President Dmitry Medvedev's technological modernization campaign is at odds with the desire of most Russians for political rather than technical reform, business daily Vedomosti said on Tuesday.
A poll by research group Zirkon asked 1,600 Russians to indicate five criteria they associate with modernization, Vedomosti said.
The majority of the respondents designated the fight against corruption (47%) and the reduction of Russia's bloated civil service (42%) as the two most important criteria.
Other criteria included more active involvement with local governments (18%), a return to direct governor elections (12%), the independence of the courts (20%), the right to free assembly (10%), and the right to free access to the media (9%).
Technological criteria included the creation of new sources of energy (21%) and a shift to digital TV (12%).
Medvedev's commission on modernization, by contrast, has instead encouraged energy, nuclear and space research - something Russia has always been good at - as well as medical and technical innovation. Many hopes are pinned on the Skolkovo hi-tech hub, dubbed the Russian Silicon Valley, which is being built from scratch 20 kilometers west of Moscow.
But many fear that this is not enough. With the government control of the media as tight as ever, Russians want more transparency, not more space rockets, the paper suggested.
To most Russians, modernization is merely an abstract concept, Zirkon's Director Igor Zadorin said.
MOSCOW, July 27 (RIA Novosti)
