A harried dictator Vladimir Putin seems to be moving to crack down on the speech of hawkish former political allies who are increasingly upset about Russia's military reverses.
Since the start of the Ukraine invasion, Putin's rubber-stamp legislature has been busy passing laws to muzzle critics of his "special military operation."
In the latest twist, reported Nov. 13 by Ukraine's Ukrinform news agency, Putin wants to strip Russian citizenship from those who make "false" statements about the military -- which is under the sway of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu who has been in a nasty turf battle with Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, and Prigozhin's phalanx of military bloggers, and with other hawks, some of whom openly chastised Putin as a political softie when the newly annexed city of Kherson was abandoned to the Ukrainians.
Putin proposed that a bill in the works against "false" information about high defense ministry and military officers and about military operations be amended to penalize critics with loss of citizenship, a move that would denude a person of basic rights due under Russian law. It is however uncertain whether the final law will target those born Russian or only those with acquired citizenship. Even if the "milder" measure passes, the point will not be lost on native-born Russian critics: they would be next in line to lose citizenship.
In any case, Putin's political problem is that he has relied on the hawks to bolster his position domestically. Without their vigorous support, he must now rely solely on the bureaucratic area controlled by Shoigu. In turn, that situation leaves Putin open to a softening of Federal Security Service support, as the FSB is not dominated by the defense ministry but manages to exist in the netherworld of intelligence power that is usually planted in several bases.
Tho Prigozhin has tended to find fault with Shoigu rather than Putin personally, Prigozhin's continued assault on Putin's military people has undermined Putin. Tho Putin would seem unlikely to want Prigozhin harshly penalized, the new punishment could well be directed against Prigozhin's military bloggers who, because of Prigozhin's influence as an oligarch, have a reach out of proportion to their abilities.
Prigozhin meanwhile is feeling the squeeze politically as officials of St. Petersburg bar him from proceeding with a mercenary training academy as distaste for the hawks rises among Russians whose men are now headed for the killing fields of Ukraine. Putin rose to power from his political maneuvering in St. Petersburg.
Since the start of the Ukraine invasion, Putin's rubber-stamp legislature has been busy passing laws to muzzle critics of his "special military operation."
In the latest twist, reported Nov. 13 by Ukraine's Ukrinform news agency, Putin wants to strip Russian citizenship from those who make "false" statements about the military -- which is under the sway of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu who has been in a nasty turf battle with Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, and Prigozhin's phalanx of military bloggers, and with other hawks, some of whom openly chastised Putin as a political softie when the newly annexed city of Kherson was abandoned to the Ukrainians.
Putin proposed that a bill in the works against "false" information about high defense ministry and military officers and about military operations be amended to penalize critics with loss of citizenship, a move that would denude a person of basic rights due under Russian law. It is however uncertain whether the final law will target those born Russian or only those with acquired citizenship. Even if the "milder" measure passes, the point will not be lost on native-born Russian critics: they would be next in line to lose citizenship.
In any case, Putin's political problem is that he has relied on the hawks to bolster his position domestically. Without their vigorous support, he must now rely solely on the bureaucratic area controlled by Shoigu. In turn, that situation leaves Putin open to a softening of Federal Security Service support, as the FSB is not dominated by the defense ministry but manages to exist in the netherworld of intelligence power that is usually planted in several bases.
Tho Prigozhin has tended to find fault with Shoigu rather than Putin personally, Prigozhin's continued assault on Putin's military people has undermined Putin. Tho Putin would seem unlikely to want Prigozhin harshly penalized, the new punishment could well be directed against Prigozhin's military bloggers who, because of Prigozhin's influence as an oligarch, have a reach out of proportion to their abilities.
Prigozhin meanwhile is feeling the squeeze politically as officials of St. Petersburg bar him from proceeding with a mercenary training academy as distaste for the hawks rises among Russians whose men are now headed for the killing fields of Ukraine. Putin rose to power from his political maneuvering in St. Petersburg.
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