“Do not bring God to see Russian revolt — senseless and merciless!”
Alexander Pushkin, “The Captain’s Daughter”
Russian President Vladimir Putin posing as a defender of the Russian people around the world, but it’s a lie. Nationalists believed his assurances that he cares about the reputation of Russia, its traditions and religious values, and therefore supported it; now they think he betrayed them. They turned against him, and since he’s scared of them using them against their repressive apparatus. The greatest weakness of Putin, and the President of trump have the opportunity to use it.
In the last article I wrote about the threat of Putin’s power by a growing Muslim population and the pressures that trump may have on Putin, threatened to withdraw NATO troops from Afghanistan. The Ministry of Russia responded with a warning that NATO cannot afford to leave Afghanistan because it will lead to “a complete collapse of the country.” However, Putin should focus on internal problems and the threat of collapse in Russia itself, and not on distracting factors beyond its borders, which he so readily creates. The true threat to Putin’s rule — his dependence on President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov in the struggle with the nationalists, which he can no longer hide.
Russian nationalists was natural for Putin’s support. They support an expansionist foreign policy, believe in the protection of traditions and the heritage of the past Russian Empire. They want to return to possibly more territories and establish puppet governments in places, which fail to capture. They are joined by some of the most active far-right nationalists, who, however, are a minority nationalist movement as such.
Since the beginning of his reign, Putin has dreamed of the restoration of the great Russian Empire, promoting this idea through passionate appeals to protect the “oppressed Russian” near abroad and the return of the ancient Union of the States of Kievan Rus. Nationalists enthusiastically supported these aspirations. However, the loss of Ukraine after the Maidan in 2014 has caused devastating damage to its Imperial dreams.
Not too embarrassed of the incident, he rushed to the trophy with similar emotional baggage — historically Russian territory of new Russia. He warned the population of Russia, that his standard of living is expected to fall, but promised that it will happen in the name of the great Russian glory, using desires and the language of the nationalists as justification for their own ambitions. As explained Putin: “the Russian people and to tell a little wider — the person of the Russian world, primarily thinks about the fact that there is some higher moral destiny of the person… That Western values, they are just as that man is in himself, inside… Russian man not concentrate on a loved one, it is expanded outward.”
However, these promises were broken, because Putin’s rule had the full the influence of Russia on the world stage. First, losing Kiev, Putin has failed to keep and the new Russia, when such cities as Odessa and Kharkov refused to support his invasion. The nationalists feel that their sacrifices were in vain, and even the Russian population in the Donbas now is worse than before the Russian invasion.
The authors of the 47-page report prepared based in Moscow human rights organization SOVA in 2015, said: “Perhaps the authorities fear that the nationalists, being much more focused on violence than liberals and most leftists can become an important security element to a potential more radical protest movement”. The government expressed particular concern about “returning from the Donbass militants.”
This “power element” Putin fears most. He oppresses nationalists, put them in jail and killing people, and embodying their worst nightmare, using Chechens. They feel betrayed, and I think all loyal Russian people. Is not liberal, Boris Nemtsov, Putin’s authoritarianism hate: people who trusted him and thought that he will realize their dreams. But he betrayed them, and now he is afraid of them.
Putin did not increase the power or the greatness of Russia, instead, his reign had reduced the Russian state compared to its tsarist or Soviet past. Russia belongs to the West. Russian music, art, literature and political thought are part of the European tradition. However, Russia has ceased to be an Empire, the dream of the nationalists: the great defender of Christianity, a nation that has preserved Europe from Napoleon and the Nazis. The great Russian Empire Putin is just a Potemkin village: the standard of living of Russians dropped sharply, and during the years of Putin’s rule in art, science, technology or sport was not achieved any breakthrough.
Instead, the Russians got a bloated kleptocracy, where you profit from Putin and his cronies. Some analysts consider him the richest man in the world; assess the net value of its capital ranging from $ 50 billion to $ 200 billion. As I said one wit, “Putin wants to rule like Stalin but live like Abramovich”. The Russians see a better standard of living abroad and are wondering about what prevents them from living well. While they are more and more convinced that the reason for this is Putin, the atmosphere is heating up. In Russian there is an unfortunate tradition to destroy and put in prison deposed rulers and their families — as wrote Alexander Pushkin: “do Not bring God to see Russian revolt — senseless and merciless!”
The authoritarian regime created by Putin after 2012, left no room liberal reforms: if in the current Russian economic environment to carry out full-fledged reform, his regime will fall. Know that he and his inner circle, and they will do everything to maintain power. They know they have crossed the Rubicon if they lose power now, those who seize power instead, and spared neither them nor their families. Putin and trump are playing with very different rates: one fights for his heritage, and the other for his life. That’s what keeps Putin awake at night.
