Prigozhin and Wagner, then Gazprom, and now Malofeev, Altushkin, and other magnates are discovered (and encouraged) to be forming their own private military units. It sure sounds like Russia’s devolving into warlordism, with government encouragement. I wonder if that’s just a crass budgetary calculation by Putin, an inability to by Putin to stop such lèse-majesté, or a genuine disregard by Putin for the Russian state and people after his demise? His idols Stalin, Peter the Great, and Ivan the Terrible would never have allowed this much power to coalesce in potential rivals’ hands.
Prigozhin and Wagner, then Gazprom, and now Malofeev, Altushkin, and other magnates are discovered (and encouraged) to be forming their own private military units. It sure sounds like Russia’s devolving into warlordism, with government encouragement. I wonder if that’s just a crass budgetary calculation by Putin, an inability to by Putin to stop such lèse-majesté, or a genuine disregard by Putin for the Russian state and people after his demise? His idols Stalin, Peter the Great, and Ivan the Terrible would never have allowed this much power to coalesce in potential rivals’ hands.