MOSCOW (Realist English). I can’t stop thinking about the story of Roman Starovoit. If you think about it, the former minister was a model child of the pre-war era — the epitome of that technocratic type primed for “success at any cost”, but devoid of inner content or convictions, beyond the lines crafted by PR consultants.
He was the head of a sectoral agency, then a deputy minister, then a governor, and finally a federal minister — all under the patronage of a well-known group of influence, commonly referred to as one of the “towers”. It was the perfect bureaucratic career. The right house in the right neighborhood, a spacious apartment, a 25-year-old girlfriend with model looks — the typical footballer’s wife — and a trendy Tesla. It all felt like an endless Instagram reel: pure attributes of status and success. But there was nothing personal, nothing soulful behind it. No religion, no philosophy, no family in the deeper sense — the kind that offers support and understanding in hard times, not just pretty pictures for social media or high-society receptions.
And when that glossy shell shattered, when the non-stop upward motion hit the edge of a cliff, it became clear there was no inner core. You are your title, your consumption. Without it, you cease to exist. And then — the shot. Because there is no reason left to live.
I see many people like this in our field. Endless striving for more money and more status. And in the end — deep neurosis and burnout, no “rear guard” that will catch you and embrace you, in joy or in sorrow. A life lived on display, a deep fear of ever looking inward and asking: what do I truly want? It’s a Sisyphean career.
Maria Sergeeva — political consultant
