Former KGB officer, Vladimir Putin, is showing that he has little time for liberalisation. He is comfortable running the Russian state in cohorts with his friends and former colleagues from his time in the USSR’s security service, who now work in a variety of government posts, big business and with effective contacts in organised crime. This disastrous nexus is doing the Russian people no good, although it is helping the careers and bank balances of those in authority.
The latest indication that Putin wants to take a tough line with any differing views is his abrupt reversal of his side-kick Dmitry Medvedev’s reforms, which included keeping Russia on summer time (trying to help farmers), decriminalising slander (good for healthy debate) and purging boards of state-run companies of government officials (trying to reduce corruption). Putin wants to have nothing to do with any of that. Perhaps triggered by the massive street marches which greeted his resumption of the presidency, Putin is preparing to stamp his authority on the machinery of state again. This is a major step back for Russia
