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Does the average Russian citizen fear the current government? |
Travel Info Mne interecno znat', v Rossii, opasno critikovat' Putina? Po moemu, opasno dlya korrespondentov no eto prav tozhe dlya objchnix lyudei? Okay, I know my Russian sucks, I never get a chance to practice so, I will also ask in English. I would like to know, in Russia, is it dangerous to critisize Putin? In my opinion, it is dangerous for journalists but is it also true for regular people? Spacibo! Thanks! Travel Tips Your Russian is quite good! It is not dangerous to criticize Putin. I do it myself sometimes even when talking to unfamiliar people (in my opinion Putin is an average leader, he has his merits and demerits). The problem is not in criticizing Putin or government. We in Russia have a saying "Byl by chelovek a statya naydetsya". Which means: anyone have violated at least one law, and it gives the state possibility to convict whomever they want. It is the Russian system, to set up such laws, that it would be impossible to obey them all. Thus Russian officials provide themselves with instruments to extort bribes from people. Also, the state tryes to keep people uninfomed about where their funds come from. An average Russian citizen doesn't pay taxes, his employer does it instead. So, most of Russians don't realize, that they pay government, officials for doing their job. Let me give you one example. In Russia anyone who possesses a car is considered to be a wealthy enough person to extort money from. In order to do it, road police sets up such road signs, that it's impossible to obey them. E.g. (it is a very common situation) on a good out-of-town route they place a sign which prohibits driving faster than 50 km/h. It is safe to drive there 100 km/h, well may be 90 km/h, and they place such a sign. Therefore there is a cooperation among drivers in Russia, we always warn each other with flashing the headlights about road police posts. But actually, the road police isn't the greatest problem, their fines are not such high. The worst is still to come when one starts doing a business. Therefore, in general, people in Russia don't trust officials, and try to help each other, but without messing with the State machinery. May be things are gradually getting better, but too slowly. For example I have won a case against the road police, when they wanted to fine me for exceeding speed limits, and I've lost two similar cases. It seems to me now that it is possible to win only if you have a witness on your side. But anyway, now our local road police stops me only by nights, when they don't see my car's number. They are accustomed to obeying shivering frightened drivers, so they prefer not to mess with somebody independent. So, I'd say that an average Russian citizen doesn't fear the current government, but fears the State machinery, though may be most of citizens don't even realize it. Others the truth is when you are a journalist that wants to bring up dirty politics & secrets, you are basically choosing to put yourself at risk. you are bound to piss someone off, and it doesn't matter what country it is in. i don't think the government really cares what the average citizen thinks of putin. you are free to criticize him all you want. however, this isnt an issue because russians aren't really concerned with government, and are happy to see putin finally bringing russia out of yeltsin's economic depression. they dont have a problem with him... I like Putin i think hes very strong and good leader. Russia is country does not care much about freedom speech or politics. They care more about having a strong government and leadership who handle vast country with many cultures and religions.( like between cossacks and the Muslims in the south) Nah, not really. You could go out in the street, yell "Putin is an idiot" and nobody will care (except his uneducated rabid fans, of course. Now they could be a problem...) And the situation with journalists is not that bad either. There are still newspapers that openly criticize Putin. In general, Russian people don't care about politics that much. |
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