Putin Always Finds More Money for the Siloviki who Defend His Regime

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 27 – The first rule of any authoritarian ruler is to do whatever is necessary to keep the force structures that defend him happy, including finding ever more money for them even if the entire rest of the population has to suffer in consequence. That is exactly what Vladimir Putin continues to do.

            At a reception in honor of the graduates of the military educational institutions, Putin said that “we will in the future also improve the system of social guarantees for those who bear military and law enforcement service and consistently raise the level of their monetary compensation” (kremlin.ru/events/president/news/60834).

            The Kremlin leader added that “the state will continue to improve the medical support of such employees, broaden the opportunities for the employment of the members of their families, and help resolve issues regarding housing for them.” Over the last seven years, the state has raised the salaries of 645,000 such people and the living conditions of more than two million.”

            Given the deterioration of the incomes and living conditions of most other Russians, such solicitude is the best possible guarantee that these siloviki will continue to defend the person responsible for ensuring that they if not others have been taken care of.