President Dmitry Medvedev has made “modernization” the mantra of his presidency on which his legacy would hinge. But does he have the right people to implement his platform of change?
I have a one-name answer to this question — Surkov. First deputy chief of staff Vladislav Surkov is both the intellectual father of Medvedev’s modernization platform and the president’s most powerful agent of change. If you compare Medvedev’s latest statements — particularly his “Go, Russia!” article — with Surkov’s public speeches since 2005, you will find almost direct quotes.
It was Surkov who started to preach the modernization gospel to wean Russia away from its dependency on what he called “gaseous economy” in 2005. It was Surkov who first made the frank assessment that Russia’s oligarchs had prospered by living off the assets created under the Soviet industrial era, while contributing little to improve the country’s technological prowess. “Our entrepreneurial class has not put forward another Edison or Bill Gates,” he said recently.
It was Surkov who began an ambitious project of creating an innovative and entrepreneurial class in Russia by launching a sweeping education reform and organizing contests for young innovators.
It was Surkov who pushed Russia’s dormant political class to embrace the modernization agenda and start competing on ideas about the future, not grievances about the past. Innovation is Surkov’s favorite topic. He devours foreign literature on the history of innovation and meets with the world’s leading innovators. Rumor has it that his ultimate ambition is to leave government, form an innovation startup in Russia and turn it into a global enterprise.
It is thus no surprise that Surkov is the driving force behind the president’s Commission on Modernization and the one who is creating a suitable public narrative for Medvedev’s political cause.
It is another question whether he is motivated by a genuine desire to help his country or by a more pragmatic calculation of boosting his personal power. Stratfor.com, a private intelligence web site, recently speculated that Surkov had started all out war on Putin’s siloviki using modernization as a cover, all in the aim of consolidating his grip on power — and Medvedev. I do not know whether this is true, but even if it were, the president has no better agent of change.
Vladimir Frolov is president of LEFF Group, a government-relations and PR company.