Considering that Russia has already in some ways been drifting further and further away from neoliberalism and more toward a traditional industrial capitalism with a strong state sector (though there is still a very disturbing neoliberal mentality in their central bank), and having seen how the war has kind of forced them to go even further in the direction of heavy state intervention in the war-relevant sectors of the economy, i think Ukraine definitely has a better chance of recovery under Russia than under a neoliberal western client regime.

I have been quite impressed by the speed at which Russia has rebuilt parts of Mariupol, though of course that was also motivated by the Russian government wanting to generate good PR for itself and ingratiate itself with the newly incorporated regions, to show them that it’s worth supporting Russia and they won’t just be left with the destruction. I doubt the Kremlin intends to invest that much effort into every damaged city in Ukraine that they take over, Mariupol is definitely one of the “poster cities”, but it’s still a good sign.

Obviously it would still be a thousand times better under actual socialism, but for now that doesn’t seem like it’s an option…yet. I still think Russia has a lot of potential to see a socialist resurgence, especially now that they have broken ties with the West, liberalism has severely fallen out of favor and more and more Russians look to China as an example of success.