It Finally Happened! Putin Consolidated Absolute Control Over Russia. Dark Times Are Coming - The Russian Dude [View all]

In this episode, we break down a moment that quietly exposed just how far Russia’s political system has collapsed. During the second reading of Russia’s federal budget — a document that determines how nearly 20% of the country’s GDP will be spent — the State Duma proposed exactly zero amendments. No debates, no regional demands, no symbolic resistance. Just silent approval. And that silence speaks louder than any propaganda speech. It shows a parliament that no longer represents anyone, a legislature that has been hollowed out to the point where voting itself has become meaningless.

We explain how Russia reached a stage where lawmakers no longer even pretend their opinions matter, why dissent inside the system has become professionally and personally dangerous, and how fear and incentives replaced debate and negotiation. The Duma is no longer a place where power is contested — it’s a decorative institution that exists to rubber-stamp decisions made elsewhere. Lawmakers understand that opposing Kremlin decisions carries catastrophic risk, while supporting them offers only temporary safety. The rational choice becomes silence.

This video also traces how power didn’t disappear from parliament — it concentrated. Budget decisions, appointments, and strategic priorities moved behind closed doors into the presidential administration. Courts, regional governments, and local authorities lost their leverage one by one, until all meaningful authority ended up in one place. Vladimir Putin didn’t just intimidate institutions — he made them irrelevant. And once institutions stop defending their own power, they collapse without resistance.

Finally, we explore the long-term cost of absolute power and enforced silence. A system with no internal brakes produces unchallenged mistakes, compounding failures, and consequences that fall on ordinary people. Russia didn’t lose checks and balances overnight — it lost them quietly, through fear, apathy, and resignation. That’s why this budget vote matters. It’s not about numbers on a spreadsheet. It’s about a country where institutions no longer protect anyone, where parliament no longer functions, and where silence has become the default survival strategy.