"Transparency" is reserved for the proles
Politicians...what would we do without them?
Russian lawmakers have decided they are exempt from publicly disclosing “generalized” information about their incomes and real estate holdings, weeks (possibly days) before they are expected to ratify a law on the digital ruble—which has been marketed to the masses as a transformative currency that will foster greater government transparency.
It sounds bad but don’t worry, it’s worse than you think.
Our story begins in January, when a group of Duma deputies selflessly decided that members of the Federal Assembly would no longer have to report their ruble-earnings and dachas (both foreign and domestic) to the public.
Instead, “generalized statistical information” would be published: The number of lawmakers who had submitted data, and whether any financial irregularities had been detected. Without naming names, of course.
The countless advantages to such a prudent and necessary rule change are self-evident. But could there be any possible hypothetical, purely theoretical or conjectural, disadvantages?
Roman Smirnov, president of the Association of Political Lawyers, told RBC that the new guidelines could lead to the “semi-legalization of shadow incomes” for Russian lawmakers. What a worrywart.
In past years, the financial declarations of deputies and senators were posted online by mid-April.
Not this year. This year, nothing is being posted anywhere.
RIA Novosti reported on April 17:
The Federation Council did not publish any information on the incomes and expenses of senators for the past year, and there is not even generalized information on the chamber’s website.
Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council, Yuri Vorobyov, reassured the public that all 175 senators had dutifully submitted their incomes for 2022, but this information “would not be published in the open press due to known circumstances.”
Members of the State Duma will also abstain from publicizing their incomes, even in a “generalized” form, Vedomosti reported.
The announcement by senior lawmakers that deputies and senators had submitted declarations on time counted as “generalized information on income”, a source in the Duma told the paper.
Lawmakers also believe they are included in a presidential decree signed in December, which gives special privileges to officials involved in the administration of the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye, and Kherson:
Generalized information on the incomes of deputies will need to be published when the presidential decree, which allows [officials] not to disclose information about incomes during the special operation, ceases to be valid, [Vedomosti’s source] said: “Now there is no such obligation.”
Meanwhile, government departments have been quietly removing income declarations from their websites. The Ministry of Transport deleted declarations dating back 15 years, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs scrubbed income information from 2021.
Nothing to see here, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov:
The presidential press secretary said that the Kremlin does not see corruption risks in the non-publication of officials’ declarations, the main thing is that they are submitted. Peskov noted that all checks are organized in the same “scrupulous” manner as before.
By the way: Peskov and his colleagues in the Presidential Administration will also not be sharing their incomes with the public.
Leading by example. Very encouraging.
Which brings us back to the Golden Age of government transparency that will soon be ushered in by the digital ruble.
“Transparency for thee, but not for me”
For the last two years, Russia’s CBDC cheerleaders have been promising that the Bank of Russia’s traceable digital token will help weed out corruption.
How will this happen exactly, when the government already exempts itself from even the most mundane forms of public accountability?
We’ve been here before. Many times, actually.
In December 2021, deputies weren’t required to present a QR code to enter the State Duma building, even as they labored (unsuccessfully) to pass a national cattle tag law.
Stop and think about that. What might that mean?
Will the Russian government be able to harness CBDCs for the Greater Good, as some in Western “alternative media” continue to claim? Or will the digital ruble be used to “tighten the screws” on ordinary citizens, while loopholes are created for “servants of the people”, as Tsargrad TV’s Yuri Pronko recently predicted?
Ha-ha.
Edward Slavsquat is a reader-funded blog-thing. We are eternally grateful for your support.
Riley is such a shill. As someone who has lived in Russia for a few years I can unequivocally confirm that if you ask a normal Russian what they want from the government it's that Federal Officials not be harassed about shady income. I even saw a video posted by Russian troops at the front directly on prospect druzhba in Marinka and the guys were threatening to mutiny if the Politicans were required to be open about how they were able to afford their new yachts and villas in Geneva this year.
Moscow would be happy to solve shell hunger at the front and the massive income inequality in Russia but Russia is a TRVE democracy unlike America. That means Moscow has to work on what the people want first and foremost and the Russian people have spoken. They have demanded that federal officials financial privacy be treated with respect and that all the transactions of normal citizens be scrutinized to esure they comply with regulations nobody has heard of or asked for.
When all that's taken care of maybe the Kremlin can figure out how to prevent the Ukrainians from shelling Donetsk but democracy is about fulfilling the demands of the people first and this is what they want. Don't let Riley gaslight you into thinking that normal Russians aren't thrilled about these exciting new developments. This is what actually separates Russia from the West. Normal Russians want BASED cattletags and red pilled lack of privacy and thats what they get from their TRAD politicans. In the west politicans force globalist clot shots and neo liberal lack of privacy on everyone even though the people voted for the 5D variants like in Russia. But democracy isn't real in the west like it is in Russia.
After reading this I wonder another time why are Russia and the West on war. To me it seems to be exactly the same policy on both sides e. g. Covid, lockdowns, clotshots, CDBC, Censorship etc.