The number of Russians who are unhappy with the results of Perestroika launched by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in April 1985 has almost halved over the last 10 years, from 75pc to 42pc, according to a poll carried out in January by VTsIOM (the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Centre) among residents of 140 locations in Russia.
Twenty-four pc of highly educated and affluent Russians consider that they gained from the reforms (as opposed to 11pc in 1999). The poorly educated and those with low incomes view the results of Perestroika negatively (60pc).
Currently Russians do not share a single view on whether Perestroika was necessary. Hence in the view of 41pc of respondents, everything should have been left as it was before 1985: 38pc do not agree.
Those who are not sure has risen 20pc (from 7-10pc in previous years).
It is mainly supporters of the CPRF (Communist Party of the Russian Federation) (73pc) and elderly respondents (57pc) who believe everything should have been left as it was before Perestroika.
As a rule, supporters of A Just Russia (48pc) and 25-44 year old Russians (45-46pc) oppose them.
Most Russians still think that the main result of Perestroika was “a rise in uncertainty about the future” (46pc against 59pc in 1999).In second and third place are “a rise in chaos and confusion in the governing of the country” (35pc as opposed to 66pc) and “a crisis in ethnic relations” (30pc as opposed to 38pc).
The sociologists noted that over the last 10 years there has been a significant rise in the number of Russians who are pointing out the positive results of Perestroika. The number of those who think it was “the start of the economic strengthening of the country” has risen from 7pc to 21pc.
A further 18pc (as opposed to 2pc in 1999) see “the strengthening of the country's international positions” among the results of the reforms of that time.
On March 5 Mikhail Gorbachev presented his report “Breakthrough towards freedom and democracy”, which was dedicated to the 25th anniversary of Perestroika.In the former president's opinion, the multi-party system in Russia only exists on paper, while “in practice many of the flaws of a one-party system are being reproduced”.
“The current Russian reality convinces me that the breakthrough towards freedom and democracy which was started by Perestroika remains relevant. Moreover, new impulses and actions by the authorities and society as a whole aimed at democratisation are needed. Otherwise the ambitious plans for the country's modernisation cannot be realised,” Gorbachev noted.