On July 14, 2022, putin signed Federal Law No. 272-FZ “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation”, which allows the government to put the country’s economy on a war footing during so-called military operations abroad.
The explanatory note to the draft law recognizes that in the conditions of the war in Ukraine, there was an “increased need” for the repair of weapons, military equipment and provision of material and technical means. In this regard, the right of the state is enshrined:
To involve employees of the military-industrial complex of the russian federation to work overtime, at night, on weekends and holidays, as well as to change the procedure for granting vacations.
To involve employees of the military-industrial complex of the russian federation to work overtime, at night, on weekends and holidays, as well as to change the procedure for granting vacations.
To unmothball mobilization capacities and facilities, as well as to disarm material assets of the state reserve.
According to the new law, legal entities in russia lose the right to refuse to conclude state contracts in order to ensure the conduct of counter-terrorist and other operations of the Armed Forces of the russian federation.
The kremlin pursues several goals by introducing emergency “special measures”, which in fact turn the country’s economy into a wartime regime.
Firstly, to continue the war against Ukraine, since the normal regime of the economy simply cannot handle insane military losses. The kremlin has planned a total reduction in spending on russian science, industry and roads in the coming years. As a result of these “cuts”, the expenses of the “2023 budget” are planned to be reduced by 557 billion rubles, in 2024 – by 539 billion, and in 2025 – by 534 billion.
Secondly, it allows the russian authorities to maintain a “special military operation” for some time without officially announcing mobilization, which remains a sensitive topic. moscow fears that mass mobilization will cause riots in big cities and will be perceived as a recognition of the defeat of the “Ukrainian military campaign”. The law declares a mobilization regime without the word “mobilization” and obliges russians to work when and how much it is required, i.e. overtime, on weekends and even at night.
Thirdly, the new law allows the authorities to continue not to admit that they are involved in the war and were unable to defeat the Ukrainian army. In addition, the russian government received the right to unmothball the mobilization capacities of enterprises without an official declaration of war, as well as to disarm the material assets of the state reserve, which is possible only in wartime.
A separate item on the decommissioning of capacities was the result of the shortage of military equipment and spare parts and the mass refusal of directors of repair plants to accept broken tanks, cars or transporters.
Through the actual revival of the economic model of the Soviet Union – when everything and everyone can work only for the party and the leader – the kremlin is trying to create conditions for the mobilization of the russian economy, preparing for a prolonged war in Ukraine.
However, it is obvious that the “special operation” in Ukraine has led to one of the worst economic crises in modern russian history, which the regime is trying to solve at the expense of the russian people. The invasion, which was conceived as a “quick and clean operation”, has turned into a protracted conflict, which revealed the inability to overcome the Ukrainian army, which is inferior to the russian one in terms of both the number of troops and the amount of weapons.
The “mobilization economy” regime will cause ordinary russians to be forced to work for the war without days off and vacations at enterprises of all forms of ownership, and their managers will be obliged to perform the tasks of security forces and special services.
However, the introduction of the sixth package of EU sanctions will finally eliminate the possibility of receiving excessive revenues from the sale of oil, which today finance putin’s military adventures and will negate all “special measures” in the russian economy.
