Letter From the Editors

For all the vast intricate theories of statecraft, the success of a political system ultimately relies on a more subjective measure: the citizens’ perception of fairness. In fiscal matters, for example, flat or regressive tax increases might be seen as unfair or fair enough, based on whether people believe the funds will be used equitably for the general welfare.

Do Russians see the war in Ukraine as a matter of the general welfare? If so, they will soon have to back this up with their pocketbooks. Meduza writes that “Russia’s 2025 budget has spun out of control – squeezed on one side by a slowing economy, low oil prices, a strong ruble and overly optimistic forecasts from the Economic Ministry, and on the other by the war’s enormous financial demands and Western sanctions.” To cover the shortfall, the Finance Ministry is imposing a 2% VAT increase (from 20% to 22%) that will fall mainly on consumers and small businesses.

On the other end of the equity scale, collections from the elite are taking place in a more ad hoc fashion. Mikhail Shevchuk covers the case of Viktor Momotov, a Supreme Court Presidium judge and the highest-ranking judiciary member to fall to prosecution and expropriation. While the funds are “a drop in the bucket for the national budget,” Shevchuk writes, this is a classic Putinist return to form: an assertion of silovik authority under the pretext of good government and populism. What’s more, the “underground billionaire” judges “aren’t even trying to resist, because, after all, they understood all this from the very beginning and agree that the punishment is fair.”

But fairness should include carrots for desirable behavior as well as sticks for misbehavior. Mozhaisky Space Academy head Anatoly Nestechuk, in an interview with Krasnaya zvezda, highlighted the recent enrollment of 100 nontraditional Space Force cadets – veteran enlisted personnel from the SMO. Nestechuk asserts that these add something no textbook can teach: “invaluable combat experience.”

Diversity is currently central to Russian foreign policy thinking, as well. Valdai host Academician Fyodor Lukyanov introduced keynote speaker Vladimir Putin as “a mechanic or, perhaps, even an engineer of this polycentric world.” Alongside “polycentric world,” Putin added yet another buzzword to expand on multipolarity, one with a distinctly democratic flair: “the global majority.” “Relations within the global majority are a prototype for the practices that are necessary and effective in a polycentric world,” he propounded. In other words, in the emerging new world order, “Diversity is our strength.”

Even Lukyanov could not avoid seeing the irony that the sessions’ key theme this year was “the now unpopular concept – their inclusiveness.” Namely, he noted: “Just when the Valdai meetings were taking place, the US military secretary [Pete Hegseth] solemnly damned this phenomenon, officially banishing it from the Pentagon, but he is not law to us.” Former Le Pen adviser Emmanuel Leroy goes even woker, condemning “the hegemonic and neocolonial trends that the West is trying to impose on the world for the sake of its own unipolar hegemony” and lauding Putin’s vision of “a community that does not flounder in the Procrustean bed of the Anglo-Saxon world.”

Meanwhile, in Moldova, the parliamentary elections saw a victory for diversity but not for inclusion (in a coalition), and some official actions brought into question their fairness. Prosecutions and disqualifications of opposition figures have loomed large.

On the plus side, Moldovan expert Valeriu Pasa tells Republic, “We will now have seven opposition parties represented in Parliament. In other words, the parliamentary opposition will be very strong. Yes, the opposition is fragmented, but at the same time it is very diverse. They have some very experienced politicians and some very talented populists.” But this is good for democracy, Pasa argues, since it “will keep the government on their toes.” Perhaps a few oppositionists could represent their constituencies in a coalition, and everyone’s toes could rest easy.