Financial Times · Russia · Vladimir Putin · Ukraine · Fortune Technology
Former top Russian official admits the country is over Putin and can ‘imagine a future without him’
Compiled by KHAO Editorial — aggregated from 1 source. See llms.txt for citation guidance.
◌ Single Source
Russians are starting to acknowledge that President Vladimir Putin has led the country to a dead end and can’t shape its future, according to a former senior official in the Kremlin.
Key facts
- One person who knows him told the FT that Putin devotes 70% of his day to the war and only 30% to other duties, including the economy
- The former official estimated that the state has seized around $60 billion in assets from private businessmen over the past three years, either outright nationalizing their property or redistributing
- Meanwhile, as the rules-based global order fades, Russia can’t game the system as much by exploiting institutions like the United Nations Security Council
- The Kremlin’s internet blackouts have raised howls among ordinary Russians as the regime tries to limit information on economic woes and soaring casualties in Ukraine
Summary
In a recent Economist op-ed authored anonymously, the former official pointed out that fellow government peers in Moscow, regional governors and businessmen have stopped using the first person plural when describing Putin’s actions. In other words, Russia’s elites found a subtle way to no longer express solidarity with Putin, describing what “he” does rather than what “we” do. That shift took place last spring, but does not signal a rebellion is imminent, the former official added, as the state still controls key levers of repression and fear. At the same time, the regime has stopped bothering to sell a narrative of national restoration or modernization to the rest of the country, which is losing enormous amounts of blood and treasure in the battlefields of Ukraine.