The Soviet Union was famous for its art of political imitation. It had an imitation parliament, the Supreme Soviet, which always voted unanimously in accordance with the Communist Party's instructions. It had imitation elections without alternative candidates and any party other than the ruling party. There was imitation justice with courts obeying party-district-committee instructions, and even imitation freedom of speech in the form of "national discussions" on issues set by the party, with the outcome already known.

Since reforms began, a whole generation has grown up with no firsthand experience of this imitation world. But the events of recent days show that there are still many people around who would like to return to the political mores of yesteryear.

Above all, this concerns attempts to bring back imitation rather than authentic freedom of speech. The NTV television channel that has just begun broadcasting has nothing in common with the independent NTV company, except its name. The magazine Itogi that is about to publish its first issue is not the old Itogi, published with the support of American weekly Newsweek. This new Itogi is being put out by a new team, while the old team under Sergei Parkhomenko has been fired en masse.

But what is really worrying for the future of freedom of speech in Russia is the government newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta's publication of an article calling for a return to censorship. The existence of censorship was considered a state secret in the Soviet Union – even the Communist Party didn't think it possible to openly admit to its use.

In the case of NTV, it's obvious that Soviet imitation justice has also been revived. This wasn't hard to do considering that the last decade of reform has all but bypassed the judicial system. The courts have hardly changed since Soviet days, and that two different judges in different cities could reverse their decisions overnight doesn't surprise anyone in Russia.

Now, work is under way on creating an imitation parliament. Four political groupings in the State Duma have set up a coordination committee, which will make for a united bloc of 234 votes. Duma procedure requires 226 votes for a simple majority. No one in the Kremlin seems bothered by the fact that this group includes not just pro-government Unity (Yedinstvo) but also former Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov's OVR (Fatherland-All Russia), which opposed Unity in the last Duma elections.

The Kremlin faces quite a different problem in the Duma. The new pocket party can ensure enough votes to get laws passed but not to make amendments to the Constitution, which would require the votes of 300 obedient deputies. This is not an idle question, because the Kremlin looks like it would definitely like to make some amendments. Getting the necessary 300 votes would require support from the Communists, but there's always the possibility of coming to an agreement with them based on their shared love of demonstrative patriotism and Soviet values as exemplified in the restored Stalinist national anthem.

Returning to the NTV case, we're now seeing a new type of imitation – the use of imitation market relations. Events surrounding the company imitated an apparently commercial dispute, although no one has bothered to explain what commercial motives drove Gazprom to acquire shares in an indebted company with no relation to its core business in the first place.

But attempts to imitate market processes will run up against substantial difficulties. It's possible to imitate economic growth at a propaganda level, but there's no way to make the public believe in imitation improvement of their living standards. Only real economic growth can create real prosperity.

But economic growth stopped at the end of last year, and so far, there are no signs of a return to the boom that began in mid-1999. Sustainable growth would require new steps toward reform, and here no imitations will help. President Vladimir Putin seems to understand this. His appearance at a recent Finance Ministry meeting – unprecedented for a president – showed just how high a priority he considers economic issues, as do the critical comments he made at the meeting.

But active tax authorities and a careful budget policy alone won't be enough to bring about economic growth. Also needed are serious cutbacks in state spending, above all defense and social spending. Imitations won't work here: Real and difficult political measures are required, which must be based on public consensus arrived at through democratic means. It's hard to see how this will be possible with all the imitation going on.

Meanwhile, an event has taken place that was barely noticed but could herald important changes in the situation in Russia. In March, the Consumer Sentiment Index (CSI), a U.S.-devised index that has been measured in Russia since 1993, underwent a significant drop.

Beginning in July 1999, the CSI had shown rapid and sustainable growth, which reflected growth in people's incomes over this period. Income growth was due in large part to payments of wage arrears and a rise in job creation. But now, the trend is reversing, with wage debts once again on the increase and employment figures dropping. Whether this signals a trend toward stagnation is something only time will tell.