New political "purges" in the upper echelons of Russia

New political "purges" in the upper echelons of Russia

Clan struggles, a battle for resources and a deliberate Kremlin policy explain the increase in arrests of senior officials and elected officials.


Week after week, loudly reported or announced discreetly, reports of arrests in the upper echelons of the Russian state follow one after the other. Present on the front page of Moscow daily newspapers or unearthed in local press articles, they constitute the background noise of Vladimir Putin's fourth term, a news that no member of the ruling elite can ignore.

In the first two weeks of July alone, the results are impressive. There was, on July 1, the arrest of three senior officials in Dagestan, in the North Caucasus; two days later, searches carried out at the headquarters of the administration of the Voronezh region; the following day, the arrest of six members of the FSB (the Russian security services); the same day, the arrest of the representative of the president in the federal district of the Urals, followed by that of the vice-president of the board of directors of the pension fund, the former prime minister and minister of finance of the region of 'Astrakhan ... Then, successively, searches within the government of Yakutia, in the administration of the city of Saint Petersburg, at the Central Bank ... Systematically, there is talk of corruption or economic crimes.

A few months ago, on the website of a local newspaper in the Rostov-on-Don region, in the south of the country, the column "Arrests of senior officials" appeared. Since May, the misadventures of two vice-governors, of a minister, of the head of the fiscal services are listed there… Institution by institution, the picture is just as telling. Within the powerful Investigation Committee, no less than seven generals have succeeded each other for three years behind bars.