The character from Tengiz Abuladze's "Repentance," Mikhail Korisheli, said during interrogation that, according to an agent assignment, he was supposed to dig a tunnel from Bombay to London. He convinced Sandro Barateli that their testimonies should be as absurd as possible, and then the government would think. The government did not think. But in more vegetarian years, megalomaniacal projects like the turning of Siberian rivers became the heirs of the absurdity of the tunnel from Bombay to London. As sung in the song by Feltsman-Rozhdestvensky: "Do you hear, time hums — BAM!" They also appeared in post-Soviet years, some, like the high-speed highway Moscow-Petersburg, have been revived even now.
This is not economics. It's a type of thinking. And also a way of making money. As economic official Dvorkovich said during the preparation for the 2014 Olympics and the 2018 World Cup: "Let's do it without kickbacks!" Yes, let's!
And so instead of the Bombay-London tunnel, an idea arises, publicized by Kirill Dmitriev, a great friend of Steven Witkoff and other progressive developers: let's dig a canal named after Stalin... oops, a tunnel named after Putin—Trump under the Bering Strait. Just 8 billion dollars over 8 years. After all, the shadow of New-Vasyuki does not let state investors rest...
Project scheme for creating a tunnel between Russia and the USA. Photo: social networks of K. Dmitriev
"In all its negative growth..."
Willingly or unwillingly, Dmitriev revealed the motives for why the Kremlin needs Trump. The Kremlin needs not so much Trump as his money and investments because the revenue base of Putinomics is melting faster than the authorities adjust the state budget. And they adjust it more and more often. First, they have a budget deficit of 0.5% of GDP, then 1.7%, and now already 2.6% with confident prospects for growth. At least because no one is going to stop the SVO. GDP growth was planned at 2.5% for 2025, now it's 1.0%. For 2026, the plan is 1.3%, for 2027 — even 2.8%. Where will it come from if the Ministry of Finance says it's time to slow down the "budget impulse," otherwise inflation won't stop? Only finished metal products, some machines, and certain equipment and electronics useful in combat conditions are growing. Everything else is stagnating or falling. For the first quarter of 2026, even the most cautious macroeconomists — at least at narrow seminars — predict zero growth. As the youth of St. Petersburg sings after Noize MC: "My country has risen from its knees / In all its negative growth".
Without Trump and the tunnel under the Bering Strait, there's nowhere to get money: non-oil and gas revenues are growing a little, but they do not compensate for the falling oil and gas revenues. The reflexive movement of leading workers in response to new challenges is to raise all possible taxes and fees.
They forgot about the curve of old man Arthur Laffer! And he warned: if you raise taxes to a certain excessive level, the money in the treasury will not increase but decrease. The tax base will go to the base — someone into the shadows, and from someone, nothing can be squeezed out anymore because fiscal pressure will stop the activity of economic entities. The government hits simplified taxation schemes — and the businessman-taxpayer closes the business. Or says one of the most popular phrases recently: "Could you pay in cash? Thank you!"
"Taxes will stifle any revival," says a cautious and not inclined to apocalyptic forecasts macroeconomist. Thus, essentially revealing one of the results of the Laffer effect (another result is the slowdown of scientific and technological progress). And admits that the narrowing of the tax base, that is, the bankruptcy of small businesses, does not greatly scare leading workers. In the logic — "let them go to state factories, people are needed there". Only consumers do not need what is produced at these factories. They need what small and medium-sized businesses produced and delivered to their table.
Otherwise, this highest stage of Putinomics cannot be called anything but self-destructive and anti-economic. Well, yes, all this fiscal pressure will steadily support the friendly blue gas flame of Gazprom and other companies close to the state, as well as the background feverish shine of inflation. It simply has nowhere to go, it will continue to grow.
Drawing of the Kennedy-Khrushchev bridge published by K. Dmitriev
"What nonsense..."
Against this backdrop, certain macropolitical patterns emerge. The worse the situation in the economy, the harsher the political repressions. The more significant the decline of industries and the higher the deficit of budgets at different levels, the more cheerful and lively the reports of senior officials. Everything is blooming and thriving in the energy sector, Putin claims in his speech at the "Russian Energy Week": "What nonsense, you see, nonsense!" (these are words about Western elites who refused Russian energy resources). The speaker of the State Duma Volodin speaks in an even more exotic manner:
"...Yes, our growth rates are decreasing, but inflation is also decreasing. This is the preservation of salaries, their real growth, price reduction..."
And as a result of these phenomena, according to the speaker, the rays of light from the Russian economy will destroy and/or put to flight the "mold" in the face of Biden, Macron, and Merz:
"...The world will be better if they leave. And this can only be done through increased efficiency, including the budget ruble..."
If the "budget ruble" goes to non-productive expenses, and sometimes it's not even enough to pay the honestly earned state allowances for teenage school-student pregnancies, perhaps the Macrons and Merzs will live a little longer. And if they leave, it will be due to the observed rules of rotation of senior officials in democratic states in the world of pure profit ("unclear by whom established").
There is a lot of money missing, as well as reduced opportunities to earn it. But there was enough to, for example, make the capital of our homeland totally green in connection with the 20th anniversary of the propaganda structure Russia Today: Moscow was in a festive decoration of the company's corporate colors, and the degree of importance of dumbing down everything around was expressed in the fact that the anniversary was celebrated with Putin's participation on the historic stage of the Bolshoi Theater — quite in Stalin's traditions. After all, Stalin, besides loving children in the face of Mamlakat, loved the Bolshoi Theater very much. And this is also all on taxpayer money, within a very tight budget. Perhaps the anniversary went under the "secret expenses" article or ate up half of the annual spending on what the regime figuratively calls "culture."
What else — the tunnel to Anchorage can be dug right from the Bolshoi Theater, especially since there are probably already developments in the form of Stalin's "Metro-2". The main economic principle has been well known since the blessed Soviet times — dig from the fence to lunch. It will be difficult, but since 1975, from the song about BAM, we remember:
"...We will meet chilly dawns,
We will meet a long blizzard.
In the biography of the planet
We will write our line..."
And you can't argue with that...
* Andrey Kolesnikov is considered a "foreign agent" by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation.