When Tsar Nicholas II abdicated his throne in 1917, he addressed neither the Russian people nor the Provisional Government, but rather the Chief of Staff of the Russian Army. This was because the Russian army was the last remaining arbiter of stability in the country which, as historian Richard Pipes noted, “…in Nicholas’s eyes the […]
Former Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov’s fall from grace is a thread that has unraveled a culture of corruption inside the Russian government. The case also led to the imprisonment, death, and postmortem conviction of Sergei Magnitsky, a case that has set off significant international complications. It began when Serdyukov cheated on his wife with Yevegeniya […]
Recently, it seems that not a week goes by where the Russian military is not staging some very public exercise or announcing the arrival or planning of new equipment. Not since Peter the Great or the massive military buildup in WWII has the Russian military experienced such a windfall of money and political support. The […]
The Ministry of Defense has developed a new package of rules and regulations governing privatization of military assets. The purpose of the reform is to de-commercialize the Ministry’s operations and effectively divest all its unnecessary assets through tenders, organized by independent vendors. Already in 2014 the Ministry of Defense expects to sell 30 items of […]
The Oboronservis case was opened in the fall of 2012. According to the investigation, real estate and land owned by the Ministry of Defense was sold off at reduced prices through a holding company (“Expert”) created to hide the officers’ economic activity. Oboronservis has been tied to several newsworthy scandals involving corruption and the military which led to the […]
Russia recently concluded the largest war games in its history. The Defense Ministry stated that over 160,000 troops, 5,000 tanks and armored vehicles (the Ministry originally reported only 1,000), 70 ships and 130 aircraft. The size and scale of the exercises on paper is impressive; the simple coordination of the games is worthy of congratulation. […]
Currently north Asia is abuzz with military activity. And for once the main culprit is not North Korea, it’s Russia. But the activity is confined to drills and training exercises. Russia and China have been holding large-scale naval exercises—China has sent seven warships and Russia has committed its Pacific Fleet flagship, the guided-missile Slava class […]
The tweet containing the picture above says it all: Oh,Russia.Where you can prosecute a ghost.MT @YuliaSkyNews Cameras film empty Magnitsky cage. Defendant long dead pic.twitter.com/45xBlr9TVa — Amie Ferris-Rotman (@Amie_FR) July 11, 2013 Today, Russian courts found deceased investment fund lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, guilty of tax evasion, along with his former client, William Browder (tried in absentia). […]
A new suspect has been detained in the criminal case concerning the embezzlement of several billion rubles from the Ministry of Defense through Oboronservis, a holding company. The Russian Interior Ministry reported the detention on its web site on 20 June. The name of the suspect was not given; however, it was reported that in […]
Putin’s rule in Russia is based on his careful management of an institutionalized patronage system which has allowed him to navigate the “clan” factionalism of Russian business and political elites. Through unusually high commodity prices, and a 7 percent growth rate over the past decade, Putin was able to rely on large surpluses to placate […]
