Question: In the late 80s. under Gorbachev’s governance, Muscovites, people of Moscow were the vanguard of the change that happened at the time. But now they are more like a bulwark of conservatism. What is the reason for that? Is it a cyclical reversal? Or the pressure of invisible beasts? Or is it because of material and psychological comfort from the redistribution of resources from the regions to the capital? Or is it because of fear of dictatorship or fear of the collapse of the Empire? Or is it something else?
Answer from the Ascended Master Saint Germain through Kim Michaels. This answer was given during the 2022 Webinar – Democracy and Christhood.
Well, the short answer is all of the above. They are all factors in what has happened. Now, you need to recognize here that the people of Moscow have for quite a long time, seen themselves as the most important people in, first the Soviet Union, and then Russia. You have a certain consciousness that they are the avant-garde, they are the elite, they are the leaders, and they are entitled to something. I am not saying this goes for all of the people in Moscow, it is a very large city, with many people who live in poverty. But it is certainly the case for those who have risen to a higher standard of living, and consider themselves the elite.
Many of these people have risen to their current positions because of the oligarchs. And because of Putin’s reign, they have, as you said, benefited from the money that have been channeled from other regions to the capital region. And they do not want to lose their privilege, they do not want to lose their comfortable lifestyles, their yachts, their vacations abroad, their vacation, apartments abroad, and so forth, and so on.
They are perfectly willing to keep the rest of the country in a state of poverty, for their own benefit. It is to some degree, the same you saw during Soviet times where they were willing to keep the rest of the country and other Soviet republics in a state of powerlessness so that they could have the sense of having power in this powerful empire of the Soviet Union. It is, of course, not the same generation, because the old ideological people of the Soviet Union no longer have (most of them) the same power. There has been a certain shift to a new generation of people who have the money and the affluent lifestyle and they want to keep it. And as long as they think Putin can help them keep it, they support Putin.
Now, of course, that faith has been somewhat shaken. There is certainly a movement, even in Moscow, but also in other areas of the country, where people are beginning to doubt that Putin can help them or enable them to keep their lifestyle. And this doubt has not yet reached a critical mass, but it could certainly do so over time. And this will then lead to a certain shift.
Really, you could say, was the people in Moscow, the avant-garde of dissolving the Soviet Union, or were they also somewhat conservative back then? The reality is that many of them even back then, they did not understand what the top leadership understood about the necessity of change and the possibility of economic collapse. They were hoping that even if there were changes mandated by leadership, as they were programmed to accept, they would be able to move to keep their position.
You see that really, it is not such a big shift. They are just hoping to keep their privileged position. And they will do whatever they think will help them keep it, support whomever they think will allow them to keep it. This could actually shift, if they begin to realize that Putin is now a liability to them, rather than an asset. It has started to shift somewhat and it could continue to shift as the sanctions continue to take their toll.
Most people in Russia do not understand the impact of the sanctions. You will even see that. Sergei Lavrov made the statement, quite frankly a surprising statement, given their mindfulness of propaganda, where basically everything he says is propaganda. But he made one slip, where he said that not even the experts in Russia could, in their imagination, imagine this kind of sanctions that the West had imposed.
In other words, before the invasion, there were people in Russia who were tasked with predicting what kind of sanctions the West might impose, and what impact that would have on Russia. And they could not imagine the sanctions that have been imposed. Well, this means what? It means that even though these sanctions have been imposed, it takes time for them to work. And that means that these experts in Russia cannot imagine what the consequences will be. It will take months before they start to be felt.
People are sitting there and saying: Well, the ruble is back up, we still have goods in the store, we can still buy Apple computers, only they cost four times as much. I can still buy a Mercedes, only it costs 4 million rubles, and so forth. But this is not the effect, the full effect of sanctions. The full effects of sanctions will be as some experts, or some oligarchs said before the invasion, to take the Russian economy back to a level that it was at in 1917. This is what several people said before the invasion to Putin: “Do not take our economy back to a 1917 level.”
But this is what will happen if this war goes on, as it seems that it will, for the simple reason that even though Putin has seen the military resistance of the Ukrainians and the sanctions of the West, he is not willing to change his decision. Why? Because as I said, for him, it is never enough. He has big plans, and he knows that the only way for him to fulfill his plans is by not making a mistake. He cannot allow himself to make a mistake. And at this point, withdrawing from Ukraine would be seen by everybody as a mistake.
Of course, everybody outside of Russia already sees that he made one of the biggest mistakes in world history. Many people realize that no person in the entire history of Russia has done more to damage Russia’s standing in the world than Putin has done. But nevertheless, Putin does not see this, those who support him, and many of the people do not see this.
What will happen when the full effect of the sanctions are beginning to be felt? Well, that is an open question. What will happen to the people in Moscow? Will they suddenly become the avant-garde for bringing change, hoping that this will help them keep their privileged positions in a post-Putin Russia? What will happen among the people who are now struggling to meet their basic daily needs? This is an open question. It remains to be seen.
Copyright © 2022 Kim Michaels