The escalation of repressions against all manifestations of discontent in Russia inevitably results in greater influence of the country’s special services and police, often described as the siloviki (literally, power-wielders). This plain fact has come into sharper focus when the Kremlin found it necessary to disagree with a recent article in the Financial Times that elaborates on the transformation of Vladimir Putin’s regime into a police state. Dmitry Peskov, the veteran-spokesperson for President Putin, found it opportune to lament the supposed decline of professional competence within the “Anglo-Saxon media” just a few hours after the article’s publication, inevitably drawing significantly more Russian attention to the piece.
OP-ED
Pavel Baev: Special services aggravate bad governance in Russia
Russian riot policemen patrol in downtown Moscow on Feb. 7, 2021, to prevent possible protests in support of jailed Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny.
