Russia's first political blog - www.demokrat.ru

I thought the text of Thursday morning's EchoNet radio program was worth translating:

Politicians of a liberal and democratic bent are well-disposed toward the internet and began to master it long before their conservative, as they've come to be known, opponents. The first websites maintained by politicians and parties, as well as political discussion clubs, appeared seven years ago, and internet denizens treated the liberals similarly: in every virtual election and internet survey, parties of this stripe were victorious, before later shocking their supporters by not making it into the Duma. [ad break]

Nowadays, the appearance of a democratically oriented website on the internet is a rare occurrence, but from time to time it does happen. Demokrat.ru, a site which states as its goal the unification of the extremely divided democratic movement, appeared relatively recently. Of course, the site does absolutely nothing to further this goal, and in general the only thing democratic about it is its name, but in this case that's not so important. The site is interesting for a different reason. What we have here is, in essence, the first political blog on the Russian-language internet [Runet, or рунет in Russian].

The site is maintained by one Vladimir Shmelev, the 25-year-old leader of a not-so-mass movement called "New Rightists." Politics is the only topic here, and not in the theoretical sense, but drawing on simple and comprehensible examples from political life. Shmelev relates an event, then asks himself a question, provides several possible answers and comments on them. Any visitor to the site who takes the time to register can leave responses or comments. [...]

Taking into account the increasing reach of the internet, and its correspondingly increasing role in political life, as well as the fashionability of blogs, it doesn't seem out of the question that we might soon see on-line journals by other, better known Russian politicians.