Evening Political Roundup, October 20, 2026

The “System Operator” forecasts a 2.9% increase in energy consumption in 2027, but has itself cut its long-term plan by nearly 60 billion kWh: for two years in a row, the country has consumed less electricity. The State Duma passed a bill in its first reading legalizing non-public credit ratings, and the FSB arrested a teenager born in 2008 in Mari El for passing the coordinates of defense industry facilities to Ukraine. On the international front, Trump’s approval rating fell to 31% two weeks before the congressional elections, and a Norwegian court ordered the seizure of five Russian properties in Oslo. We’ll examine why all these decisions are being made with the same long-term perspective in mind.