Elvira Bary

Let us imagine Russia in the year 2000. A young, ambitious candidate named Putin is running for president and making the following promises to voters:

• To establish the rule of law
• To defeat terrorism and crime
• To protect private property and entrepreneurs
• To reduce poverty
• To preserve freedom of the press and democratic liberties
• To restore Russia’s dignity and international respect
• To pursue a pragmatic foreign policy

People voted for precisely these perfectly reasonable promises.
But if the candidate had been telling the truth, his platform would have looked more like this:
• I will make sure that senior officials, including myself, are above the law. Voters will not be able to remove us, and if political opponents emerge, we will imprison or kill them.
• I will destroy the free media and force every independent journalist who dares to speak about Russia’s real problems out of the country.
• The courts will churn out knowingly unjust verdicts, while the State Duma will pass any law I want, even when it directly contradicts the Constitution.
• I will make my rule permanent.
• I will start a war against Ukraine and sacrifice half a million Russians in it. Another half a million will be left disabled. Trillions of taxpayers’ rubles will be spent on the war.
At the same time, relations with the nation closest to us will be destroyed forever. Ukraine will never forgive us.
• I will seize Crimea, drive out everyone who objects, and repopulate it with people who are comfortable living on stolen property. I will promise them paradise on earth. What they will actually receive is war and humanitarian catastrophe.
• Public morality will collapse. Thuggery, denunciations, universal lying, and hysterical fanaticism will become normal.
• Children will grow up in an atmosphere of fear: What if a drone strikes? What if someone reports me for daring to say what I really think?
Boys will have it even worse. What if they fail to get into university and are drafted? What if elderly officials decide to send them to a war where they are quite likely to die?
• I will hire the finest political propagandists to persuade millions of Russians that war is good, that robbing and killing one’s neighbors is admirable, even noble. Real professionals will take on the task, and they will indeed twist the consciences of a great many people out of shape.
• The basic commandments of Christianity—“Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house”—will be completely forgotten. Priests will bless missiles and drones. The people giving the orders will sincerely believe that God is on their side.
• By my own decree, I will destroy the country’s principal source of foreign currency: energy exports to Europe. The United States will take Russia’s place in that market.
• I will ensure that unprecedented sanctions are imposed on Russia, destroying hundreds of thousands of businesses.
• The Russian economy will enter a long stagnation lasting a decade and then begin to decline rapidly. All the reserves accumulated during the years of high oil prices will be spent on war and patching holes.
• Russian cities and villages will come under bombardment.
• Russia will lose every ally except North Korea and Belarus.
• Russia will become China’s economic vassal because normal business ties with the rest of the world will have been destroyed. At the same time, Russian producers will be unable to compete with Chinese companies in almost any field.
• Economic success will exist only on television and in reports and presentations. The development of domestic technology will amount to buying Chinese equipment and replacing the labels with ones that say “Made in Russia.”
• Hundreds of thousands of the country’s most capable specialists will leave. The composition of urban populations will change: the educated people who depart will be replaced by corrupt provincial officials and the families of mercenaries.
• Large numbers of migrants from Central Asia will settle in poorer neighborhoods, but many will adapt badly to local life. Powerful diasporas, entirely beyond state control, will emerge with their own laws, rules, and customs. They will be controlled by religious leaders and, quite often, by criminal networks.
• I will promise to protect the interests of Russian-speaking people in Ukraine, while in practice making their lives unbearable. Many will die. Many predominantly Russian-speaking Ukrainian cities will be reduced to ruins.
For many people, the Russian language and Russian culture itself will become symbols of occupation.
• I will destroy competitive elections and freedom of conscience. Under my rule, people will be imprisoned for “thought crimes,” for likes and comments on social media—though you will learn what social media is a little later.
• I will turn Russia into a pariah state. A Russian passport will become toxic in many parts of the world.
• Organized crime will move into government and openly provide protection for entire sectors of the economy.
• I will destroy high-quality education and modern science. The number of discoveries and scientific publications will fall several times over. Russian diplomas will lose their value in the West.
On the other hand, children from impoverished towns will be taught military skills almost from first grade.
• Private property will exist only for as long as it suits me. Whenever I choose, I will unleash prosecutors and investigators on business owners and take whatever I want—even from oligarchs.
• Poverty will remain. The incomes of the overwhelming majority of Russians will be several times lower than those in developed democracies. The retirement age will be raised. The average monthly pension will be $310.
Putin’s admirers will say:
“This is all Russophobia! How much were you paid? Nonsense! Delirium! Take your medication! But what about Ukraine…?”
The problem is that everything written above is TRUE.
And they know it.
They simply prefer not to notice.
Because the moment they do, they will have to admit that through their own actions and their own support, they helped make all of it possible.
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