was simply tired of them. In Russia, many people still pin their hopes for order and social justice on Mr. Putin, despite the difficult year with the Yukos saga.
Andrei Piontkovsky, the director of the Center for Strategic Studies: The influence of the events in Ukraine on Russia's political life will be significant. Most of the Russian leadership's and local political elite's irritation is down to the fact that they fear another collapse of their favorable model of controlled democracy, of inherited power. They know that this example will stir some undesirable thoughts in people's minds in Russia.
Alexei Mitrofanov, State Duma deputy (LDPR faction): The Russian authorities must learn from the current situation in Ukraine that we need free media and we should preserve democratic traditions. The authorities must be capable of self-analysis and self-rejuvenation. It must not attempt to shut its small bureaucratic circle off from the rest of the world. Otherwise, it will be swept away by a wave of public discontent, as we saw in 1991.
