Page 47 - bne IntelliNews monthly magazine December 2024

bne December 2024 Eastern Europe I 47
like Estonian and continue to live in Russian-only speaking communities.
The Russian constitution requires the Kremlin to “protect” ethnic Russians living in other countries, especially if they have a Russian passport. The Kremlin has used passports as both a justification and a tool of annexation. About half of the popula- tion of the Crimea held dual nationality prior to its annexation in 2014 and home to a dense concentration of ethnic Russians inside Ukraine. Likewise, Russia dished out passports to the populations of Abkha- zia and Ossetia in what was Georgia before recognising their “independence” in 2008 in a de facto annexation. Most recently the Kremlin has withheld state jobs such as teachers and doctors to residents of the Donbas unless they have applied
for a Russian passport.
Gorby’s mistake
In a little remembered speech very early in his career as president, Putin said that Gorbachev's "biggest mistake" while head of the USSR was to initiate his per- estroika political reforms before secur- ing the economic stability of the Soviet
Union, which led to the collapse of the economy and his overthrow. That ush- ered in nearly a decade of chaos under Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s – a period most Russians still remember with horror. The bedrock of Putin’s domestic popularity is that he brought stability and economic revival in his first decade in office, some- thing which many middle-aged Russians remain extremely grateful for.
Putin has repeated this comment about Gorbachev’s mistake many times over the years, most prominently repeating it in a December 2011 interview with Rus- sian television channels, where he again lambasted Gorbachev's approach.
For his part, Putin began his first term in office by hiring academic German Gref and tasked him with transforming the economy with his so-called “Gref Plan”. A Kremlin outsider with no powerbase of his own, Gref began to implement sweep- ing reforms, facing much opposition of the establishment, but was able to pro- ceed thanks to Putin’s personal backing.
Over the years this effort has been
refined and expanded, culminating in first the May Degrees in 2012 just after Putin took office for the third time. The decrees outlined a series of ambitious social, economic and political goals for Russia, aiming to improve the quality of life, strengthen national security and stimulate economic growth, including:
• Raising wages for public sector workers
• Improving healthcare, education and housing
• Modernising the military
• Supporting science, technology and innovation
• Boosting Russia’s economic competitiveness
More recently these ideas were revised again and after the post-2008 crisis have reemerged as the National Projects, which have the same goals, and have been revised and expanded several times to the current National Projects 2.1.
Ukraine’s President Zelenskiy switches
rhetorical tack from victory to resistance
bne IntelliNews
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has changed his rhetorical tack and announced a comprehensive ten- point internal “Resilience Plan” during his evening address on November 14, after months of talking about a “victory plan” for Ukraine.
The details of resistance plan will be revealed next week, the president said, but come at a time when continued support for Ukraine’s war against Russia from the US is looking increasingly unlikely.
"We’re going to work very hard on Russia and Ukraine. It’s gotta stop. Russia and Ukraine’s gotta stop,” President-elect Donald Trump said in
As the war goes increasingly against Ukraine and US support appears to be faltering, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy switched rhetorical tacks in his evening speech, announcing the launch of a 10-point Resilience Plan next week in place of his victory plan. / bne IntelliNews
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