Assiduously sown by the Kremlin, the dragon’s teeth of demagoguery, paranoia, xenophobia, anti-Westernism, intolerance, and obscurantism are bound to yield a toxic harvest when the regime falters or loses control outright.

Sowing the dragon's teeth: 

The Kremlin's reactionary policies

by Leon Aron

The 2008–09 financial crisis demonstrated that gas and oil exports could no longer serve as Russia’s engine of economic progress and the source of a steady rise in personal incomes. Russia needed to dramatically change its investment climate through deep institutional reforms that would boost economic liberty, expand the rule of law and property rights, diminish corruption, and create more political choices for its citizens. Such reforms are all the more urgent now as Russia’s economy is slowing to a crawl and trust in President Vladimir Putin is steadily declining. Yet the Kremlin has chosen to address these challenges with authoritarian consolidation, buying short-term stability at the expense of the country’s longer-term prosperity and progress. Elements of the Kremlin’s massive propaganda campaign include militarized patriotism and patriotic education; a selective recovery of Soviet symbols and ideals; the ultraconservative Russian Orthodox Church as the moral foundation of the regime; the promotion of a culture of subservience; and the intimidation, stigmatization, and repression of civil society and its vanguard, nongovernmental organizations. Yet instead of producing the consolidation and unity expected by the Kremlin, this campaign may yield polarization, radicalism, and violence that will prevent the country’s peaceful and inclusive transition to a more dignified version of citizenship.

Key points in this Outlook:

• Confronted with economic slowdown, mass middle-class antiauthoritarian demonstrations, and an eroding political base, Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin has opted for policies of repression and reaction to ensure short-term stability at the expense of long-term progress.
• The Kremlin’s strategy is characterized by selective recovery of Soviet symbols and ideology, doctored history, patriotic education, anti-Westernism, and intolerance. 
• The regime’s systematic assault on civil society seeks to stigmatize, demoralize, and marginalize the vanguard of the urban middle class: nongovernmental organizations and their leaders.
• These policies will only encourage polarization, radicalism, and zero-sum politics of hatred, further complicating the post-Putin transition to long-term democratic stability.
• ...............

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