Era of Mass Car Ownership in Russia Ending with Fateful Consequences for People and the Powers, Nikulin Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 2 – Many Russians and others have suggested that the right to travel abroad and return home without obstacles was one of the most important things Russians gained after the fall of communism. But the ability to purchase and use cars to travel around, something few had in Soviet times, may have been even more important to more people.

            Even now, relatively few Russians have travelled abroad; but any visitor to Russia knows that the streets now, in contrast to Soviet times, are full of private cars that allow their owners remarkably great freedom of movement, an opportunity that few had earlier and that they are reluctant to lose.

            But according to Moscow analyst Andrey Nikulin, the era of mass car ownership is ending with fateful consequences for the population and its relationship to the state (rosbalt.ru/news/2025-10-02/andrey-nikulin-vopros-svobody-peremescheniya-po-rossii-stoit-vse-bolee-ostro-5484428).

            This is happening, he continues, as a result of “the return of the Soviet practice of ‘taking extra money from the population’ with the help of artificially raising the cost of consumer goods” so that the state will have money for its purposes which at present include Putin’s aggressive war in Ukraine.

            That general Russian policy is transforming the private automobile from a means of moving about “into a luxury” by constantly raising the price of cars and items needed for their maintenance, taxes on transport, high taxes on fuel, and the constantly spreading practice of paid roads,” Nikulin says.

            This process is still taking place relatively slowly, but there are clear signs that it is picking up speed (rosbalt.ru/news/2025-04-30/nikolay-yaremenko-kak-zhit-v-rossii-bez-avtomobilya-5381214). As a result, Russians are facing a return to the situation in Brezhnev’s times when almost all of them had to use public transit to get around.

            With the loss of their cars, Russians will have to do that or walk. The rest of the time, they can watch television and pay taxes. The Kremlin doesn’t need anything more than that from them, but having experienced “the luxury” of private cars, many Russians aren’t going to be happy with those who are taking them away from ordinary people.