Up till now, Putin has had two favorite audiences: pensioners and war veterans, and scientific and cultural figures. The former are the biggest part of the electorate. The latter are the most influential. It should not be forgotten, though, that in 2008 people who are now aged 16 will be first-time voters. This year as many as 1.4 million people left high school.
Stanislav Belkovsky, the director of the National Strategy Institute, told the paper that the president's more proactive moves on the "youth front" were being taken because the large numbers of young people that took part in the recent revolutions in former Soviet republics had frightened the Kremlin. "Besides, the Kremlin has so far failed to uncover the secret of the National Bolshevik Party," he said. He explained that the party managed to attract young people with purely ideological reasons, because it did not have any money. In his opinion, the Kremlin is just trying to take successful slogans from other projects and make them their own.
But nothing will come of this, as the authorities do not understand young people, Belkovsky said. "They believe that their motives are mercantile, so all these Nashi movements (a youth organization loyal to the Kremlin) are organized for money," he said. "None of them will take to the streets without money. But if one does, it will not be on the Kremlin's side at the decisive moment."
Dmitry Rogozin, the leader of the Homeland left-wing patriotic party, said that the Kremlin administration was already getting ready to prevent the opposition's attempt to contest the results of the future elections. "The use of water cannons and tanks will not be accepted by the international democratic community," he said. "But it will look quite convincing if young people go out onto the streets."
