Putin’s Bestowals and ‘Care for the People’

This article examines a little-studied technique of governance in contemporary Russia: the public bestowal of grants, prizes, payments and honours associated with Vladimir Putin and other powerful figures. Drawing on online research and accounts from Russian interlocutors, particularly cases from Siberia, it explores how competitions and exceptional rewards are framed as personal acts of care while addressing needs inadequately met through regular state provision. Examples involving firewood, military recruitment, village improvement and bereaved families reveal both the material value of these rewards and their uneven social consequences. The article argues that bestowal differs from both ordinary welfare entitlement and stable patron–client exchange: it invites citizens to present themselves as deserving recipients, publicly acknowledge their benefactors and accept scrutiny of their responses. In doing so, it helps redirect voluntary efforts towards official priorities and reinforces personalised forms of political authority.