February 17, 2008

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - More people in Russia think their country is currently a full-fledged member of the Group of Eight (G-8), according to a poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center. 45 per cent of respondents share this opinion, up 21 points since 2005.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - More people in Russia think their country is currently a full-fledged member of the Group of Eight (G-8), according to a poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center. 45 per cent of respondents share this opinion, up 21 points since 2005.

Conversely, 15 per cent of respondents think this is not the case because Russia lags other countries in economic development, down 11 points in three years.

Vladimir Putin was elected to a second term as president in March 2004 with 71.31 per cent of all cast ballots. In April 2005, Putin ruled out seeking a new mandate, saying, "I will not change the constitution and in line with the constitution, you cannot run for president three times in a row."

Russian voters renewed the State Duma in early December 2007. United Russia (YR)—whose candidate list was headed by Putin—secured 64.1 per cent of the vote and 315 of the legislature’s 450 seats. Under the country’s recently implemented proportional representation system, only three other political organizations—the Communist Party (KPRF), the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) and A Just Russia—elected lawmakers to the lower house.

In December 2007, Putin endorsed Dmitry Medvedev as a presidential candidate, and Medvedev said it would be of the "utmost importance" to have Putin as prime minister.

The G-8 was created after the 1998 Birmingham summit. Russia had attended previous meetings of the G-7, but had been excluded from specific discussions on financial and economic matters. The group holds annual summits where the heads of government of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States discuss economic and political affairs. The European Union (EU) also attends these meetings as an observer.

On Feb. 9, Russian finance minister Alexei Kudrin was invited to take part in some of the discussions between G-7 finance ministers and central bank governors about an imminent global economic slowdown. Kudrin said afterwards that Russia will not be affected by the current financial turmoil, saying, "Russia and Asia are somewhat distanced from the problems related to a slowdown in economic growth in the United States and Europe. (Russia) hasn’t even noticed a problem. (...) With the Central Bank’s gold and foreign currency reserves and other liquidity in place, we can absolutely safely confront the possible risk of capital outflow in case the crisis grows. We are absolutely prepared for challenges."

The next presidential election in Russia is scheduled for Mar. 2.

Polling Data

In your view, is Russia a full-fledged member of the Group of Eight (G-8)?

	2008	2005
Yes	45%	24%
No, because Russia lags other countries in economic development	15%	26%
No, because Russia lags other countries in democratic development	3%	4%
No, because Russia’s political position is currently unstable	2%	6%
No, because western powers are resisting	4%	5%
No, not sure why	--	2%

Source: Yury Levada Analytical Center
Methodology: Interviews with 1,600 Russian adults, conducted from Jan. 18 to Jan. 22, 2008. No margin of error was provided.