Authors

Ingerid Opdahl¹;  ¹ Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies, NDUC, Norway

Discussion

Business leaders in Russia today participate in a managed political system, exerting some influence on policy in return for accepting loyalty obligations to the regime, including support for regime priorities. This paper discusses business participation, loyalty and mobilisation in wartime, especially mobilisation for war-related priorities. Employing and modifying existing systems of sanctions and incentives for business, the regime promotes business cooperation in priorities such as rebuilding and developing the occupied territories of Ukraine. In the Russian political context, business cooperation confers legitimacy on the war, including occupation, but it is also economic mobilisation for the war effort. The paper investigates Russian business contributions to the war, and especially Russian business’ role in the occupied territories, in a context of regime legitimation and mobilisation. The paper builds on the author’s work on discourses of legitimation through patriotism under Putin.