The key topic of Global Policy Forum in Yaroslavl under the auspices of Dmitry Medvedev will be the national factor. Dmitry Rogozin, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the NATO will make a report; this could be a sign of his comeback to domestic politics.
Tomorrow Global Policy Forum will open in Yaroslavl and Mr. Medvedev will make a speech there on Thursday. Traditionally heads of at least two European states are invited to take part in the Forum. This year participation of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the President of Turkey Abdullah Gul was expected. Mr. Gul is coming and Ms. Merkel could not make it, says one of the organizers – during the Forum she will have to participate in the debates on party leadership in Germany. But other influential guests from abroad are expected (see insert).
The Forum participants wonder how to phrase the question about Mr. Medvedev’s plans for 2012 says the Chairman of the Management Board of the Institute of Contemporary Development and a member of the Forum Executive Directorate Igor Yurgens, but the president will not use an international venue for such announcements. The topics of the Forum will be national issue and social inequality says another member of the Executive Directorate Vladislav Inozemtsev.
The program of the Forum includes three sections ‘Democratic institutions in multiethnic societies’, ‘The rich and the poor: where is justice?’ and ‘Global security and local conflicts’. Moderator of the section on poverty Valery Fadeev thinks that the President will focus on the property gap in the society, Mr. Inozemtsev awaits discussions on migration, national diversity and tolerance, and Mr. Yurgens, moderator of the section on security, thinks that the President will speak about the Collective Security Treaty Organization positioning, the necessity of its reform and closer ties with NATO. A speech by former Secretary General of NATO George Robertson is expected, and on the part of Russia the speeches will be made by the Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization Nikolay Bordyuzha and former foreign minister Igor Ivanov.
One of the reports in this section will be made by Dmitry Rogozin, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the NATO. This is a kind of political surprise Mr. Yurgens says, as Mr. Rogozin is invited to speak as a specialist in international relations but it could turn out to be the politician’s presentation on the domestic arena. The United Russia party did not exclude the possibility to include Mr. Rogozin in its electoral list. At the end of August Ministry of Justice registered the organization ‘Rodina – Congress of Russian communities’ headed by Mr. Rogozin, the party convention which is expected at the end of September could be a place where cooperation with the National Front will be officially declared.
Mr. Rogozin told ‘Vedomosti’ that he would be opening the section and that he had received the invitation from the President Administration. ‘I was asked to make a speech, compare national and cultural environment in Europe where I am living now and in Russia, Mr. Rogozin says. The topic is very complex but interesting as these issues serve as a base for all the current conflicts and civil wars’.
Political scientist Dmitry Orlov says in his report on the outcome of the election for the State Duma that nationalism could be the central issue of the campaign. Different parties seek union with national radicals but the National Front could play the nationalistic card most efficiently with Mr. Rogozin supporting it, the pundit thinks.


Author: ‘Vedomosti’, Yulia Taratuta
06.09.2011
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