The adulation inflated Putin’s self-importance; slights to his dignity, even constructive criticism, were met with vengeful punishment. When the
A January 2018 report for the Foreign Relations Committee of the US Senate, titled ‘Putin’s Asymmetrical Assault on Democracy’, summed up the very
Vladimir Putin gained and solidified power by exploiting blackmail, fears of terrorism, and war. Since then, he has combined military adventurism and aggression abroad with propaganda and political repression at home, to persuade a domestic audience that he is restoring Russia to greatness and a respected position on the world stage. All the while, he has empowered the state security services and employed them to consolidate his hold on the levers of political, social, and economic power, which he has used to make himself and a circle of loyalists extraordinarily wealthy … Putin’s overarching domestic objectives are to preserve his power and increase his net worth.
The senators describe Putin’s model of state power as ‘authoritarianism secured by corruption, apathy, and an iron fist’; but they are careful to note that this is not the fault of the Russian people, who should not be tainted by the crimes of the regime that rules over them. Put simply,
All anti-democratic regimes fear independent scrutiny; the illegitimate nature of their right to rule makes them unwilling to countenance open debate, so they move to suppress it. Putin has done so through intimidation and violence, backed up by fabricated legal restrictions and administrative penalties. Legislation introduced in 2005, then reinforced in 2012, banned foreign NGOs from operating in Russia, as well as any native organisation deemed by the Kremlin to be a ‘threat to the national interest’. Scores of groups have been shut down, including nearly all of those monitoring human rights and democracy.
Civil society activists have been subjected to abuse and physical attacks. Politically motivated prosecutions against myself and other critics of Putin’s leadership, with concocted charge sheets, automatic guilty verdicts and ‘exemplary’ sentences, were a signal to others that speaking out carries great risk to one’s personal wellbeing. Smear campaigns, fake sting operations and lies have been used to demonise political opposition figures, with the pro-government media characterising criticism as disloyalty and critics as traitors. In February 2015, the leading political activist and former deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov was shot dead within sight of the Kremlin walls, following a concerted campaign of vilification against him. Nemtsov had been organising protests against the Kremlin’s economic mismanagement and was due to release a report on Russia’s interference in Ukraine.
At the same time, Putin has cosseted institutions willing to support the Kremlin and speak on its behalf. While harassing genuine political opposition, he has created ‘rubber-stamp’ parties that play the game of providing ersatz competition in bogus elections. He has granted the Russian Orthodox Church special recognition under Russian law, while targeting other religions with onerous registration processes and restrictions on proselytising. The Orthodox Church’s hierarchy have benefited from presidential grants and the restitution of property forfeited under communist rule. In return, the Church has bestowed its blessing on Putin and promoted his policies as a willing instrument of the Russian state. Patriarch Kirill has declared Putin’s reign a ‘miracle of God’ and given thanks that he has corrected the ‘deviation’ of Russia’s flirtation with liberal democracy. In February 2012, Church and state cemented their alliance with a shared paroxysm of righteous indignation after the rock group Pussy Riot performed their ‘Punk Prayer’ in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.
