For the first time since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin will receive representatives of large Russian business to discuss problems with them, try to convince them of the need to support the current government and help the country return to economic growth. Russian business intends to demand from the head of state the liberalization of state supervision and the reduction of the state's share in the economy. Bloomberg writes about this with reference to businessmen who will attend the meeting with the head of state.
The reception of Russian business is scheduled for March 16, it will be held with the direct participation of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP). The meeting is taking place against the background of a sharp decline in Russian budget revenues and discussions on how Russian companies can help close the hole in the budget. At the same time, sources say that direct ideas about additional taxation will not be discussed at the meeting.
According to agency sources, Vladimir Putin will deliver a speech to convey to Russian business representatives the idea of responsibility to the country in the face of a difficult confrontation with Western countries. He intends to convince them to focus on stimulating economic growth. Business, in turn, wants to lobby Putin for the liberalization of supervision, the abolition of criminal liability for economic crimes, including money laundering, and also to express concern about the growing role of the state in the economy – they are also waiting for liberalization in this direction.
The agency recalls that such events usually take place in the following format: Vladimir Putin makes a speech, which is a public part, and then a discussion takes place behind closed doors. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the topics of the meeting. Bloomberg also recalls that at the last meeting, many businessmen feared that participation in such events would threaten them with restrictions from Western countries, including tough sanctions. Now there is no such fear, because most of them are already under Western sanctions.
At the same time, the oligarchs are afraid of increasing pressure from the Kremlin, since the Russian economy, although it withstood the sanctions strike, is not capable of growing and generating the amount of income necessary for the war in the current conditions. Businessmen, according to sources, are actively interested in the times of Nazi Germany and fascist Italy and study the experience of how the economy existed then and how it was possible to preserve their assets under these conditions. Nevertheless, dissatisfaction and fear that the Kremlin will increase pressure and begin to use business for its own interests is only growing.