I Expert Forum

The first step to building a future Russia is to stop the war. Russia needs to pull its army out of Ukraine and try to return to a normal state. It will be a long process and there are many different paths to normality. They will all be very costly and very hard, but I am sure that Russia will become a normal country again, where people are not imprisoned for speaking their mind and highly qualified specialists are not made to live in exile. A country where universities and scientific institutes function effectively.

The leading Russian specialists in their fields took part in the forum, including Russia’s leading economists. Of course we would have liked to meet in Moscow, but from an intellectual point of view it was the most substantial discussion possible. This is why I believe that holding these kinds of meetings is the right thing to do. They are vitally important.

It’s important to discuss the future structure of Russia, and it is important to do so not "after" but "before." As we know from history, authoritarian regimes tend to collapse suddenly and there won’t be much time to stave off a new cycle of authoritarianism. As I see it, we have a slight crisis of ideas: we clearly express how we don't want to live, but few offer a concrete vision of a democratic Russia to their audience.

I am glad that we focused on this discussion during the forum: of course, in two days, we could not cover all aspects of state and society structures, human rights protection, and reintegration into the international community. For me, the most significant topics for starting the discussion were federalism, issues of national reconciliation, and ensuring rotation at all levels of power. I hope that we can reach a consensus on the fundamental elements for democratising our country and implement this in the foreseeable future.

Putin is driving our country deeper into a dead end every day. Hundreds of people are dying on the front lines daily. Russians are growing poorer and more vulnerable with each passing day.

I keep asking myself — when the chance comes, how can we fix this? Of course, I know there’s no simple answer. That’s exactly why I decided to raise this topic. To bring together key Russian scholars, politicians, and public figures, and ask them to help shape a vision of the future we should strive for.

Over the course of three days, we held intensive discussions over their proposals and ideas — how to normalise Russia’s economy and justice system, reform education, address inequality, and begin healing the deep societal divisions caused by Putin’s rule.

This work resulted in a set of concrete reform ideas developed collectively by the experts in their respective working groups.