Karen Dawisha’s book, “Putin’s Kleptocracy: Who Own’s Russia” is not light reading by any means. A lot of research has gone into this, and there is a lot to comprehend. Nevertheless, you will absorb a lot even from just one reading, and what you will find may surprise you.
From reading recent headlines about Putin, occurring the Georgian province of Abkhazia, along with sending troops into Eastern Ukraine and denying it, it is obvious that Putin is not only a tyrant, but a liar, a cheat, and a thief. He got to where he is today by lying cheating, and stealing. Most of all, he is evil, and this book presents evidence backing up all of this.
With Putin, this has been a way of life. Putin started out in the KGB, working as an officer in East Germany for five years during the time of the Soviet Union. He was chiefly into espionage, stealing weapons designs from industries in the West. Fifty percent of all Soviet (and now Russian) weapons systems were based on stolen designs. When East Germany fell, Putin helped to destroy lists of East German informers.
Soon after, Putin become deputy mayor of St. Petersburg, where he took plenty of bribes and kickbacks, until finally, was selected by Boris Yeltsin to become the Russian Prime Minister and soon after, its President.
Putin was not without his critics. He has been investigated by the FSB (equal to the FBI) and other law enforcement agencies, even indicted, but was never brought up for trial. Putin always escaped it through his connections, up until the time he became president. There have also been attempts on his life.
Russia, in the 1990s, was awash with criminal activity and corruption. When Putin declared as president that he would crack down and put an end to it, what he really meant is that he would make himself the kingpin and collect all the profits. Russia, at present, is a mafia state, run by Putin and backed up by his cronies, being his now billionaire friends running all the businesses, who will all remain in their place with their billions as long as they remain loyal to Putin, along with ex-KGB officers combined with the Russian Mafia. It is believed that Putin’s cronies control 35% of Russia’s wealth, much of it in overseas banks, including the United States.
In order to get a clear idea of how Putin runs the country and how he treats his people, I will present a partial list of his doings from being deputy mayor of St. Petersburg in the 1990s up to the present, all of it explained in greater detail in the book. These are not in any particular order, but it doesn’t matter.
Putin embezzled funds meant to build health clinics all over Russia for a “palace” in Genendzlik. Putin has many luxurious private dachas and palaces.
In 2005, Putin literally stole a four carat Super Bowl ring from the hand of Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots. Putin kept it for his own.
He bought and sold companies at low prices and criminally privatized them into the hands of friends. The Baltic Shipping Company is one example.
Roman Tsepov ran Putin’s tribute system, i.e. money Putin skims for his own pockets, and had high influences in many companies, but overstepped his boundaries when he wanted a share of Yukos oil. He was poisoned by radiation.
Putin bought a dacha in the Ozero cooperative in 1992, on the banks of Lake Komosomol’skoye, and threatened to burn down the houses of local residents if they did not sell their land. In other cases, people will be run off their land to make room for a new dacha or palace for Putin.
When a dacha of Putin’s burned down, the original builders rebuilt it, in better condition, free of charge. I do not think this was voluntary.
In 1991, deputy mayor Putin, without permission, took money from the St. Petersburg budget, meant to buy food for the starving populace (being 90 Deutschmarks) and bought German meat and had it delivered to the KGB in Moscow. Putin did not care about the starving populace.
Money and goods meant for food went elsewhere, and Putin and his friends profited, putting the money in offshore (foreign) banks.
The FSB, with Putin’s knowledge, set up bombings of apartments in St. Petersburg, killing innocent people, and putting the blame on the Chechnyans, as an excuse to start another war with Chechnya.
Oversaw the gambling industry in St. Petersburg, skimming off the profits.
Used unauthorized funds for apartments, cars, luxury items.
Eliminated the business competitors of friends, using KGB methods, and imprisoning many of them, including his own political rivals.
Smuggled rare metals out of Russia.
Putin was in a car on the Moscow-Minsk highway. The driver (not Putin) drove at high speeds, killing a five year old boy. The body was removed from the scene and altered, and no one was charged.
In the 2012 reelection for President, Putin destroyed the reputation of his opponents, funded his campaign with stolen money from Gazprom, and massive cheating was done, through false ballots, stuffing boxes with dead people’s names, voter intimidation, correcting votes (changing the votes as ballots were counted), and even burned ballots for other candidates. The Moscow Times itself stated that Putin would not have won without cheating.
From there, you have the idea of how Russia is governed, and that Putin today is creating as much trouble outside of Russia as he possibly can to see if he can get away with it. If the world does nothing, he will continue to do so.
Russia is not communist, but it isn’t democratic either. It is a plutocracy, run by Putin and his very rich friends, all of their wealth stolen from legitimate business and the Russian people themselves. He is also taking away all of their newly won freedoms, but eliminating elections for local leaders and appointing them instead. This will only continue.
Russian society is deteriorating. Health spending and other public services are being cut while Putin and his cronies pocket billions from the Russian treasury. There is a high mortality rate, low birth rates, except among the Muslim population, and in increase in prostitution, alcoholism, and suicides.
The people who are suffering the most from all this are the Russian people themselves, and they know it. Putin does occasionally win their support by annexing Crimea, but slowly, they are seeing Putin for what he really is.
Russia is a feudal regime, like it was back in the time of the Tsars. As long his cronies are loyal to Putin, he can have anything he wants, and that is how Putin keeps in power. How long this will last is anybody’s guess, but Russia may need another uprising to get rid of all this.
The author says it best at the end of her book. In the last paragraph, she states, “The only way for ordinary Russians to avoid state predation is to keep their heads down and believe in fate, or turn into cheerleaders of the system in order to gain insurance and a few crumbs from the table. Russians have a long history of great contributions to world culture, literature, and the arts. They deserve better.”
Alastair Browne
Alastair Browne
