As Putin Cult Grows, His Regime Moving from Bans Alone to Prescriptions as Well, Shelin Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 11 – For most of his time in power, Vladimir Putin has been noted for the increasing number of bans he has imposed on all kinds of activities; but now, Sergey Shelin says, the Kremlin leader and his regime are moving increasingly from bans alone to prescriptions of exactly what they want the Russian people to think and do.

            Because this is a further step toward ideologization and totalitarianization, the Russian commentator says, the Kremlin is “moving forward by feel,” something that may on occasion allow it to pull back, but in “increasingly broad” ways that suggest what its intentions really are (moscowtimes.ru/2024/10/11/shagi-putinizma-naoschup-no-uverenno-a144610).

            In support of his argument, Shelin points to the enormous differences between the way Russians marked Putin’s birthday last year and this. Last year, officials dependent on Putin greeted him; this year, school children and others further removed from any power vertical were directed to write cards to the Kremlin leader.

            In addition, the commentator notes that the regime is increasingly moving beyond bans in promoting its image of what stable families with large numbers of children should look like. Bans of various kinds are involved, Shelin acknowledges, but it is the goal that they are being put in service of that is the more important thing.

            What is especially worrisome, he concludes, is that the regime now recognizes that no one will actively oppose its moves in this direction and so feels increasingly free to see just how far it can go to restructure Russian life according to what Putin wants and not just limit its evolution by the imposition of bans.