While global attention is fixed on the front line and reciprocal strikes, the main process remains in the shadows: the systemic degradation of institutions inherited from the late USSR.

The destruction of Ukrainian statehood, infrastructure, and society is merely the first, most visible phase of the global crisis across the post-Soviet space. However, within Russia itself, a no less dangerous, deep-seated systemic crisis is brewing. It is caused less by the asymmetric «pinpricks» of the Armed Forces of Ukraine than by internal historical flaws that continue to block the normal development of the state.

To understand why the modern Russian model built a guarantee of its own destruction into its foundations, one must turn to the secret origins of the Soviet system, the fate of cybernetics, and the mechanics that gave birth to the shadow state.

1. The Origins of Falsification: Bogdanov’s Tektology and the Ban on Artificial Intelligence

The main myth upon which the post-Soviet economy was constructed states: «Capitalism is the market, and socialism is the plan. Therefore, any planning is a Soviet relic and an evil.»

This distorted narrative conceals the true history. In the 1920s, Alexander Bogdanov—one of the key ideologues and organizers of Bolshevism—created «Tektology,» an all-encompassing organizational science. It was his works that laid the philosophical and scientific foundation for the future general system theory, cybernetics, and computer science.

However, the conflict between Bogdanov and Lenin resulted in the systemic approach and the implementation of computing technology in the economy being blocked by the party nomenklatura. Bogdanov and his name became the Communist Party’s main secret, and cybernetics was declared a «reactionary pseudoscience» (lit. «bourgeois whore of imperialism»). This was done not out of ideological disagreements, but out of the self-serving interests of the nomenklatura:

• Transparency vs. The Web: The introduction of automated accounting and control systems (a precursor to modern AI) stripped bureaucrats of the ability to hide resources.

• The Freedom of Deficit: The shadow sector of the Soviet economy thrived on systemic deficit.

It was underground black-market producers (tsekhoviki), working hand in hand with Soviet factory directors and Gosplan officials, who created the «shadow state.» They took state-owned raw materials, hid them from accounting records, manufactured goods, and sold them on the black market. It was this shadow state that ultimately destroyed the Soviet Union, formally codifying its power in the 1990s.

2. The Great Delusion: How the West Adopted Soviet Planning

While 1990s Russia was destroying the remnants of Soviet industry under the slogans of «the market will regulate everything,» the leading capitalist powers (the USA, Japan, Germany) did the exact opposite—they fully transitioned to strict, systemic planning.

In major Western corporations and state entities, operational planning is structured 4 to 5 years in advance. There are strict regulations for fulfilling plans, tied directly to subsidies and ultra-cheap credit (at 0.1–0.5%, provided both by commercial banks and directly by central banks).

In Russia, however, a perversion of principles took place:

• Destruction of the Basis: All the merits of planning were labeled as flaws and thrown onto the ash heap of history.

• Adoption of the Worst: The most feral, chaotic forms of early capitalism were adopted.

• Investment Paralysis: Instead of directly funding strategic industries, a structure was built where the Central Bank channels money to intermediary banks, which speculatively inflate interest rates for the real sector of the economy.

A striking example is infrastructure preparation. The construction of facilities for the London Olympics was completely designed and virtually simulated using digital management systems (AI), allowing the entire process to be monitored by a modest analytical group. In Russia, similar projects managed through the State Corporation «Olympstroy»—with a staff of thousands of bureaucrats—turned into bloated «constructions of the century» due to the lack of unified, end-to-end planning and oversight.

3. The 2026 Deadlock: Military-Industrial Crossroads and Systemic Wear

Today, Russia faces a challenge for which its economic system has proven fundamentally unprepared. Emergency conditions demand high precision, coordination, and technological independence:

• Machine Tools and Chips: For decades, the governing apparatus operated on the principle: «Why plan and manufacture our own ball bearings, microelectronics, or machine tools when everything can be bought with petrodollars?»

• The Challenge of the Era: The military conflict has demonstrated that without indigenous machine-building, modern computing hardware, and AI-driven targeting systems, waging XXI-century confrontation is impossible.

While the West analyzes the chronic weaknesses of the Russian model—from systemic corruption to an inability to execute long-term industrial mobilization—inside Russia, authorities remain terrified of the word «plan» and continue to choke off developmental funding for fear of inflation.

Conclusion: A Historical Crossroads

History has come full circle. The territory of the former «Russian World» (the former Russian Empire and USSR) is destroying itself in a fratricidal war while basic economic and state mechanisms collapse.

Ukraine is undergoing a phase of direct physical breakdown of its economy and infrastructure, alongside a power grab by a «security service Leviathan.» Russia, meanwhile, has reached its own historical crossroads:

• Transformation Scenario: Overcome the foolishness imposed in the 1990s; reject the omnipotence of commodity shadow capital and semi-criminal bureaucratic clans; build an economy of cooperative and public companies; and restore institutions of strategic planning and tech-intensive production powered by modern information technology.

• Inertial Collapse Scenario: Continue clinging to an archaic, unregulated, and corrupt system, risking the fate of the late USSR and enduring a cascading internal collapse.

The time for half-measures has expired. Unless the regime resolves to radically shift its management paradigm, systemic contradictions will break through, dragging Russia down after the destroyed Ukrainian statehood.