Putin re-elected: consolidating the dictatorship and Russia’s “break” with Europe

Putin re-elected: consolidating the dictatorship and Russia’s “break” with Europe
© EPA-EFE/SERGEI ILNITSKY   |   Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting with his election agents at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, 20 March 2024.

The presidential “election” in Russia is the pinnacle of a long series of crimes, abuses and diversions designed to turn Putin's dictatorship into a totalitarian system in the truest sense of the word. Although the history of Russia coincides with that of absolutism to a large extent, the mutations brought about by the Putin regime are profound and are meant to produce effects over long periods of time. Launched as an iron-fisted regime meant to speed up the country's structural modernization, apparently patterned on the model of Peter the Great, Putin's dictatorship ultimately led to Russia's complete break with Europe and its firm anchoring in the Asian political model.

The presidential election – a masquerade that confirms Russia has adopted the model of patriarchal dictatorships of Central Asia and the Caucasus

Putin’s alleged victory in the “election”, winning nearly 90 percent of the votes cast, is but one of the indicators attesting to Russia’s total withdrawal from European political civilization. Putin thus joined a long line of dictators who rule the countries of Central Asia and the national republics of the North Caucasus. In the last decade, but especially since the start of the war in Ukraine, the political rituals of Central Asian dictatorships dictate the norms of public behavior in Russia. The presence of the three “counter-candidates” alongside Putin on the Red Square stage was more than just a form of expressing loyalty to the regime for everyone to see. Their statements resembled a string of apologies for the “audacity” to have taken part in the useless electoral procedure, borrowed from the practice of the “collective West”.

@EPA/DMITRY ASTAKHOV - POOL

Public apologies expressed by those who have committed various acts of impiety against the regime are quite commonplace in the patriarchal dictatorships of Central Asia and the Caucasus, which Russia is happy to emulate today. Meant to stain the image of those who dared voice their disgruntlement against the regime by shaming them in public, such apologies are today expressed by a wide array of characters. The greater the notoriety of the person in question, the more humiliating the apology. Artists, politicians, public activists, intellectuals or ordinary citizens, all at odds with the regime to greater or lesser extents, are forced to engage in long demonstrations of loyalty towards the authorities by effacing any sense of responsibility. There is more to this process than meets the eye. In addition to the video recording of the apology, these characters also submit themselves to an obligatory trip to Russia's Canossa, (i.e. Donbas), which culminates with the most unbecoming public expression of support for Putin and his policies. Supported by Russian propaganda, this procedure is a form of brainwashing through depersonalization and annihilation of one's will. Once “purified”, the new individuals are then integrated into the mass of followers of the cult of Power, submitting themselves wholly to the will of the majority of subjects.

Such treatment, intended to bring the followers of the regime to a state of exaltation, while leaving any who feel different in a state of paralysis, is meant to pave the way for future mass repressions. Putin's speech before the Federal Assembly referred to a dictatorship that makes war preparations by strengthening economic self-sufficiency and preserving cultural specificity. What Putin did not tell those in attendance is that war preparations also include mass repression, designed to shape a society truly “consolidated” around the providential leader.

@EPA-EFE/MAXIM SHIPENKOV

Such a society, cleansed of “liberal filth”, as state propaganda puts it, needs only a simple hierarchical structure and a simple order to go to war, whatever its motivations. So far, just by using propaganda and intimidation, the regime has managed to “sell” the war to the Russians quite effectively, but the desired unanimous support is still far away. Mass repression is also needed to achieve that goal, and it’s about to begin. Such a society also presents the advantage of allowing the regime to replicate itself beyond the persona of its creator, something of great interest right now to those who ensure its structural strength.

The pyramid of power in Russia: from Putin to the local “satraps”. How strengthening the dictatorship helps weaken the cohesion of the Russian Federation

Total submission to Power, presented as a tenet of civilization, is another characteristic of the accelerated process of Russia’s Asianization. After for years propaganda had almost convinced Russians that they are incompatible with democracy, it now tells them on a daily basis that the absence of a critical spirit towards authority is one of Russia's spiritual foundations. Thus, the autocrat is freed from all constraints, gaining the freedom to say and to do whatever he sees fit.

The political system thus turns into a complicated and fragile conglomerate of personal loyalties, based on fear and corruption, which takes Russia beyond the edge of European civilization. The harsher Putin's dictatorship at the center will be, the weaker Russia's organic cohesion will become. In order to consolidate his regime and be able to muster all the human and material resources he needs, Putin will be forced to keep governing by means of a sophisticated system whereby power is delegated to local satraps. As long as they enjoy the favor and goodwill of the Kremlin dictator, each of them will seek to replicate the same system of power in the territory they control - whether it is Belgorod, Tyumen or Chechnya. Thus, the consolidation of Putin's dictatorship goes hand in hand with the weakening of the cohesion of Russia’s political landscape. Russia does not have the will, the science or the ability to transform itself into a functioning and self-sustaining economy.

@ EPA-EFE/ANATOLY MALTSEV

Most of the nations and ethnicities that make up the Russian Federation have been kept under a single political umbrella by force, especially by delaying their own cultural development. The Russification and colonization of Russians in various territories of the Federation was aimed not only to ensure the homogeneity of the empire, but also to maintain its constituent peoples in a state of cultural inferiority. Therefore, the political emancipation of the peoples that were part of the USSR was allowed to occur only to the extent that the widespread use of the Russian language in administration, culture and economy was limited in favor of national languages. With Ukraine’s exit from Russia's cultural tutelage, this process is rapidly expanding to other countries that formed the post-Soviet space until recently. The developments in Kazakhstan are just one episode that strongly confirms this new reality. The complex system of regional alliances, which Rustam Minnikhanov’sTatarstan and Ramzan Kadyrov’s Chechnya, both part of the Russian Federation, are now developing, proves that the satraps are diligently preparing to hold on to their power in the event of a change of regime in Moscow.

War, used to "shape" society, but also a vital tool for the survival of the Putin regime

Putin's first public appearance, shortly after the polls closed, showed a dictator free of all constraints. The mention of Navalny's name for the first time since the latter’s death, as well as the possibility of annexing new Ukrainian territories, proves that Putin has achieved his goals by organizing this electoral hoax. Feeding off support for his persona as well as support for the war, Putin is now free to dictate the fate of the Russian people according to his interests and his worldview. He cannot deliver relative prosperity to the Russians in exchange for seizing their liberties, as many of the Asian dictators have done, but being enslaved to his Power, Putin can give them the satisfaction of an empire built on the ruins of the liberty of other peoples.

From a means of achieving certain political objectives, the war evolved into a vehicle for reshaping society in the image of the dictatorship at its helm. Putin's statements regarding the establishment of a genuine “trencheocracy” in Russia hide his intention to recruit the future elites of Russian neo-totalitarianism from the ranks of “heroes” who fought in the war. The future elites of Putinism are already fully-fledged, being led by the descendants of those who helped Putin rise and cling to power. But Russia is a personal dictatorship to the same extent it is also a clan-based one, governed by rules and procedures inspired to a large extent from the arsenal of organized crime. Evoking war veterans as the pillars of the regime is nothing short of the promise of intangibility for those who commit crimes in the interest of the state. Putin is thus telling those who fight in the war or kill political dissidents abroad at the behest of Russian officials that they will be protected only as long as he is in power. Sustaining and replicating the regime thus becomes a vital matter, not only to those directly involved in its operation, but to those who merely carried out its orders and went to war.

@EPA-EFE/STRINGER

Such a society, ruled in equal measure by terror, lies and corruption, cannot be kept in balance forever. Resources are too scarce and the dangers far too great. Therefore, to the Russian political system, war is about to become a way of preserving national cohesion, regardless of the risks it entails. In addition to the fact that it keeps society in complete submission, the war is instrumental for Putin's dictatorship by helping remove the question of resources from its agenda. A society under siege cannot demand prosperity or equity from the state or from political leaders, just as it has no right to demand democracy.

To Putin and his henchmen, the war he is waging in Ukraine becomes relevant not only in terms of political survival, but especially in terms of physical survival. Nothing in the behavior of these people so far has led us to believe that their sense of public responsibility exceeds the length and breadth of clan interests. And there is no evidence that anything other than fear of retaliation stops them from using all the arsenal at their disposal to protect their interests and their lives. The war in Ukraine is the living and dramatic proof of the way they think and act, and the signs indicating they are preparing for an all-out war are increasing.

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