Nothing matches the interests of Russia’s ruling elite as much as narrowing the contours of the public sphere. Over the past 20 years, the authorities have consciously sought to remove as many social and political issues as possible from open and broad discussion. As a result, “public politics” has become a weak point for the elite themselves, and forcing them to go public - an effective tool of self-defence for society.
We can see this at work in the current attempts to close a maternity hospital in the Moscow suburb of Zyuzino (disclaimer: where I’m a local councillor). Here, as campaigners try to draw Russia’s elites out into public politics, the most likely path of democratisation for Russia’s political regime emerge.
Reforms love silence
In November 2018, a city court ordered Zyuzino’s Maternity Hospital No.10 in southwest Moscow to close for 90 days, after examining the results of an inspection by Russia’s Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare. Instead of solving the problems highlighted by the inspection, the hospital administration began removing equipment from the building and firing employees. It became clear that there was a secret agreement to close down the clinic, and the inspection was just a means of conducting this “raid”.
