Putin’s mission in the Russian Thermidor

This essay points to the historical analogies between the contemporary stage in the Russian political evolution and the classical post-revolutionary periods in the French and Soviet history, known as Thermidorian Reaction. Given the obvious similarity to the well-studied Bonapartism and Stalinism, it is easier to understand the policies of Putin’s regime and predict its further development. By characterizing this period as the Russian Revanchism the author explains, from this viewpoint, the foreign policy of Russia towards the West and predicts an inevitable drive to “regather” the severed historic Russian lands, including territorial claims to the “newly independent states.” Summarizing the “transition” to capitalism as a robbery of state assets by the Russian plutocracy, the author argues in favor of the Chinese transition model. Nevertheless, the resurgence of Russia as a great power is ensured by its intellectual, economic and military potential boosted by the highest oil and gas prices in history.