Putin's Year: Five Bad Prophecies for Russia that have not come true

The key political event of 2024 was the presidential election, which determined Russia's course for the coming years and demonstrated the consolidation of society and government, said member of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation Daria Kislitsyna during the round table "Political Results of 2024" of the Expert Institute for Social Research (EIS).

She recalled that 87% of Russians supported Vladimir Putin in the March 2024 elections, the turnout was more than 77%, and the indicator of confidence in the election results was more than 83%. All three indicators are historical records for modern Russia.

"The personnel project "Time of Heroes" initiated by the president became the project of the year. Serving Russia has become a key trend this year. The main value of the year was the family. The President declared 2024 the Year of the Family, a new national project dedicated to supporting families has appeared… The emotion of the year is pride. We are proud of the most diverse achievements in the field of technological and scientific sovereignty, as well as in the field of socio-political events that took place in The failure of the year is the events related to the political processes in the United States, namely, the campaign of the Democratic Party in the presidential election," Kislitsyna said.

Alexey Chesnakov, head of the Scientific Council of the Center for Political Conjuncture, called the outgoing year the year of Putin:

"There were too many expectations from the West and from internal enemies that there would be some kind of drop in the rating. This did not happen. The victory was sure, the result was really high. And this is just a consequence of the consolidation of society. It is often said that this is a consolidation around the flag, appealing to American practice. But I would say that this is still a consolidation around the figure of Vladimir Putin, as the man who united the country."

The "Time of Heroes" program — a serious and effective personnel training system, Yevgeny Pervyshov, the acting head of the Tambov Region, shared his personal experience. He himself is being trained on it and is preparing to launch an analogue of the program at the regional level — in the Tambov region.

"Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the launch of the program in March 2024. Already in the fall, the participants of the first stream, in which I am studying, began to hold positions in government bodies and companies. From my own experience, I can say that this is a very serious and effective training system. The most important thing is that even after the appointment, the program does not end for us. We continue to study, get acquainted with successful management cases in various regions of Russia and take internships," said Pervyshov.

Associate Professor of the Faculty of Philosophy of Lomonosov Moscow State University Boris Mezhuyev named five negative scenarios about the fate of Russia in 2024, which did not materialize. The first scenario is a "well—known prophecy" that in Russia will have a weakening of power, its legitimacy and ratings. The second scenario is the deterioration of interethnic relations. However, a strong, legitimate government and interethnic peace remain in Russia.

"The third scenario was related to the economy. But as we can see, nothing terrible has happened to the Russian economy. GDP growth continued, this is largely due to the policy of import substitution ... The fourth scenario is related to the military direction. But Russia has demonstrated its military potential. The position of the Russian army on the battlefield is improving and the offensive continues… And finally, the fifth scenario is the topic of international isolation. Of course, this is out of the question," Boris Mezhuyev concluded.

Russia cannot be isolated, political scientist, member of the Digoria Expert Club, co-founder of the Center for International Interaction and Cooperation Alexei Malinin continued the international track. He recalled that the main event in the international arena remains the BRICS summit in Kazan, which made a real sensation.

"This year has demonstrated that, despite the incessant attempts by a number of Western countries to ensure Russia's economic and geopolitical isolation, our country continues to maintain and strengthen its status as one of the world's power centers. As an international specialist, I often hear from my partner colleagues from different parts of the world that our Russian contribution to building a multipolar world order finds a response among a large number of countries, primarily the states of the Global South," explained Alexey Malinin.

A strong family with many children is one of the main values of our country, said Alexander Sokolov, Governor of the Kirov region. He is sure that the regions and the country have done a great job in supporting the institution of the family: many federal and regional measures have been taken.

"People in many ways live for the sake of their families, for the sake of their children, build work and plans in close connection with the development of their closest circle. I think that all regions and our country as a whole have done a lot to support large families: a lot of federal and regional measures have been taken," Sokolov said.

The main emotion of 2024 is pride, says Alexander Malkevich, a member of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, a knight of the Order of Courage.

"Pride in our country and the achievements of science and industry is confirmed by the amazing exhibition-forum "Russia", which was held at VDNH with a huge number of visitors. It was visited by 18.5 million people. Another important direction is technological sovereignty and confident movement along this path," Malkevich said.

The expert stressed that without the support of the rear, there would be no successes of the army at the front.

"It is the support of the army by society that has become one of the main success factors in the special military operation zone this year," Alexander Malkevich is sure.

At the same time, the destruction of the unipolar world and the collapse of the Western fairy tale about the model of democracy are taking place, HSE Professor Marat Bashirov emphasized. He called the main failure of the year — the failure of the US Democratic Party and the victory of Donald Trump in the presidential race.

"In fact, what we are witnessing through a series of election campaigns in Europe suggests that the population of Western and Eastern Europe, which lives in the European Union, rebelled. And not because they don't like democracy, but because they don't like the economic results of that colonial model. And we say that there are certain national, religious, cultural peculiarities that need to be taken into account. That is, there is no longer a universal Western model of democracy," Marat Bashirov summed up.