Studying the architectural projects implemented or even just discussed over the last two decades in Putin’s Russia, Vladimir Kalashnikov concludes that a unified “Putinist” style hasn’t emerged. “The second-rateness, the all too obvious imitation, the absence of our own professional understanding of modernist concepts made this architecture provincial, at least compared to Western models,” he explains.

Neo-modernism became the dominant style, yet without reaching a final form. A form of neo-Stalinist architecture also developed, especially in Moscow for commercial projects and upper-middle-class housing, such as Triumph Palace and Scarlet Sails. Meanwhile, the private companies building these new complexes failed to do their homework, having added “a wide range of elements from Gothic, Baroque, Rococo, Art Deco and even Moorish style.”