Russia is imposing more controls on private business to put the economy on a stronger military footing, signaling that the country is preparing for a lengthy struggle for control of Ukraine.. Reported by the Financial Times.

The proposed new laws are designed specifically to support the armed forces and meet the " These measures are in response to the fact that Moscow's plan for a quick victory after its invasion of Ukraine failed as the conflict turned into a war of attrition centered on the eastern region of Donbass, and that sanctions are predicted to take a heavy toll on the Russian economy..

“Russia has been conducting a special military operation under huge sanctions pressure for four months,” Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov said.. “The load on the military-industrial complex of Russia has increased significantly,” he said in the Duma during the discussion of the bill.. “In order to ensure guaranteed supplies of weapons and ammunition, it is necessary to optimize the work of the military-industrial complex and enterprises working in cooperation with the defense industry”.

The first bill, which has already passed the second reading in the lower house of parliament, will allow the government to oblige businesses to fulfill the state defense order, and the Ministry of Defense and other departments the right to change the terms of contracts. This would allow the authorities, for example, to force a factory to redirect production to the military and control how much of a particular product or service the business provides..

However, the measures are primarily aimed at enterprises that are already on the list of defense industry suppliers, Borisov said.. “The bills do not provide for the mandatory conversion of civilian small and medium-sized enterprises for the needs of the armed forces,” he said..

The second bill would change the federal labor law to give the government the power to increase control over the workforce.. The authorities will be allowed to “establish the legal conditions of labor relations in individual organizations,” including establishing “conditions for engaging in work beyond the established working hours, at night, on weekends and non-working holidays, and the provision of annual paid holidays”. According to Borisov, this was done in order to respond to the shortage of specialists in defense enterprises performing government contracts..

Bills must also pass through the upper house, after which they can be signed by President Putin.. The explanatory note says that the new measures are “especially” necessary because of the sanctions..

So far, higher prices for oil and gas exports have reduced the impact of sanctions on the Russian economy and provided the Kremlin with significant revenues that it could use to support the economy and the military.. But the impact of the sanctions is expected to deepen as Ukraine's allies increasingly pursue policies to wean themselves off Russian energy and Putin announces measures to provide financial support to the population.

“They are preparing for the worst,” said Elina Rybakova, deputy chief economist at the Institute of International Finance. “Soon all this income may end”.

Last week, the Finance Ministry proposed cutting spending in some areas, including budgets for transport infrastructure and science and technology development projects, by 1.6 trillion rubles ($25 billion) over the next three years, Vedomosti reports.. He also plans to significantly increase spending on social security from 936 billion to 3.4 trillion rubles next year alone.. The report quoted an unnamed Treasury Department official as saying that overall the changes represent a "