Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Russian image of ‘limitless resources’ is mostly propaganda, MSPs told

Ekaterina Schulmann spoke at the Scottish Parliament (Kirsty O’Connor/PA)
Ekaterina Schulmann spoke at the Scottish Parliament (Kirsty O’Connor/PA)

Russia should not be seen as having “limitless resources” as this image is mostly propaganda, MSPs have been told by one of the country’s political scientists.

Ekaterina Schulmann, a prominent lecturer and commentator, is unable to return to Russia due to being labelled a “foreign agent”.

On Wednesday, she spoke at an event in the Scottish Parliament organised by Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton.

Other Russian expats attended the talk in a Holyrood committee room, along with several MSPs, as she discussed the state of opposition to Vladimir Putin’s government.

Prof Schulmann is also an associate fellow at Chatham House and hosts a YouTube channel discussing Russian affairs.

She said that due to the “abnormal” restrictions on freedom of speech in Russia, she and other academics had been “made into some sort of radicals which actually we are not”.

Prof Schulmann stressed she is a political scientist rather than an activist and sought to offer an objective account of the political situation in Russia, presenting slides with economic data and survey results.

The country is a “personalist autocracy”, she said, with power concentrated around the Russian president and his close circles.

Determining public opinion in Russia is difficult, she said, due to people being reluctant to openly criticise government policy.

Russia Putin
Vladimir Putin’s government was said to be a ‘personalist autocracy’ (Valeriy Sharifulin/AP)

Prof Schulmann said 2024 is an “extraordinary” year for the Russian federal budget as President Putin dramatically hiked military spending amid the ongoing war with Ukraine, but this increase will not be repeated in the following years.

She said: “I’m not trying to say that economically or budgetarily speaking the system only has the stamina for another year and no longer.

“That’s not my point, I don’t think that is true.

“What I want to stress is that the idea of Russia as a country with limitless resources – human, economic and political – is mostly a propaganda feature.”

Discussing anti-war sentiment in Russia, Prof Schulmann said the beginning of mass mobilisation into the Russian armed forces was a “wake-up call” for many in the country.

However, age is still the main determining factor for support for the war with Ukraine, she said, with elderly Russians being more likely to back ongoing military action.