The Kremlin czars.. Russia's political gangs

“In Russia, unlike in the United States, the power of the state remains much stronger than that of any single person, company or group of companies.”

(Mikhail Khodorkovsky)

On October 26, 2003, the Russian police arrested Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the richest businessman in Russia at the time, who was responsible for producing about a fifth of Russian oil for the world through his own company, Yukos, after acquiring it in the mid-1990s from the Russian state;

The authorities accused him of illegal profiteering and tax evasion.

It didn't take long;

In order for the world to realize that the issue is primarily political, and related to the differences between "Khodorkovsky" and the new president, "Vladimir Putin," everyone was aware of all forms of theft, tax evasion and suspicious financial transactions carried out by hundreds of businessmen in the nineties, while the Russian state sought to sell many of her possessions, and so theoretically all of them could have been arrested on the same charges.

Khodorkovsky (Reuters)

However, "Putin" was not willing to arrest all of these, as the subsequent events revealed, and was not intending to strike the nascent Russian capitalism, and to return to the Soviet era, as the Western press accused him from time to time, and all that was there was that "Khodorkovsky" in particular was an obstacle in the way of the plans of Putin's special, most prominent of which is the restoration of the centralization of the state in the sectors of natural resources, the most important of which are gas and oil; So that the regime can use it in its relations with the world, as well as to exclude businessmen who believed - even for a moment - that there was an American model that could be investigated in Russia; With him the Russian private sector becomes above the state itself.

Khodorkovsky was one of these, and he was intent on using Yukos as a means of cementing economic relations with the West on the one hand, and creating a central political role for it at home; Especially with his financial support for two opposition parties at the beginning of Putin’s era, and one of his partners in the same company financing communist activities, with a clear desire to prove his capabilities against Putin without any other ideological considerations, and his ambition to consolidate the regime of former President “Yeltsin” by strengthening the grip of money at the expense of the state; In order for Russia to crystallize an American capitalist democratic model as it was envisioned at the time.

Within just a month of Khodorkovsky's arrest, and while his and his company's fate remains unknown, another businessman is on the verge of stepping into Putin's world and playing on his terms. After a short meeting with the president, he decides to stop the merger of his oil company. Sibneft and Yukos, a deal that was on track to create the largest Russian oil giant and the world's fourth largest oil company.

Mr. A, as he is known to this day in the corridors of the Kremlin, gave up his oil ambitions;

But Putin gave him a lot in return for agreeing to join his own project.

Russian bourgeoisie

In Lenin's eyes, the Russian bourgeoisie was characterized not only by the disadvantages of any other bourgeoisie, such as the exploitation of the workers, but also by its lack of the advantages of any other bourgeoisie, it preferred to remain the hostage of the tsar, and therefore was a pathetic bourgeoisie with both its economic greed and political cowardice. "

(Alan pal, a

professor of

Russian history and Soviet)

During the first decade of Putin's presidency, Mr. A rose to prominence in the world of politics and business. The man sold his Sibneft company to the state-run Gazprom;

To strengthen the state’s grip on the gas sector as it has always wanted, and at the same time fill his pockets with billions that allowed him to acquire all he liked of yachts, real estate and private planes in France and Britain;

He eventually reached the world of football by buying Chelsea Football Club in 2003.

Roman Abramovich (Reuters)

He is "Roman Abramovich", known to the followers of the English Premier League and the world of finance in Britain, as the millions he bestowed on Chelsea brought major names in the world of football, with which he achieved most of the English and European championships in his recent history, and his fame in the heart of London is only rivaled by his fame at the extreme northeastern Russia in the freezing cold Chukotka state; Where "Abramović" is known among the indigenous people of the Chakchi ethnicity for his leadership of the state for eight years, during which he spent from his pocket to pave and light roads, and to save the population from a severe cold wave that struck the state at the beginning of Putin's presidency.

Abramovich's relationship with that remote state began when he registered Sibneft; Due to its minimal tax restrictions; But the Kremlin soon decided to push him there to consolidate the power of the center in the states on the one hand, and boost Moscow's popularity on the other hand; Given that he spent from his own pocket to develop the state, a pattern that quickly spread to several other states, to prove the inadequacy of the analyzes that considered the era of "Putin" the beginning of the retreat from capitalism. It was, in fact, a vast inauguration of the intermarriage of capital and power, but in the Russian manner.

The influence of businessmen in local politics is mentioned only by mentioning "Alexander Khloponin", who chaired the board of directors of the "Norilsk Nickel" company for extracting minerals from the Krasnoyarsk state (which includes the greater part of Siberia), to succeed in taking over the presidency between 2002 and 2010, before being chosen Dmitry Medvedev as Presidential Envoy for the North Caucasus Province, and then as Deputy Prime Minister;

Where he remains in his position and his influence within the Kremlin.

Lev Kuznetsov, a businessman in the oil sector and a member of the State Duma (parliament) (Reuters)

Also added to the list is Oleg Kozmiako, owner of Russia's largest fisheries company, who heads Sakhalin State, an island state in the Pacific Ocean bordering Japan that is a central region for the fish sector. and Lev Kuznetsov, a businessman in the oil sector and a member of the State Duma (parliament), who also held the presidency of the Krasnoyarsk state between 2010 and 2014, before becoming Minister for North Caucasus Affairs.

Most of these businessmen belong to the stage of openness led by former President "Yeltsin", and "Putin" succeeded in containing them and exploiting their economic influence in various states; Rather, investing their capabilities in the states in which their companies’ business is concentrated, as we can see from the aforementioned examples, which is a unique and contradictory model at the same time that allowed them to expand their investments and profits on the one hand, and allowed the state - on the other hand - to establish their loyalty to the Kremlin, and the loyalty of state citizens to Russia, and finally, inaugurate a kind of Soft centralism is not formally written, but actually imposed by the close relations between these men and the government.

It was not surprising, then, that the holders of executive and management positions in large Russian companies came to the presidency of 16 Russian states (about one fifth of the states of the Russian Federation), and formed a share of 15 percent of positions in local administrations in general in 2003, the same year in which he was arrested "Khodorkovsky"; Hence, the exceptional situation that the latter represented with his incompatible vision with the Kremlin is revealed to us, in contrast to the model of the bourgeoisie allied with the state that prevails among businessmen who have won Putin's approval and still are today.

Putin's policy of containing businessmen did not stop at their investment in the states;

And even reached to give them some ministries, especially those that need financial and administrative expertise.

For example, Alexander Novak holds the position of Minister of Energy, and is at the same time Chairman of the Board of Directors of the company "Transft", the monopoly of the gas pipeline industry in Russia, and "Herman Gerf" served as Minister of Economic Development between 2000 and 2007, before moving to manage a bank Russia's largest, Sberbank, as well as Vladimir Potanin, who owns a third of Norilsk Nickel (of which Abramovich also owns a small stake), and is the head of the National Council on Business Governance.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (Reuters)

Among all these, of course, stands out Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who held the presidency for four years before Putin returned to his original position; He is an old friend who worked with Putin in the Petersburg mayor's office in the 1990s alongside a group of technocrats and reformists - including Herman Gerf and Narshkin - before taking over the chairmanship of Gazprom's board of directors when Putin came to the presidency, and then as head of the ruling party (United Russia). ) who currently dominates the Duma, and the premiership to this day.

Putin never hides the inspiration that Tsarist Russia, and its own bourgeois model, represents for his regime today in Russia, but the bourgeoisie of efficient management and technocrats never goes beyond the world of finance and administration to the world of security and military services, in which Putin depends, not on his friends from Petersburg;

Rather, it's on his older KGB friends, known as the "Seluvik".

Silovik never dies

"A chika member never becomes a former member"

(A common saying about members of the Soviet secret police)

After all, Vladimir Putin is not a businessman, and he has never worked in any of the banking or financial sectors like many, and despite his appreciation of the importance of the technocratic factor in keeping the wheel of the Russian economy from stagnation, trying to avoid the mistake of his Soviet predecessors, the man who worked As a Soviet intelligence officer, he remains close in his perceptions to the men of the security and military services, who form the second side of his regime after the businessmen and technocrats of Petersburg.

Just as the doors of the state opened to the new bourgeoisie, they also opened to the former employees of the security services, especially the former KGB. The most prominent of these is Igor Sechin, the current head of the largest oil company, Rosneft, in Russia. It acquired the share of Yukos after the blow to Khodorkovsky, who previously worked in the Soviet intelligence and knew Putin during their work together at the Petersburg Intelligence Bureau in the eighties, and he is the most powerful figure now in the Kremlin in the "siloviki" wing, or rather the architect of that Originally, the wing handles - in particular - the file of energy deals with countries around the world.

Sergei Ivanov, Minister of Defense from 2001 to 2007 (Reuters)

Sergei Ivanov, Minister of Defense between 2001 and 2007 and Chief of Staff of the President's Office until August 2016, also belongs to the same wing, a former intelligence officer who began his work with the KGB in the 1970s, and got to know Putin early during the Soviet era. He is the most prominent architect of Russian strategy globally, especially in the former Soviet countries. He coined the term "sovereign democracy" to describe the Russian model in his famous article "The New Russian Doctrine", in which he details Russia's own model and the need for it to stand for NATO expansion and apply Western concepts of democracy.

That wing belongs - then - to the Soviet vision that viewed the West as a single bloc, and still views it and its democracy with many doubts. It is a classic wing in its anti-Westernism, so to speak, in contrast to the Petersburg technocrats who are known for their liberal tendencies; It should be noted here that Dmitry Medvedev, the leader of the liberal wing, has reservations about the term "sovereign democracy" coined by "Ivanov" in 2006, and that it is biased towards the idea of ​​democracy in its Western form, and that it does not necessarily conflict with the strengthening of Russia's military and political power in its neighborhood.

Most likely, then, that "Putin", as belonging to both the Petersburg and Silovian wings, is trying to use the "siloviki";

He believes that Russia urgently needs them, especially in the sovereign files, such as its military development, its external role, energy deals, and controlling the federal situation in them;

In order not to repeat the Chechnya scenario in the nineties, and perhaps one of the important names in this camp is "Sergey Chmezov", CEO of the "Rostec" holding company responsible for advanced industries in the military and civil fields, a former colonel in the army and currently a teacher at the War College.

"Putin" divided the republics and states of the federation into seven major provinces, mainly for military purposes, and placed five of them under the leadership of military leaders (Reuters)

Therefore, in parallel with the use of businessmen as heads of states during his reign, "Putin" divided the republics and states of the federation into seven major provinces, mainly for military purposes, and placed five of them under the leadership of military leaders, and an eighth region was added to it, which is the most volatile North Caucasus. Currently - also - under the leadership of a former naval officer, add to this the affiliation of about 70% of the workers - under those eight commands - to the security or military services, and the increase in the appointment of those with intelligence and security backgrounds in general from 11% to 25% of senior administrative positions under the presidency. Putin."

In the end, Medvedev’s rise to the position of prime minister, and his brief succession to “Putin” in the presidency between 2008 and 2012, indicates to us Putin’s alignment with the liberal camp, more inclined to the legacy of Tsarist Russia, and the fact that this camp is the most penetrating state and Duma Together in the era of "Putin", although the penetration of siloviki into the core of the bureaucracy remains remarkable.

Between the Petersburg circle and the new bourgeoisie and the Siloviki, then, the centers of power in the Kremlin are divided, and they are increasingly divided from within, especially with the emergence of new names in the business world and within the security institutions, and the folding of the pages of old personalities that “Putin” no longer sees their usefulness, a wheel that supporters believe The current Russian system is more viable than the Soviet system by effectively distributing competencies between the administrative sectors on the one hand and security on the one hand, but the past of Tsarist Russia, which Putin aspires to, and its present full of corruption and class gaps, with its recent economic crisis, reveal the limits of that The tsarist model, which Lenin once saw as pathetic before witnessing its own downfall.