• zombuey@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Putin has maintained power by keeping a grip on the distribution of wealth to the oligarchs. If he starts taking money from them they will cease any support. They are the keys to his rule and if he doesn’t keep them fat and happy they no longer have a reason to continue to support and will turn on him.

    • ghost_laptop@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      You could say so, but this also guarantees a more prolonged stable economy in the long term and the national bourgeoisie (what you call the oligarchs), are not so deep rooted as they are in the US, for example, Russia has inherited a relatively strong State infrastructure and mechanisms from the USSR, so they can’t do whatever they want (although of course they influence very much). If they can guarantee the stability, by the looks of it, they could win in other scenarios where Russia starts being an even more important international player, so they could cover costs for profits in the future.