Putin’s Annual Address to the Federal Assembly

With Chris Miller, Assistant Professor of International History at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University

Vladimir Putin’s “state of the union” speeches often stand apart from other political rhetoric, and Wednesday’s speech in Moscow was no different.

For nearly an hour, Putin focused on soft issues like inadequate child care and affordable housing, and he called on the state to help those being “crushed” by poverty.

Sarah Wilson Sokhey is an assistant professor at the University of Colorado, where she researches Russian politics and economic policy.

“It’s a way to show sympathy with the Russian public and the challenges that they face, especially access to medicine and quality healthcare in rural areas.”

Why spend so much time on pocket-book issues?

Chris Miller is an assistant professor of international history at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and says Putin’s promises of government help are hardly new.

“There’s a long-running tradition in people thinking, ‘if only the Tsar knew how bad things were, he would go out of his way to fix it — to pressure the local bureaucrats or the local officials to change their ways.’”

What’s changed is that Putin has now governed for 19 years and is looking for a new selling point.

One survey published last month placed his popularity at 63 percent, down from 89 percent in 2015.

“For the first time in five years — since the annexation of Crimea and the war in Ukraine — Putin faces a popularity rating that’s declined fairly sharply. Suddenly the Kremlin has to find a new way of mobilizing political support. They were able to rely on Crimea for a long time, but that’s clearly worn off and I think they’re out of new ideas for right now as to what they can turn to next.”

That could explain why Putin followed his gloomy welfare speech with a pep-talk about the inventors of a new Russian hypersonic missile, who he said deserved the same admiration as the engineers behind the Sputnik satellite. When economic policy fails, sometimes people just need heroes to believe in.

This piece was republished from Talk Media News.