The Renewed Mainstay of the Russian Authoritarian Regime

In 2023, the Russian economy, despite huge military spending, declining exports, and tightening sanctions, showed growth of 3.6%. The researcher based on in-depth interviews and analysis of official data from the reports of the Federal Tax Service of Russia and the Federal State Statistics Service for 2022-2023 examines how and to what extent the revenues/incomes of regions, industries, and population groups have changed. As of the end of 2023, the beneficiaries of the Ukrainian war included numerous groups of low-income people, mainly employed in manufacturing industry and living in underdeveloped regions of Russia. Under these conditions, the author can assume that the level of support for the Putin regime among these groups of people is likely to increase and strengthen. Research is ongoing, so conclusions regarding the demographic characteristics of beneficiary groups and predictions of the following support for the Putin regime have yet to be proven.