Paul Goble
Staunton, Aug. 4 – In the course of earlier Duma elections, the Kremlin always offered some kind of “social contract” to the Russian population: oil-fueled prosperity in exchange for giving up political rights and great power pride over Crimea in exchange for dealing with a worsening economy, Andrey Kolesnikov says.
But now, the commentator at Novaya Gazeta says, the Kremlin has nothing to offer: Its promises of security in face of internet restrictions when “there is no security,” of “victory over the entire civilized world” as compensation for belt tightening, and of plunging the country into backwardness in the name of “traditional values” (novayagazeta.ru/articles/2026/08/04/vybory-v-osazhdennoi-kreposti).
According to Kolesnikov, “the regime has exhausted its bargaining chips … Nothing matters to anyone anymore … There is no contract to speak of here. And that means there is nothing left to offer in the election either.” All that the Kremlin can offer and without anything in exchange is “an endless stalemate and the atmosphere of a besieged fortress.”
Any election held in a besieged fortress, he continues, “will not lift the state of siege and more importantly won’t lift ‘the siege mentality’ that views the use of a super weapon as the only way out. And that means the Duma election this time around is a vote “without a choice” and therefore without real meaning.
This election will create yet more enemies and allow the authorities to further tighten the screws on the population, something the Russians should have come to understand because it is simply an extension of what Putin has been doing since coming to power.
And it will mean as Orwell observed in 1984, “since a decisive victory is impossible, it does not matter whether the war is going well or badly. All that is needed is for there to be a state of war.” That Putin will continue to supply as long as he is in power, something that will harm not only others but the Russian people as well.
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