The Year 2015

Abstract

Russian politics in 2015 was characterized by a continuation and strengthening of the lines of development first announced in the previous year. The chief trends in political development included a growing personalism and progressive deinstitutionalization of the Russian political system, the degradation of elections and of the judicial system, and the de facto dismantling of local self-government. The political elite underwent a radical shift in power, changing its overall configuration and enhancing the role of heads of the security forces. This coincided with the activation and strengthening of the apparatus of repression and an increase in pressure on regional elites, with continuing replacement of governors and of managers of state corporations.

Notes

English translation © 2016 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC, from the Russian text, “2015-i: khronika krepchaiushchego avtoritarizma.” Published with the author's permission. Translated by Stephen D. Shenfield.

^1. See www.kommersant.ru/doc/2917918/.

^2. According to the president, in the course of 2014 almost 200,000 criminal cases were initiated for economic crimes, of which 46,000 reached court and another 15,000 collapsed in court. An “absolute majority”—80–83 percent—of the entrepreneurs charged lost part or all of their business. As Putin indignantly observed, “they were squeezed, fleeced, and let go!” (http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/50864).

^3. See http://slon.ru/posts/63072/.

^4. On April 5, 2016, Putin announced a large-scale reform of the law enforcement agencies.

^5. See www.ng.ru/ideas/2014-01-13/9_top.html. www.rosinform.ru/mir/679579-top-100-veduschikh-politikov-rossii. www.ng.ru/ideas/2016-01-13/9_top100.html.

^6. According to a recent information summary in Izvestia, over 4 million people in Russia work in the security forces. Total personnel of the MVD number about 1,300,000, the Ministry of Defense—2,200,000, the FSO—325,500, and the Federal Drug Control Service—40,000. There are about 30,000 judges and 23,000 court bailiffs. The procuracies employ 63,000, the Investigative Committee—20,000, the migration service—34,500, and the tax agencies—166,000. Due to secrecy it is difficult to calculate the exact number of employees of the FSO, FSB, and military intelligence, but approximate calculations indicate that they number about 250,000 (http://izvestia.ru/news/569683#ixzz3ODdOK6vn). This figure includes about 170,000 border troops.

^7. Individuals appointed to these posts in 2014 included: vice admiral Oleg Belaventsev, who has a secret service past (Crimean Federal Okrug—in March); lieutenant general of Internal Troops Sergei Melikov (North Caucasus Federal Okrug—in May); and army general Nikolai Rogozhkin, former commander of internal troops of the MVD (Siberian Federal Okrug—in May). Taken together with FSB colonel general Vladimir Bulavin (Northwestern Federal Okrug—March 2013) and former general procurator Vladimir Ustinov (Southern Federal Okrug—2008), generals again constitute the majority of plenipotentiary representatives, as they did when this institution was introduced fourteen years ago.

^8. See www.ng.ru/politics/2016-03-04/1_chekisty.html.

^9. https://slon.ru/posts/49864?utm_source = slon.ru&utm_medium = internal&utm_campaign = follow-up#payline/.

^10. Olga Kryshtanovskaya and Stephen White, “Putin's Militocracy,” Post-Soviet Affairs, 2003, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 289–306.

^11. For a more detailed account, see N. Petrov, “Krym: prevrashchenie ukrainskogo poluostrova v rossiiskii ostrov,” Kontrapunkt, no. 1, September 2015. www.counter-point.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/petrov_counterpoint1.pdf.

^* Simferopol is the administrative center of Crimea. During the period when Putin was prime minister he and President Dmitri Medvedev were viewed as governing as a “tandem”; the “local tandem” presumably refers to the pairing of the plenipotentiary representative of the president in Crimea and the head of the Crimean government structure.—Trans.

^* Kushchovka is a Cossack settlement in Krasnodar krai that was taken over by a gang of criminals in 2010, leading to mass murder. Bakhchisarai in central Crimea is the former capital of the Crimean Khanate.—Trans.