LONDON, July 30 (Itar-Tass) — Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev believes that the civil society in Russia has become more developed and active than four years ago.
“The civil society is becoming more and more mature. When I was elected president in 2008, the level of the civil society development was lower than today,” the head of the Russian government said in an interview with The Times.
“Our civil society today has become much more developed, diversified, multifaceted and far more active. This is a maturing democracy and civil society development,” said the prime minister.
“The elections to the Duma and presidential election, which were accompanied by an unprecedented civil activity have shown that people care about the election results,” Medvedev said. “It does not mean that I agree with everything that was said during this period and that I find sound certain accusations addressed towards the authorities,” he said. “It is good that people actively expressed their position - as long as it is done under the law,” the RF prime minister said. “The authorities must be in dialogue with them.”
The whole set of changes in the political system of Russia (the rules for registration of political parties, a new way of forming the executive authority branch in the regions and others) Medvedev also called the civil society development results. “When they say now that Russia is rolling back and that it has got off the path of democratic reforms, I think it’s pretty ridiculous, because in recent years we have not only strengthened the foundation of the political system, but also changed it,” the prime minister stressed.
“The civil society is all right,” concluded Medvedev.