MOSCOW, January 25 (Itar-Tass) —— Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is certain his liberal reforms have given the non-systemic opposition a chance to create their own parties and work for their political ideals.
“I have not only talked about liberalization. I have done that. The fruits of my liberalization will be reaped by future generations of Russian politicians – those who are called systemic opposition, and those who are called non-systemic opposition,” Medvedev said at a meeting with a student audience at the journalism department of the Moscow State University on Wednesday.
“It remains to be seen what this non-systemic opposition will achieve,” Medvedev said. “Some of these people have chances to create their own parties and advance their values and fight for the values tooth and claw.”
Medvedev remarked that many public figures probably over-estimated their strength.
“I am not only the current president, but also a person who represents a certain political force. So I am not going to inflate somebody, to say who is strong and who is not. May they prove that themselves,” he added.
“Bloggers and authors are all very remarkable people, but it is a very different sort of business,” Medvedev said about their opportunities in the political space. He recalled that he had arrived from St. Petersburg to Moscow when he was 35.
“I was very self-confident. I was very wrong. This is a very different world. A very harsh and rigid one,” he said. “Political life is different from the laws by which social networks or an author’s life develops.”
“I do not know who of them (public figures that won wide acclaim in society lately) will succeed, who will become real politicians, and who will remain what they are,” he said.
“It is beyond doubt that some of them will surely create a party,” Medvedev added. “That will be fun. And if it is fun, they everybody will enjoy it,” he added.