Authorities try to save their ratings by holiday of Kuban and Crimea entering Russia

The State Duma has begun considering a bill on establishing a new memorable date. The celebration on April 19 of the Day of Crimea, Taman and Kuban entering Russia is intended to return the patriotic theme to the agenda and distract people from their economic problems, political scientists believe.

The new date is intended to evidence "the historical justification of the referendum on the reunification of the Crimea with Russia" held in 2014.

According to the explanatory note to the bill, the name of the new date "reflects the geopolitical events that prompted the Great Empress Catherine II to sign on April 19 (8), 1783, the Manifesto on taking the Crimean Peninsula, the Taman Island and all the Kuban side under the Russian statehood."

The additional holiday will allow "once again raising the Crimean topic" and the theme of historical greatness, so that economic problems do not come to the foreground, Alexei Makarkin, the Vice-President of the Centre of Political Technologies, believes as quoted by the "Kommersant".

However, according to Alexander Pozhalov, a political analyst, in the coming months, all the attention of the society will be focused on socio-economic issues, in particular, on the pension reform.

The establishment of a new memorable date indicates the desire to raise the falling ratings of the authorities and President Vladimir Putin, Abbas Gallyamov, a political analyst, has stated, as quoted by the "Vedomosti" newspaper.