Kremlin Weakness ‘Threatens Disintegration’ of Russia, Alksnis Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 2 – The lack of decisiveness on the part of the central Russian authorities and the confusion they are sowing is depriving people of confidence in the future and creating a sense of “growing instability,” Viktor Alksnis says, sparking fears that Russia will recapitulate 1991 with the country on the brink of disintegration as some in Moscow talk of a coup to prevent that.

            Alksnis who gained fame for his opposition to Baltic independence and the disintegration of the USSR argues that “an atmosphere of collective irresponsibility rules in Russia now. No one wants to take responsibility and provide information about what is happening.” As a result, conspiracy theories abound. They are mostly wrong, but they highlight “very serious problems.”

            Those who should be showing leadership are instead “trying not so much to isolate themselves but to protect themselves … and no one knows how to act. The President doesn’t want to take responsibility for the tens of millions who now will become poor” because of the looming collapse of the economy (svpressa.ru/politic/article/264374/).

            In the current situation, “no one wants to aspire to power. If oil prices were stable, there wouldn’t be problems. It would be possible to replace some officials and the system could continue to function. That was the case a year ago. But today, no one wants to take responsibility under conditions of a serious crisis.”

            “The entire elite has been accustomed to act according to the dragonfly principle of hopping from one place to another, but its members do not have the intellectual resources for that in the current situation, and their financial ‘cushion’ is rapidly running out. For that reason, it is difficult to speak about any struggle for power.”

            Instead, “no one knows what to do under the conditions of a looming crisis,” Alksnis says.

            According to the commentator, “the threat of the disintegration of Russia really exists. When the president declared that the governors will decide everything, they began to block transportation networks. We passed through the same thing at the end of the 1980s. When officials see that the federal center has thrown them to the winds and not given them resources, they begin to save themselves and their regions.”

            That represents a real danger and many in Moscow can see it and wonder how they might stop it, he continues. For 20 years, people have been saying that “Putin saved Russia from disintegration. But this isn’t so. He simply used high oil prices to buy the support of regional leaders.”

            With prices where they are now, that won’t be possible for him or anyone else.