"Unfortunately, the main achievements remain in the last century."
"The news that Valentina Tereshkova plans to run for the State Duma again at 88 years old is a good reason to talk not so much about age, but about the very nature of power," writes Moscow political scientist Ilya Grashchenkov in his Telegram channel.
"Arguing about whether a person can be effective at such an age is a thankless task. History knows many examples of active and wise older politicians. But here the question is deeper.
When the same figure, even if legendary, remains in politics for decades, it speaks to a system that becomes increasingly difficult to renew. Gerontocracy is not just 'rule by the old.' It is a power arrangement in which access to the highest echelons of power for new generations and ideas is seriously restricted. The system begins to use proven symbols of the past - like Tereshkova for legitimizing the present, exploiting the image of breakthrough and youth to conserve the current order, which may not encourage these qualities.
The essence of the problem is not even in biological age, but in political age. When an elite, whose key experience was formed in a completely different era - without the internet, without global supply chains, without modern challenges - continues to make decisions for a society living in a digital world, it leads to a rupture. A rupture in the perception of the speed of life, in understanding technological risks and opportunities, in the language spoken by the country.
Such a system masquerades as stability. They say, here are proven people, they can be trusted. But true, healthy stability is not freezing. It is dynamics, where the elite has room for both the wisdom of experience and the energy and fresh perspective of new people. When there are mechanisms that allow worthy representatives of different generations to come to power. If these mechanisms are absent, the system begins to stall. It loses flexibility and the ability to adapt, which in our fast-paced world is fraught with much greater upheavals than planned personnel rotations.
The story with Tereshkova is a mirror in which our political system is reflected without embellishments. Unfortunately, the main achievements remain in the last century. The fact that Russia has not only a great past but also a future, for which we need people whose lives and careers are still ahead - this is a forbidden area of the image of the future. After all, what it will be like - no one knows anymore, and predicting it in such a turbulent moment is a thankless task."
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Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova (born March 6, 1937, in the village of Bolshoye Maslennikovo, Tutayevsky District, Yaroslavl Oblast, RSFSR, USSR) is a Soviet cosmonaut, the first woman in the world to fly in space (1963), Hero of the Soviet Union (1963), lieutenant general (2025)[2]. Full cavalier of the Order of 'For Services to the Fatherland.'
Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the VII–XI convocations (1966–1989), member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1974–1989). Head of the Committee of Soviet Women (1968–1987) and the Union of Soviet Societies for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (1987–1992).
Russian politician, deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, member of the Supreme Council of the United Russia party[3]. In March 2020, she proposed an amendment to the Constitution of the Russian Federation that allowed the current president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, to run for president two more times.
Due to her support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine, she is under international sanctions from the European Union, the United States, and several other countries.
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