Observations of an Expat: Navalny v. Putin

Alexei Navalny’s memoirs are adamant: Putin’s Russia is based on corruption and “lies, nothing but lies.”

“It will,” he has written,  inevitably “crumble and collapse.”

The late Navalny’s scathing assessment is a central theme in his memoir “Patriot” which is published this coming week in 11 different languages.

Russia is a modern-day feudal state wrapped in the flag of nationalism and plagued with corruption, bribery, kleptocracy, cronyism, a crooked judicial system, and suppressed media and personal freedoms.

There are an estimated 100 oligarchs at the top of the Russian heap. Their cumulative net worth is about $500 billion. The exact number of oligarchs is constantly shifting as the man at the apex of this structure—one Vladimir Putin—likes to keep his underlings on their toes by firing, imprisoning and assassinating any oligarchs that dare to veer from fawning fidelity.

Putin himself is one of the wealthiest man in the world with estimates of his net worth ranging from $180 to $200 billion. His money is derived mainly from kickbacks and bribes from oligarchs who rely on his favour for their billions. Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index ranks Russia at 141 out of 180 countries.

A prime example of this feudal-type corruption is the 2014 Winter Olympics at Sochi. At $50 billion they were the costliest Olympics in history. They didn’t need to be. It is estimated that a third of the bill went in kickbacks and cost overruns. The contractors were childhood friends of Putin, Arkady and Boris Rotenberg. Their construction company was the only one allowed to bid for the Sochi contract. They secured the contract to build the Kerch Strait Bridge linking Russia and Crimea on the same terms.

Exposing Russian corruption is a risky business. Navalny was a leading exponent of it. He was poisoned with Novichok in 2021. After recovering in Germany, he returned to Russia to be immediately arrested and imprisoned. He died in a remote prison in February.

A similar fate befell Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. He exposed a $230 million tax fraud scheme involving Russian tax officials. Magnitsky alleged that officials stole from the state using fake tax refunds. He was arrested and died in prison under suspicious circumstances. Magnitsky’s  death led to America’s Magnitsky Act which imposes sanctions on Russian officials involved in corruption and human rights abuses.

An oligarch who ended up in prison is Mikhail Khordovsky. He was the founder and CEO of the immensely successful Yukos Oil Company. In 2002-2003 he dared to criticise Vladimir Putin and donated money to opposition politicians. Khordovsky was arrested on charges of fraud and tax evasion. Yukos was hit with back-tax claims which forced the company into bankruptcy. Its asserts were sold to Rosneft at a bargain basement price. Rosneft also acquired another oil company Bashneft in 2014 after its owner was arrested on money laundering charges. Rosneft is owned by the state and the state is owned by Putin.

In theory Russian courts are there to protect such abuses. But in 2010 Judge Olga Kudeshinka of the Moscow City Court revealed that judges faced pressure from politicians to rule in favour of influential parties. Levada—the Russian pollsters—reported that the public believe that 70 percent of the judiciary accept bribes and 58 percent say they are pressured by the government.

So, what about the media? Article 29 of the Russian constitution protects freedom of speech. But this did not protect Anna Politovskaya of “Novaya Gazeta” who dared to investigate abuses during the Chechen War. She was shot outside her Moscow apartment in 2006.

Mikhail Beketov, editor of a local newspaper in Kimski, was brutally beaten in 2008 after uncovering instances of local corruption. He died of his injuries in 2013. Even foreign journalists are at risk. The Wall Street Journal’s Evan Gershkovich was only recently release after being imprisoned in 2023 for espionage. Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, BBC Russian Service, Voice of America, TV Rain, have either pulled out of Russian or been banned.

The Russian authorities also have the power to block access to websites and they can order social media providers to remove anything they regard as fake news. The definition of fake news is basically anything that the government says is fake. Since the start of the Ukraine War fake news has been defined as anything that contradicts government statements. The Russian laws on fake news are covered by a series of laws and amendments known collectively as “On Countering False Information.” Breaking them carries a 15-year prison sentence.

The final outlet for protest is the streets, and Article 31 of the Russian constitution guarantees to the right to peaceful assembly. But that right is negated by the 2004 Law on Public Assemblies which says demonstration organisers have to obtain permission for a protest rally ten days in advance, and permission can be denied for any reason that the state desires. In addition there is the Foreign Agents Law, Federal Law on Combatting Extremism Activity and the Public Order and Security Law.

History has shown—and Navalny is right– that any regime built on suppression, corruption and lies is doomed to fail—usually quite dramatically. Russia suffered such a collapse twice in less than a 100 years. The problem is the damage that such a regime inflicts before its inevitable downfall.

* Tom Arms is foreign editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and author of “The Encyclopaedia of the Cold War” and “America Made in Britain".

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4 Comments

  • David Warren 19th Oct '24 - 3:39pm

    The only real chance for democracy in Russia came after the February 1917 revolution. Unfortunately by the time the elections for a Constituent Assembly actually took place the Bolsheviks had taken power and they suppressed it.

    All political parties except Lenin’s were banned and a long period of dictatorship began. When the USSR finally collapsed the only political forces were those that had come from the Communist Party who basically retained power at the same time as dismantling the
    state run economy. The Western powers only concerned about gaining access to lucrative new markets didn’t care about encouraging democratic reforms. A real tragedy.

  • Joseph Bourke 20th Oct '24 - 12:42pm

    Alexander Litvinenko was a whistleblower into corruption in Russia’s FSB when Vladimir Putin, headed it and campaigned to expose alleged FSB involvement in apartment bombings in Russia in 1999 as part of the campaign to have Putin appointed as Preseident. Several Russians who did the same also met untimely deaths. In the last months before he was assasinated, Litvinenko was attempting to expose alleged links between Mr Putin’s inner circle and a Russian mafia gang.
    Litvinenlo had refused orders to carry out assasinations of behalf of the FSB.
    In November 1998, Litvinenko and several other FSB officers publicly accused their superiors of ordering the assassination of the Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky. Litvinenko was arrested the following March on charges of exceeding the authority of his position. He was acquitted in November 1999 but re-arrested by the FSB before the charges were again dismissed in 2000.
    According to Litvinenko, the old soviet leadership of the KGB regained control of the FSB in 1996 and was closely intertwined with organised crime and corrupt businesses. This is what constitutes the Russian state today..

  • Michael (Mike) Falch 24th Oct '24 - 6:34pm

    There was another opportunity for democracy in Russia under Gorbachev. As a university lecturer in Russian I made a number of visits in the 1980s and 90s not just for students but meeting many other interesting people, including the family of a once famous modernist writer killed by the KGB but eventually restored on whom I was working. The streets of Moscow and Petersburg were alive again with cafes and shops and people were pleased to meet you and give you the latest gossip. Political parties with connections in the rest of Europe were appearing in elections and dodgy jokes were appearing on TV. Why, oh why was this all thrown away so that some people could earn a lot of money and why on earth would anyone want to have a former head of the KGB and son of a secret policeman as its first “democratically” elected President?

  • Peter Hirst 28th Oct '24 - 4:35pm

    Replacing autocracy with democracy in never easy without violence. Civil society can provide the stimulus as in Bangladesh though the price is often high. Foreign intervention can be helpful though it can make matters worse.

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