There is a Russian folk tale about a turnip that no one is able to pull out of the ground. More and more people and animals arrive to pull together until they finally succeed. As is evident from the latest Kremlin project, things are more complicated in the real world. The new national projects are very reminiscent of the last national project, which has yet to be completed and is already half-forgotten: doubling the country's gross domestic product.

A few weeks ago, President Vladimir Putin held a live three-hour videoconference devoted to the national projects. This is a brand new genre for the Kremlin, although it is somewhat similar to the special public meetings held in the regions to castigate bureaucrats. Former Ulyanovsk Governor Yury Goryachev loved to hold these events. The first foray by Putin into this kind of public discussion with bureaucrats of various ranks, however, did not ...