The MSEC is a "pus-filled pimple" that has been around for quite some time, says Yuri Bogdanov.

Let's make one important emphasis in the story about the MSEC. Perhaps a key one. Uncovering this festering issue is a positive development.

The MSEC system has exploited people with disabilities for many years or has sold services like "disability for benefits", "disability to avoid alimony payments", or — when war broke out — "disability to avoid military service".

This is not "a problem that arose today". This is a disaster that has existed for decades, and for the most part, no one cared. No health minister, prime minister, or president has been particularly eager to address the issue of people with disabilities, partly due to corrupt rents from that sector, and partly simply because it was not a priority and not electorally advantageous.

It took a grand scandal for anyone to even look into it. Of course, now proposals and even steps towards simple solutions will be generated. But eventually, we will have to return to systemic reform.

Without the scandal, everyone would still be indifferent. Some, even well-educated and informed individuals, learned about the MSEC through this case. Now they want change. Good. This is the first step towards change.

In fact, this is how it works in almost all sectors. Unfortunately. Without war, we wouldn't understand the purpose of the military. Without COVID — the healthcare system. Without the need for weapons — science and engineering. Our society is very infantile in many respects.

Just like the elites. I still remember how a classic from the previous parliament asked, "why should we fund science when it yields nothing." But it seems there are fewer such foolish questions now. The same applies to the question of why we need a proper social security system. This is true for many issues.

There are still many festering issues ahead: schemes and corruption in prosthetics (which unfortunately still exist), unverified pensions, hundreds and thousands of fraudulent municipal and state enterprises profiting at local and central levels, and much more legacy, often from the Soviet era. And all of this has certainly intensified during the war.

Overcoming this infantilism due to the necessity of witnessing the fallout is normal. It is a stage in the construction of society and the state. But it is very painful. Essentially, we are witnessing this in real-time. However, the fact that this process is underway is a good sign. Because you can only tackle a problem that you have at least noticed.