MOSCOW, January 17 (Itar-Tass) — Vladimir Putin has sent a letter to the middle class. This is what comes to mind after reading his article published by The Izvestia. It was placed as well on his electoral site in the Internet. It is really important for politicians to talk with the middle class, because this is the most exacting group. It includes the people, who achieved the most impressive personal success. The rich and the poor depend on the state. The well-being of multimillionaires and of the people, who live on the verge of poverty, equally depends on good relations with those who control access to the resources – the natural resources and the budget. The state learned to handle the rich and the poor during Putin’s rule.
It is more difficult to work with the middle class. This social section includes many people, who built their relative prosperity by their own efforts. Those people realize that no matter how hard they work, they will not be able to improve the quality of education and the public health system in the country. Neither can they build roads, make our cities comfortable and clean, and make the police polite, the judges unbiased and officials honest. Individual efforts are not enough for resolving those problems.
This is why it is the middle class that realizes most keenly the discrepancy between the existing political system and the requirements of new generations of Russians. Those people need more, than anybody else, a new modern state and new leaders, who would be accountable to the people. Putin’s article should be evaluated from the point of view of those people. It is difficult to say whether or not it hit the target. The article is rather apologetic and too general. The author of the article addresses not his intelligent compatriots, but some hypothetic, aloof critics, who should be reminded of the accomplishments of the Putin team.