As we can see, putin didn’t fulfill most of his pre-election promises, during his stay in power. However, this doesn’t prevent him from remaining at the head of the kremlin and continuing to feed russians with hopes for a bright future. After all, the population, political, economic and religious elite of russia with stoicism continue to habitually applaud the statements of their leader in the right places. What is behind this phenomenon?
First of all, it is a declaration that putin doesn’t hold on to power and is ready to give a way to his successor. And when certain layers of the russian population are waiting for the next presidential election to change something, it turns out that this is just another manipulation of the authorities to leave everything unchanged. Putin’s phrase in March 2000 is characteristic: «All modern pre-election technologies are a rather unscrupulous business. They all have to do with looking millions of people in the eye and making promises you can’t keep».
🔸 A promise. During putin’s annual press conference on December 17, 2020, he categorically stated that he had a «negative» attitude to «the possibility of extending the presidential term and the possibility of being elected to this position three or more times: «I am against anyone who he wasn’t guided by good reasoning, he violated the Constitution of our country». He maintained this point of view in 2005: «I don’t see my task as sitting in the kremlin forever» and in 2006: «The Constitution doesn’t give me the right to run for office for the third time in a row».
🔻 Actually. In 2008, the then president d.medvedev signed the law on the amendment to the Constitution, which increased the term of office of the president from 4 to 6 years. And in January 2020, putin broke his main promise and also proposed to amend the Constitution. The State Duma supported the head of state: Deputy valentyna tereshkova even proposed another amendment – «resetting» the terms that putin had spent as president at the time of the adoption of the amendments. This would allow him to be re-elected again in 2024 and 2030, meaning he would remain in power until 2036. In July, amendments to the Constitution were adopted by an all-russian vote. Analysts studying election statistics called this vote the «fairest» in the last 20 years.
Secondly, putin’s pre-election rhetoric is specially designed by political technologists to mislead society. Here are just the main manipulative techniques from putin’s speeches.
🔸 «I didn’t promise anything».
🔻 A search in «Yandex News» allows you to see more than 60,000 messages using the phrase «putin promised», but on the website of the President of the russian federation, the words cognate to «promise» are found only 688 times. Pro-government russian mass media and social networks, when reproducing kremlin news, are focused on interpreting putin’s words regarding the country’s development as «promises». For example, in the Address to the Federal Assembly, putin mentioned the two-fold growth of the gross domestic product in this way: «We must at least double the country’s gross domestic product in a decade. Doubling GDP is a systemic and, of course, large-scale task. It will require in-depth analysis and clarification of existing approaches to economic policy». Controlled mass media interpreted and spread this saying in the information space as a promise to double the GDP. This is a very convenient scheme. After all, when opposition journalists tried to accuse putin of not fulfilling his «promise», he quite sharply pointed out the mistake – «I didn’t promise anything. I said what should be achieved, I would like to see russia, I talked about what we should strive for».
🔸 «I’ll look, think, talk».
🔻 A significant place in terms of frequency of use in putin’s speeches is occupied by abstract promises to make every effort, to do everything dependent, to carry out the work. During the years of the presidency, putin avoids promising something concrete that is verified. An analysis of the kremlin website, which records putin’s statements verbatim, shows that out of 688 mentions of promises, only about 150 are direct and unambiguous. In addition, about a third of the president’s promises do not reflect concrete actions, but purely intentions: «I will consider», «I will familiarize myself with it», «I will figure it out», «I will think about it», «I will return to the question», «I will pay attention». Thus, in 2015, journalists complained about the upcoming privatization of the company that produces the famous Vologda butter, which the public wants to avoid. «Okay, I promise you for sure that I will discuss this with my colleagues», he assured, and that was the end of it. A year later, when the issue of blocking the privatization of the Vologda oil factory was raised again, putin responded by saying: «I promise you for sure that I will do it, I will definitely talk».
Another example. «I promise you, we will definitely pass it through the parliament, through the State Duma», putin said in 2013 about the law that prohibits utility companies from operating offshore. However, three years later, the State Duma committee rejected this draft law in the first reading, although the problem has not lost its acuteness.
Here is a quote that perfectly embodies the essence of putin and his attitude to promises: «I promise to overpromise what I promised».
❗️ The history of putin’s empty promises is a reflection of the tragedy of the russian people, who, no matter what, continue to entrust their lives and the fate of the country to a pack of outright manipulators.
