Two months before Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine, on December 17 2021, V. Putin signed a decree on preparing the entire Russian economy for work in military conditions. However, Moscow did not expect a high consolidation of Western states and strong sanctions in response to unprovoked aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. In this regard, the State Duma (lower house of the Russian parliament) and the RF government during recent months were forced to make a number of amendments to the current legislation to speed up and strengthen the process of full subordination economic and social life of the state for war purposes.
On July 14, V. Putin signed a new law on special economic measures, which, de facto, consolidated the total militarization of the Russian economy. The law allows to involve employees of certain organizations (primarily, military-industrial complex) to work overtime, at night, in weekends and holidays, and also changes the procedure for granting vacations. The Law also makes it possible to forcibly involve various companies to fulfill the state order for the needs of the RF Armed Forces. In addition, the leadership of the Russian Federation received the right to reopen mobilization capacities and facilities and cancel reservation of state reserve material assets. That is, the Russian Federation is openly preparing for a long war with Ukraine and is not afraid to use the format of a war of attrition.
At the same time, Moscow hopes not only to sign a peace treaty, “save face”, and triumphantly win the war against Ukraine and the entire anti-Putin coalitions of Western countries and their allies. With this aim, the Kremlin ordered to concentrate all efforts in certain sectors of the economy, namely, rocket and space industries and the military-industrial complex. As for the population of the Russian Federation, the country's leadership will do everything from his best so that no one dies of hunger. However, such categories as GDP per capita, decent health care, high level of solvency, indicators of people's prosperity and state of the environment in the Russian Federation don't take into account (at least until victory over the liberal West).
Due to the fact that the Roskosmos enterprises and the military-industrial complex have been working for the last 30 years in cooperation with Western countries, the share of imported raw materials, composite materials, electronics, engines, components and parts that used in Russia, is just unreal! The top leadership of the Russian Federation understands that it is impossible to organize import substitution of all this quickly and effectively. Therefore, the Kremlin decided to concentrate all efforts and resources in a relatively narrow area – provision and modernization of the Russian Aerospace Forces. Programs of peaceful development of space will be collapsed.
Military-industrial complex enterprises working for the ground forces, navy and aviation (except for strategic bombers) become less of a priority. In Moscow, they understand that they will fail to meet the competition with NATO member countries on land, at sea or in air combat.
Powerful strikes from the air and space is the last trump card with which the Russian Federation can still blackmail the world. We are talking about hypersonic high-precision weapons, nuclear tactical charges, intercontinental ballistic rockets and new developments related to space rockets. V. Putin has appointed new leaders to strengthen this sphere of defence (and, more precisely, threats and blackmail). Thus, Yuri Borisov (in 2018-2022, supervisor of the military – industrial complex in the government) was appointed as head of Roscosmos state corporation, and Denis Manturov, Minister of Industry and Trade, was increased to the level of Deputy Prime Minister with focus on the militarization of the Russian economy.
In addition, the youngest daughter of President V. Putin, Ekaterina Tikhonova, has become the co-chair of the coordinating council on import substitution at the RSPP (Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs). Although her first official position in the power system sounds very modest and covertly. According to confidential information, her main duty was monitoring the process of import substitution only in the rocket and space industry.
Thus, the latest actions of the authoritarian Russian state clearly show that it is not going to reach a peace settlement with Ukraine or with Democratic West as a whole. V. Putin is firmly and confidently adheres to the policy that he began to implement in 2014, it is the forcible seizure of Ukraine and cynical intimidation of the rest of the world with its missiles.
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