President Dmitry Medvedev said Monday that ordinary Russians would help write his next state-of-the-nation address, which he is expected to deliver early next month.
Medvedev, speaking during a meeting in his Gorki residence outside Moscow, said he wanted to depart from the practice of drafting presidential addresses behind closed doors and invite Russians to participate in the shaping of national issues.
He told officials from his administration and the Cabinet that people’s ideas about his “Go, Russia!” article, which was published Sept. 10, should be incorporated into the speech.
“Go, Russia!” offered a broad assortment of the president’s views on the problems hindering Russia’s development and on the ways of dealing with them. Medvedev wrote in the article that it was a rough outline of his state-of-the-nation address and invited readers to send him their ideas.
Medvedev said Monday that the article has drawn more than 13,000 responses from citizens, political parties and public groups.
Medvedev replaced his chief speechwriter on Oct. 7 amid reports that he wanted to distance himself from his predecessor, Vladimir Putin.
Eve Vasilevskaya, an aide to Medvedev when he was first deputy prime minister and previously worked for him in the press office of Gazprom, replaced Dzhakhan Pollyeva, who served as Putin’s main speechwriter during his presidency.
The Kremlin has not announced the date of Medvedev’s state-of-the-nation address, which will be delivered in the Kremlin to Cabinet members, federal lawmakers, heads of all courts, top prosecutors, religious leaders and heads of major public groups.
Last year, Medvedev delivered the address on Nov. 5, shocking the country’s liberals by saying he would change the Constitution to extend the presidential term to six years, from the previous four. The amendment was quickly voted into law.