MOSCOW -- The Russian government has stepped up its efforts to keep social unrest in check as the financial crisis rages on across the country. Russia's economy has been among the hardest hit globally, with the unemployment rate reaching the 10 percent threshold in March, its highest rate in the last nine years. Both government officials and critics in Russia and abroad have expressed public doubts about the economy's ability to bounce back in such an adverse economic climate. The International Monetary Fund forecasts a 6 percent contraction in 2009. With the confidence of the oil-boom years a casualty of the country's sharply deteriorating financial outlook, Russians have shed their traditional reluctance to participate in the political process. The official polling agency, VTSIOM, found that 48 percent of respondents are ready to mobilize and be more politically active, with the number trending upwards.
Russian Government Keeps Eye on Social Unrest
