Paranoid regulatory innovations? Setting the stage for an unexpected war in Russian cities, 2021-2022

ABSTRACT This article examines the regulatory innovations and the way they were introduced by Russian federal authorities in the months leading up to the war in Ukraine. Following the standardization approach of the Soviet planning system, there was a rapid adoption of new and the modification of existing GOSTs. This article attempts to 1) trace and document how a hybrid regime state with a socialist planning heritage prepares the cities for war in the 21st century, and 2) propose an explanation for why the expert’s community has not reacted to such urgent policy changes.