Context

Me as an architect

What is the role of the architect in the authoritarian state?

Does architecture have an agency in an authoritarian state?

My name is Masha and I am from Russia. I have lived in Moscow all my life. I adore my home. I like my country, but unfortunately not the people who run it. I don’t agree with either the foreign or domestic policy of the ruling parties. Despite living a fulfilling and exciting life in the fast-paced metropolis of Moscow, I have always been haunted by a lingering sense of apprehension for my future and the future of my country

I think when you live in a country like Russia, you have to have a backup plan in case something happens that is a red line for you. For me, studying at the Academy was that plan. It allowed me to hone my skills as an architect while also providing a safety net in the event of a crisis. Unfortunately, my red line and that very ‘eventuality’ happened in February 2022.

I didn’t believe a full scale war was possible. I didn’t believe and neither did most of my acquaintances, people whose opinion I listened to, experts from journalists to political scientists, I didn’t want to believe, we didn’t want to believe.

In February 22, I was in the middle of working on my final project at the Academy, I was going to do a project in Moscow, exploring the potential of architecture for latent protest. The beginning of the invasion made me rethink some aspects of my work. I had new, different questions. Russians, who have been in opposition to Putin and his government since the beginning of the war, have several basic feelings: shame, pain, frustration, and rage. And while Ukraine has gained a new sense of statehood, Russia’s future is now under great question. In seeking answers to at least some of my questions, I turned to my professional spectrum. I didn’t understand what I, as an architect, a person who creates, can do in a country which destroys. What could be the role of architecture in an authoritarian state?

This work is not about traditional design methods, it’s about finding a different language of architecture, a language that can be used to explore the role of architecture and power, and to define my role as an architect.

In 1991, the collapse of the Soviet Union brought a wave of hope and optimism to Russia. The new government was committed to building a democratic society, with free elections, independent media, and a market economy. Boris Yeltsin was elected as Russia’s first president in 1991, and under his leadership, the country took important steps towards democratization. New laws were enacted to protect human rights, and private businesses were allowed to flourish.

However, by the late 1990s, the situation began to change. Corruption was rampant, and the government seemed unable to address the country’s economic problems. In 1999, Yeltsin resigned, and Vladimir Putin, a former KGB agent, became the new president. Putin promised to restore order and stability to Russia, and at first, he was popular. He launched a crackdown on organized crime and terrorism, and the economy began to improve. But over time, his government became increasingly authoritarian.

Media outlets critical of the government were shut down, and journalists who dared to speak out against Putin were harassed or even killed. The opposition parties were either co-opted or banned. Putin’s government passed laws restricting civil liberties, and the courts became increasingly subservient to the executive branch.

In 2011 and 2012, the first large-scale protests erupted in Russia, fueled by accusations of electoral fraud in the parliamentary and presidential elections, against the backdrop of Putin’s presidential nomination after Medvedev’s term ends. Putin responded with a crackdown on civil society and the opposition, passing laws that restricted protests, NGOs, and online activity.

In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea, triggering a conflict with Ukraine. The annexation was followed by sanctions from the international community and a rise in nationalist sentiment within Russia.

From 2014 to 2018, the government launched a series of trials against opposition figures, including Alexei Navalny, who was sentenced to multiple prison terms on politically motivated charges, and Boris Nemtsov, who was shot in the back on a bridge 100 metres from the Kremlin.

In 2018, Putin was re-elected as the president in an election widely criticized as neither free nor fair. The government continued its crackdown on dissent, and there were reports of the widespread election fraud.

The peaceful assemblies continued to be suppressed, with mass detentions and criminal and administrative prosecution of organisers and participants. The dissemination of information about uncoordinated rallies is also restricted and the approval procedure remains unbalanced and disproportionately complicated

In 2019, the government introduced a remote electronic voting system for several regions of the country. This system severely limits observer control, increases the likelihood of data leakage, and, according to some experts, makes it easier for the authorities to falsify elections.

In 2020 and 2021, Russia passed new laws that further restricted free speech, political activity, and online privacy. The Russian constitution was amended in 2020, one of the main clauses of which, will allow Putin to be in power until 2036. These are the years of the first the poisoning and then the arrest of Alexei Navalny. The beginnings of the blossoming of the law on foreign agents and extremely violent detentions and arrests at protests against the regime, that were the years when the government used the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to impose new restrictions on public gatherings and protests.

Overall, the past decade has seen a steady erosion of democratic institutions and civil liberties in Russia, with the government consolidating power and suppressing dissent. While there are still some opposition voices and civil society organizations operating in the country, their ability to affect change is limited, and the prospects for a return to democracy in Russia remain uncertain.

2022 marks Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Everything before that moment catastrophe. Nevertheless, especially now one can clearly see all the decisions the government has made over the last decade to stupefy citizens with the state propaganda.

Throughout 2022 about half a million Russians left they country; this year was a record for the number of new articles in the Russian Criminal Code; 20,467 detentions on political grounds were made; 10 organizations were declared extremist by Russian courts; at least 20 people were detained on suspicion of treason; 10-11 million people lost the right to be elected; 378 individuals, organizations and associations were recognized as “foreign agents”; 176 individuals and organizations were prosecuted for their anti-war position; 6 civil society organizations were liquidated; 22 obviously repressive new laws were adopted; 26 mass media outlets were fined for spreading fake news about the Russian military; for the sake of military censorship over 9000 websites were blocked, including all the media outlets which expressed different opinions from the official resources.

At the end of 2022, Russia was almost excluded from the global context. With nine sanctions packages imposed on it Russia became the leader in terms of imposed sanctions.

In just a few short decades, Russia has gone from a country with promising democratic prospects to an authoritarian state excluded from the global context.

Since the late 2000s, dissatisfaction with Russia’s ruling parties has been steadily growing. It reached a peak during the 2012 presidential election when Vladimir Putin’s was elected president again, after a one term break of his protégé, Dmitry Medvedev. This move was widely viewed as a spurious attempt to circumvent the country’s term limits.

In the years that followed, the Russian government steadily increased its control over the minds and actions of the population, restricting and dictating their opinions. Despite resistance attempts, the government’s intimidation tactics, including the deployment of Rosgvardeys (National Guard of Russia) and real prison sentences for expressing opinions, prevented protest movement from achieving its goals.

The development of state control, repression and the abolition of opposition, The Russian Federation

The timeline of protests in Russia over the past decade shows a clear increase in both the frequency and the size of demonstrations. However, the government’s repression of dissent has prevented these movements from gaining momentum and achieving real change.

As the government continues to tighten its grip, it remains to be seen how much longer the population will tolerate their actions. It is clear, however, that seeds of dissatisfaction with ruling parties have been sown and are unlikely to go away anytime soon.

Bolotnaya Square case, 2012

He Is Not Dimon to You, 2017

Ingush case, 2019

Moscow case, 2019

Vladikavkaz case, 2020

Palace case, 2021

Anti-war case, 2022

Anti-war case, 2022

Increase in the number of detainees at solitary pickets (data to 2020)

2020(january-june)

A solitary picket is the only form of public action that, according to Russian law, does not need to be notified in advance to the authorities. Nevertheless, detentions of participants of such actions are not uncommon, and in 2020 this problem has reached new proportions.

Detentions at solitary pickets in Moscow 2012-2020 number of detainees number of detainees

In the 2000s, Russia experienced a promising era of growth and development, breaking away from the past characterized by oligarchs, side deals, and shady privatizations. This period saw the rise of massive IPOs and the growth of supermarket and telecom chains, resulting in the Russian economy’s impressive 10% annual growth.

At the same time, in August 1999, Russia launched the Second War in Chechnya, followed by a series of large explosions in Russian cities, including Moscow, resulting in deaths of over 300 people. Putin, who was the prime minister at the time, blamed Chechen terrorists for the attacks, although some suspected that the FSB may have been involved. Regardless, Putin’s response significantly boosted his popularity, and he was elected president less than a year late.

Timeline 2

Correlation between the growth of regressions and cultural and economic developments, The Russian Federation

In the mid-2000s, Russia experienced its wealthiest period. Moscow became a cool, modern European capital, and people had a chance to travel and even take weekend trips to European cities. However, this prosperity was matched by the Kremlin’s deception, as they appointed a fake president, Dmitry Medvedev, who seemed like a modernizer but was merely a puppet. The Kremlin’s trick was eventually revealed when in 2011 Medvedev announced that he was stepping down to make way for Putin’s return to power. This deceit angered the people, and in December of 2011, when the Kremlin brazenly rectified parliamentary elections, it sparked protests on the streets.

The key word during these protests was “Dignity,” as people demanded choices and a say in their government. The rallies grew from 5000 to 50000 to 100000 people, eventually moving to Bolotnaya Square, an island on the Moscow river, just across from the Kremlin. Despite the police presence, the atmosphere was not fearful or violent. At that time it felt like the people were more powerful than the authorities because people controlled the narrative of the media, which was liberal and oppositional. However, the Kremlin was smarter than the liberals thought, waiting for the right moment to regain control.

In March 2012, Putin returned to the Kremlin as the president, and the people protested his return. This time, however, the protests turned violent, and the police responded with force. After Putin’s return to power, prosecutors went after the Bolotnaya Square protestors, putting people in jail for participating in the rallies. This was when the protests started to feel dangerous, and the hope began to fade, replaced by anger and a sense of loss.

The shooting of Boris Nemtsov, the main Russian opposition leader at the time, on February 27, 2015, on the bridge across the Kremlin, marked one of the turning points. It made people realize how well an authoritarian state could work. You, as a person, felt that you could do whatever, work, party, create a business but don’t bother yourself with politics.

Emigration from Russia by years

Figures below appear important to illustrate the scale of the phenomenon

Total

The estimate by the authors of the study based on data from the Federal State Statistics Service and the host states

By 2018, Moscow became a city of landscape parks, cycling lines, and public wi-fi, and it felt like the best place in the world to live. Cool districts, job opportunities, trendy places, express delivery and the best services from tech to beauty. It was possible to squeeze in a think “maybe it is not so bad”, but not for very long. In 2018, Putin was re-elected for the fourth term as thee president, but Bolotnaya Square remained quiet. However, the increased aggression from the riot police at protests, along with greater control and real consequences for speaking out, made people feel like the wall separating them from state repression was getting thinner and thinner.

On the morning of February 24, 2022, everything changed. Russia was plunged into a full-scale war, and the creative class that had once thrived in the country was suddenly deemed irrelevant. The wall that had once separated the people from state repression had crumbled, leaving many vulnerable to the whims of those in power.

Legislation on “foreign agents” Amendments and application practice in 2022 176 individuals, organizations and associations were recognized as “foreign agents” in 2022 Legal

Number and type of undesirable organizations by years

Breakdown of share consistency data, 2017-2019 agreed not agreed

Breakdown of data by topic, 2017-2019

Crimea migration legislation

Ukraine education against torture

LGBT healthcare antifa nationalist agenda freedom of assembly ecology dwelling urbanistic gender rights freedom of speech narrowly economic requirements foreign policy other political prisoners corruption against authority elections