Media Interventions

The Russian Internet economy is demonstrating a substantial rate of growth, one that is significantly outperforming the rest of the domestic economy. According to joint research by the Higher School of Economics and the Russian Association of Electronic Communications, while in 2011 the Internet economy accounted for just 1% of Russia’s GDP, it was expected to grow at a rate of about 30% in 2012. According to BCG reports, the Internet contributed to 1.9% of Russian GDP in 2010, and is expected to grow by up to 2.8% by 2016. E-commerce, which combines retail and electronic payment systems, accounts for the large majority of the Internet economy, but other segments are also growing. Advertising is the fastest growing part of the Russian Internet economy, growing at a rate of 50% annually.

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Since December 2011 there is a real convergence between the perception of President Vladimir Putin and the perception of Russia, especially, in the Western media.

That leads to several comments. The first is the feeling that there is now a new, much more concentrated power in the Kremlin, and that to some extent leads to the question about the very difficult challenge for Russia to build balanced institutions. And there is the perception that, on this particular point, Russia has not made progress. And this is the main area of concern as seen from outside.

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What are, in your opinion, his main successes during these 60 years?
- Vladimir Putin’s main success is his ability to be elected the President of Russia for two times; he is certainly a leader with a prominent standing in the Russian history. However, the question of whether the third presidency can be regarded as a success or an achievement is still open. The conditions under which the elections were held, especially the political opposition will be a political problem for him and for Russia for the next 6 years. My answer is that the first two elections were definite successes, but I wonder about the third one.

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