20 years under Putin: a timeline

One of the claims of the current regime in Russia is that there is no alternative to Vladimir Putin as a leader or to his regime as a political system accepted by the majority of the Russian people. Deputy chief of staff Vyacheslav Volodin famously encapsulated this vein of thinking when he said, “There is no Russia today if there is no Putin.”

At IMR, we believe that this thinking is wrong. An alternative to the regime does exist, but over the last decade, the regime has managed to marginalize it by destroying and vilifying the democratic opposition, silencing dissenting voices, and repressing the protest movement. Still, the opposition is often criticized for not offering a viable and comprehensive alternative plan for the country’s future—an agenda that would effectively counter the Kremlin’s narrative.

The Institute of Modern Russia has decided to address this issue. This year we’ve launched an initiative that would essentially change the agenda by developing a reform program for post-Putin Russia to facilitate democratic transition and help the country become a prosperous state based on the rule of law. As a first step within this initiative, a group of Russia’s leading constitutional law experts prepared the report titled “Constitutional Crisis in Russia and How to Resolve It,” a profound work that dissects one of the country’s acutest problems—the erosion of the democratic essence of the Russian Constitution—and provides possible solutions.

The second report of the series, titled “Russia’s Healthcare System: Current State of Affairs and the Need for Reforms,” outlines the dire situation in the country’s healthcare and offers policy solutions that can facilitate the much needed change.

The latest report focuses on Russia's economy and is titled “Demonopolization of the Economy as an Axis of Russia’s Future Reforms.” It provides a profound analysis of the fundamental problems facing the country's economy and offers a blueprint of potential reforms.

In the future, we plan to address other grave issues, such as reforming Russia’s judiciary, law-enforcement, military, and pension system.