Center for Security Studies

Forward to the Past! The President’s Message to the Federal Assembly

Forward to the Past! The President’s Message to the Federal Assembly

Author(s): Hans-Henning Schröder
Editor(s): Stephen Aris, Matthias Neumann, Robert Orttung, Jeronim Perovic, Heiko Pleines, Hans-Henning Schröder, Aglaya Snetkov
Series: Russian Analytical Digest (RAD)
Issue: 124
Pages: 5-9
Publisher(s): Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich; Research Centre for East European Studies, University of Bremen; Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, George Washington University
Publication Year: 2013

This article analyses Putin’s first keynote speech of his new term in office. It is argued that it is significant not for the policy agenda it outlines, which is largely nothing new, but for its attempt to set in place a nationalconservative narrative that evokes Russian traditions and past glories as a frame for official policy. In so doing, Putin is trying to regain the support of the majority of the Russian populace. However this risks alienating the minority-including business elites and liberal middle-classes-and thus stoking societal divisions.

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