Red SquareEconomist: The inner workings of Vladimir Putin’s state
A set of illicit recordings reveal the fall of Alexander Shestun
MOSCOW’S MAXIMUM security Lefortovo jail, where the KGB held its most important prisoners, has seen its share of revolutionaries, commissars, dissidents, ministers, oligarchs, governors and generals. Alexander Shestun is different.
Until his arrest in June, he was the head of the district of Serpukhov, an outlying city in the Moscow region. But he matters more than his job title suggests. His rise and fall give an insight into the mechanics of power in Russia and its lever—the Federal Security Service (FSB). Under President Vladimir Putin this has become even more dominant than the Soviet KGB he once served. Mr Shestun played a part in that transformation; he was also its casualty.
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WNU Editor: One thing that I have learned about the Russian state is that almost everyone who reaches the top will .... in the end .... lose most if not everything. And they lose everything because they never leave .... thereby becoming a target for those who are younger, smarter, and more hungry than they are. And for those who do survive and prosper, they do so because they understand the value of anonymity and the importance of timing their departure when they are the top. This is why Russian President Putin will probably not run in the next Presidential election. There are too many below him in their fifties and forties who want him gone, and who want the same opportunities that he and his allies have been able to collect in the past two decades.
