Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin: A Study of a Rank-and-File Actor in an Authoritarian Regime

Abstract

The article analyses the thinking of the Russian prime minister, Mikhail Mishustin, about the current political regime. The analysis considers his personal policy agenda, which is informed by serving in technocratic positions and his ideological positioning within the Russian political elite, as well as the role of the prime minister in Russian politics. Special attention is dedicated to Mishustin’s perception of the invasion of Ukraine and its impact on Russian politics. Our findings illuminate the role of rank-and-file political actors not only in the context of the Russian non-democratic regime but in personalised autocracies in general.

Notes

1 For example, Sakwa (2020), Frye (2021).

2 ‘Yeltsin Redraws Political Map’, BBC, 10 August 1999, available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/415087.stm, accessed 11 March 2023.

3 ‘Meeting with Head of the Federal Taxation Service Mikhail Mishustin’, 20 November 2017, available at: http://www.en.kremlin.ru/catalog/persons/294/events/56130, accessed 11 March 2023; ‘Meeting with Head of the Federal Taxation Service Mikhail Mishustin’, 20 November 2018, available at: http://www.en.kremlin.ru/catalog/persons/294/events/59164, accessed 11 March 2023.

4 See, for example, Tsygankov (2016), Drozdova and Robinson (2019).

5 This process started in January 2020 when President Vladimir Putin proposed amending the Constitution. Immediately after this announcement, he ordered the setting up of a 75-member working group assessing the proposed amendments. On 20 January, Putin signed and submitted to the State Duma his proposal of amendments and, in the meantime, the working group collected and evaluated other proposals from members of federal and regional parliaments, local authorities and social organisations. The committee gathered around 900 proposals. On 10 March, the State Duma met to discuss the proposed amendments and, a day later, it approved the bill amending the constitution. A few days later, this bill was formally signed by Putin and the Constitutional Court ruled that the amendments were in accordance with the Russian constitution. Even though this procedure was not required, Putin insisted that the constitutional amendment would be approved also by a nationwide vote in July 2020 (Teague 2020).

6 ‘Dvornikov, Mishustin, Scenarios and Traitors—More about Ukraine’, In Moscow’s Shadows podcast, Episode 64, 16 April 2022, available at: https://podcasts.apple.com/cz/podcast/in-moscows-shadows-64-dvornikov-mishustin-scenarios/id1510124746?i=1000557774100, accessed 29 May 2022.

7 Constitution of the Russian Federation, 2023, available at: http://www.constitution.ru/en/10003000-07.htm, accessed 29 June 2023.

8 ‘Visit to the Government Coordination Centre’, 13 April 2021, available at: http://en.kremlin.ru/events/President/news/65358, accessed 29 May 2022.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jonáš Syrovátka

Jonáš Syrovátka, Independent researcher. Email: [email protected]

Jan Holzer

Jan Holzer, Masaryk University of Political Science, Jostova 10, Brno 60201, Czech Republic. Email: [email protected]