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to demonstrate that the Kremlin has not lost control of the young Russians after
the opposition rallies that took place in March and June this year. Many demon-
strators were surprisingly young and they came to the streets after Alexei Navalny
accused the prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, of massive corruption on his You-
Tube channel. The state’s response was brutal and unambiguous. In St Petersburg
alone, more than 500 protesters, including school children, were detained and
over 100 were arrested.
The live question and answer session was designed to demonstrate that beyond
the “street hooligans” detained in March and June 2017, there is another type of
young Russian – one that is passionate about the advantages of the digital age, but
not politically opposed to the Kremlin. In fact the event revealed a growing gap
between the new generation and the Russian president, who turns 65 this year. For
example, Putin mentioned that he still watches films on video cassettes – a fact
which made him obviously old-fashioned for the YouTube generation.
Nevertheless the internet and social media are among the top priorities for
the presidential campaign. In September Putin visited the offices of Yandex, the
leading Russian search engine and internet company. The official occasion was the
20th anniversary of the company, but it is crucial for the Kremlin to establish co-
operation with the major players in the IT-market. Last year Yandex and Mail.Ru
services, including the social network Vkontakte, moved ahead of television chan-
nels in the share of young audiences (12 – 44 year olds). The Kremlin even ordered
a digital strategy before the election in order to engage with younger audiences on
social media and encourage them to vote. At the same time, Russian media tycoon
Aram Gabrelyanov closed his pro-Kremlin LifenewsTV channel and moved his
new projects online.
The Kremlin administration has set 70 per cent of voters as their target to en-
gage in the March elections and to ensure the same level of support for Putin. Co-
operation with the largest social networks and service providers may help reach
younger audiences and allow Putin to declare that he is the president not only of
pensioners and conservative groups usually targeted by state television. It can be
an effective instrument as younger Russians are mainly using Vkontakte where
Russian opposition is not as active as compared to Facebook and Twitter.Losing controlThe presidential election is set for March 18th 2018 – the fourth anniversary of
the annexation of Crimea. This new election cycle has already seen an increase of
politically-motivated violence. Navalny, the only man who officially opposes PutinOpinion & Analysis Putin and his monsters, Artem Filatov