Grandpa Putin and his hares. What has the Russian government already pleased the participants of the RSPP congress — and what will soon please all Russians

Exclusive. On February 24, 2022, Putin called businessmen to assure them: Kyiv will be taken in three days, there is no need to panic and take out capital, everything is going according to plan. But then something went wrong - also, of course, according to plan, but in a different way, and Putin did not appear before businessmen for more than a year.

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin

And on March 16, he finally appeared: he arrived at the congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), and not alone, but in the company of Finance Minister Anton Siluanov. Together, they turned against businessmen who had already agreed to Western sanctions - such as Alexey Mordashov ("Severstal"), Herman Gref ("Sberbank"), Vladimir Potanin ("Nornickel"), Viktor Rashnikov (MMK), Mikhail Gutseriev (" Rossneft"), Viktor Vekselberg ("Renova"), Oleg Deripaska ("Rusala"), Herman Khan ("Alfa Group"), slightly scary but impressive prospects.

At first, for almost an hour and a half, Putin spoke, convincing those gathered that everything in the economy is not just good, but very good. Russian GDP, Putin's namesake, is growing by 4%, balancing the same percentage of inflation, which is lower than in Europe. Europe will soon be khan, its inhabitants will only ask for turnips, and they will have to buy turnips in Russia. And, in general, the departure of foreign companies from Russia brought unique opportunities, you just need to take advantage of them.

True, in real life, even in the USSR, not to mention post-Soviet Russia, foreign companies were always the backbone and foundation of the economy. Without the Swedish SKS, Soviet bearings would not have appeared, without Ford - cars, without BMW - aircraft engines. On the other hand, Putin is far from the problems of economic development, he never sought to develop it, but only wanted to trade natural resources. And it's not the president's business to dig into trifles. The president must give the general picture, and Putin gave it, which is why the faces of those sitting in the hall stretched quite a bit. And this was only the beginning, because Siluanov spoke after Putin.

As befits a finance minister, Siluanov was extremely specific and immediately took the audience by the horns, talking about the "one-time contribution" of 300 billion rubles, which large business must pay to the budget of the Russian Federation.

This issue has been discussed for several months: they started with a trillion, but the businessmen persisted, the authorities gave in a little, then a little more, but they said that they would still have to pay. Those who do not pay voluntarily will pay a new excess profit tax. It is illegal to introduce a new tax in the middle of the fiscal year, but who in Russia respects the laws if the leader demands that they be corrected?

The situation is banal: having gone bankrupt on unprofitable wars, tsars and dictators always dig deeper into the pockets of their subjects. There are no particular problems in this, since in an absolute monarchy/totalitarian dictatorship, the First Person stands above any law. These are not pitiful democracies for you, where the law is above everyone, and even above the monarch, if there is one.

This is where the border between liberal democracy and neo-feudalism passes, and there are no third/special ways: either - or. There has never been a liberal democracy in Russia. There was only neo-feudalism in various forms, which sometimes masqueraded as democracy, trying to gain access to Western investments and technologies. Now access has been closed, the black hole in the budget is growing, it is no longer up to masking. And in Russia, they began to slowly take a bite out of private property. In fact, this is a new NEP, when formally private entrepreneurship is allowed, but it is extorted to the point of extortion, with the aim of nationalization (the word "nationalization" rings a bell due to the absence of a nation in any form in Russia).

In such a case, the main thing is to start, and after the first turn, the nut will be tightened more and more easily for the government, and also for business. "One-time contribution" will cease to be one-time this year. Taking into account the size of the hole in the Russian budget, which at the beginning of March reached 2,5 trillion. rubles, and the speed of its growth, the payments will also grow and turn into expropriations: 300 billion against the background of 2,5 trillion is a penny, the first installment.

Expropriations will gradually expand to all Russians directly, not limited to 10% of the largest companies, excluding oil, gas, and coal mining companies, as Siluanov said. Well, indirectly, they will hit them right away, since 10% of the largest companies inevitably have a decisive influence on the entire domestic market, and prices on it.

In the near future, the Russians will be forced to fall back on air defense as well: the chairman of the GoD Defense Committee Kartapolov has already proposed to Russian corporations to independently purchase funds for
fighting UAVs. Later, a message appeared on the website of the Bryansk Oblast Duma about the inclusion of expenses for the fight against UAVs and the strengthening of air defense in housing and communal services payments, but the text soon disappeared. However, the idea has already been sown in the minds of officials, and it will definitely bear fruit. And, finally, on March 14, Interfax reported on the proposal of the Ministry of Finance to replenish the budget deficit through the issuance of "patriotic" bonds - that is, on a return to the Soviet practice of state loans, which were distributed under a compulsory procedure.

The result is clear: the transition period of the NEP has survived, the current generation of Russians will live under communism - indeed, military. An ongoing war is the only state of Russia in which Putin can remain in power, and he will try to make the war eternal. How far he will succeed is another question, but the mood in the Kremlin is exactly that.

Sensing where the wind was blowing, businessmen listened to Putin's call to "invest money in the development of their country" and not "work offshore", decided to invest in themselves, their loved ones, more fundamentally.

At the end of 2022, Sberbank sent 565 billion rubles for dividends. At the same time, the share of non-resident legal entities in the composition of its shareholders is 44,37%, Russian companies - 1,92%, and shareholders - natural persons, too, mostly live outside Russia. The payment of dividends, in fact, became a proposal for withdrawal of funds abroad. At the same time, Sberbank's net profit fell 4,6 times compared to 2021.

Gazprom is not far behind: its board increased the amount of top management remuneration in 2022 by 48% compared to 2021: from 1,94 to 2,87 billion rubles. Although the net profit of Gazprom decreased by 3,6 times: from 2,684 to 0,747 trillion. rubles

The logic of the tops is clear. Looking at Putin, they ask the question: what will happen in Russia in an hour, and whether it will exist at all. And the world smells of approaching economic winter. It's time to stock up in a mink - offshore, while it's still possible to drag something there - perhaps for the last time.

In general, Putin has been saying a lot lately that makes us think hard about what is happening - another issue that Russians are not used to thinking about. For example, during a meeting with the workers of the aircraft factory in Ulan-Ude, where he visited on March 14 with a widely announced "working visit", Putin stated that only 12 million people live beyond the Urals in Russia. This is not a reservation: - in 2022, Putin mentioned the same 12 million.

For reference, according to official data: Siberian Federal District – 16,8 million people, DVFD – 8 million people, Ural Federal District – 12 million people. And Putin's statement can have three explanations:

First: only 12 million people actually live beyond the Urals, and Putin just talked.

Second: the match was uttered by a doppelgänger who does not have all the information, and therefore periodically carries nonsense. This version is supported by the fact that Putin flew to Ulan-Ude. Meanwhile, with the beginning of the SVO, Putin gave up the plane, traveling exclusively by special train.

Third: Putin really does not know what is happening in the country. And it may not be that the grandfather dabbled in geopolitics, and his country is a light bulb. It is possible that we are talking about the usual paranoia syndrome, and many details in Putin's behavior speak in favor of this version. Of course, it is difficult to make a reliable diagnosis remotely. But, if Putin falls alive into the hands of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which has already issued a warrant for his arrest, he will necessarily undergo a psychiatric examination, and then...

Let's present the picture: the diagnosis was confirmed. It turns out that hundreds of thousands of people have died, and millions of destinies have been ruined because of the insanity of an old KGB pensioner, who was followed by millions of Russians like sheep after a scapegoat. Moreover, it will be impossible to bring Putin himself to any responsibility, and he will end his days locked up in a clinic somewhere, drooling and fighting off evil Anglo-Saxons with a pillow... And the Russians will urgently have to invent some self-justification.

Of course, they will get out. For example, Putin will be declared a saint for the sake of Christ, a fool, and quickly canonized. In the end, the ROC FSB, led by Kirill, is for such cases. But, all the same, the spectacle will be interesting.

Sergey Ilchenko, Newssky columnist