The head of the Russian State Nanotechnology Corporation (Rusnano), Anatoly Chubais, said that “the era of stability” in Russia is over and the country is on the eve of democratic reform.
“A change of trend is inevitable, the era of stability is over … The essence is in changed country’s social structure; the middle class appeared… And now [the middle class] won’t go away, will only increase, and the amount of its interests will only increase. The essence of its interests is very simple: democracy. Russia is on the eve of democratic reform,” Chubais said in an interview with Russian magazine Medved.
According to Chubais, the reasons for the opposition protest actions in Moscow are “so deep that their actions are not limited to a six-month period.” They create a powerful political inquiry to which the government will have to respond. “Actually, the request and response will form the trend of development for the next five to ten years,” Chubais said.
Chubais is a former head of Russia’s electricity monopoly, and a controversial reformer, who oversaw Russia’s painful transition from the Soviet planned economy to a free market.