INSTANT VIEW: Russian President Medvedev's address to nation

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev made his annual state of the nation speech on Thursday.

Below are a selection of comments about the speech:

SERGEI MARKOV, UNITED RUSSIA PARLIAMENTARIAN AND ANALYST

"Parts of the opposition have recently tried to blackmail Medvedev. They said: 'If you're a democrat, you must give us preferential treatment.' Medvedev rebuffed that blackmail."

"Medvedev said we will take the route of more political pluralism, increase political competition, but maintain stability. Stability is key."

"In recent times a distinction has grown between democracy and democratization ... Democratization is used as a way to meddle in the internal affairs of a country. This is what he came out against."

CHRISTOPHER GRANVILLE, TRUSTED SOURCES RESEARCH

"I don't think breakthrough speeches are Medvedev's style. I think his whole political platform is based on serious and determined modernization policies, but getting away from the idea of endless great leaps forward. It's a very conscious rejection of that strand in Russian history, which has led the country from one disaster to another.

"He said we must not continue with infrastructure investments until we have elementary order, so that roads aren't built for several times the cost of Western countries. That was very striking because infrastructure investment has to be key to Russia's growth.

"For foreign business people, there was a pretty good signal about special visas for foreign experts."

FYODOR LYUKANOV, EDITOR, RUSSIA IN GLOBAL AFFAIRS:

"The problem for all presidents of the Russian Federation is how to implement their ideas. Putin's speeches in his first mandate were excellent, but not much happened.

"I like the priorities, like speaking about education, which is a key area to be modernized and developed. On the political system, of course there were no radical changes, but he admitted indirectly there were problems with the last vote when he said there was a need to drop the requirement to collect signatures in future elections."

"Abstract general talk about corruption is redundant already -- people want to hear practical steps and what he said about the business environment and making the authorities more transparent, if implemented, can help."

CHRIS WEAFER, CHIEF STRATEGIST, URALSIB:

"It is a reiteration of his "Forward, Russia" essay from September, emphasizing the problems Russia has because of over-dependency on oil and lack of modernization. His speech was more a rallying call.

"It was disappointing from an investment point of view that it was very light on any specific point of action, just a reiteration of what we have already been hearing from the government for the last year but it did not actually deal with any of the mechanisms."

STANISLAV BELKOVSKY, INDEPENDENT POLITICAL ANALYST

"There were no new theses (in the speech). They have all been taken from program speeches of the past decade, for example Putin's speeches in 2000-2008, such as the need to part ways from resource dependence."

"I haven't seen any tool being proposed to implement these theses. Without those tools, it is all a compilation of wishful-thinking intentions and it all looks a bit like a joke. As we all know, the ruling elite is not interested in modernizing the Russian economy."

DOUGLAS BUSVINE, ANALYST, MEDLEY GLOBAL ADVISORS

"The takeaway for investors is that Medvedev is a PR guy spinning a good story while Premier Putin's brand of Kremlin capitalism, and Russia's resource dependence, become more entrenched. It's stable, but not dynamic."

"It was a more coherent speech than last year's effort, which sounded like it had been written by a committee."

"His action points on the economy were vague, however, although it will be interesting to see whether he makes any headway in his bid to make sprawling state corporations like Russian Technologies more open and accountable."

"His promise of a 'flourishing democratic society' jars with the dubious conduct of the recent regional elections and his reform proposals are little more than window dressing."

MASHA LIPMAN, POLITICAL ANALYST, MOSCOW CARNEGIE Center

"The mantra was modernization and, just like in his recent article on reform, he gave a shrewd and critical assessment of the state of affairs in Russia."

"He showed a lot of humility in assessing Russia's situation. He said Russia would conquer backwardness and corruption, which was the closing and I would say most powerful part of his speech."

GENNADY ZYUGANOV, RUSSIAN COMMUNIST PARTY LEADER

"I was expecting to hear a tougher view on staff because we need a modern government to implement modern ideas."

"Mr (Finance Minster Alexei) Kudrin has a budget sent to the Duma contradicting everything the president said today. There is nothing (in the budget) to be spent on innovations."

YAROSLAV LISSOVOLIK, CHIEF STRATEGIST, DEUTSCHE BANK

"This address is not only more liberal than last time, but one of the most liberal we have had in recent years. The market reacted positively -- shares ticked up during the speech. (But) I do not see any specific consequences for specific sectors."

ALEXANDER KYNEV, INDEPENDENT ELECTION OBSERVER, GOLOS

"I have the feeling of deep inadequacy and even bewilderment. The lion's share of the speech contained a tone of pathos, which described a society in which we want to live, but there was no specific mechanism on how to change the current reality."

"There are some positive things on the secondary issues, although that pales against the backdrop of negatives on more important issues. For example, along with a decrease in the electoral list system, the introduction of all-out lists was suggested. But parties remain dependent on bureaucracies, and citizens are denied the right to stand as candidates in their personal capacity."

MIKHAIL VINOGRADOV, Center FOR CURRENT POLITICS IN RUSSIA

"The political part was the most interesting, in that he promised to aid the participation of small parties in elections, but it was too vague."

"The references to Georgia were only ritual, although it was a key issue last year and he never even mentioned the other CIS states by name. While there were several initiatives, there were more last year."

(Reporting by Conor Sweeney, Dmitry Zhdannikov, Gleb Bryanski, Denis Dyomkin, Conor Humphries and Aydar Buribayev)