Putin Now Relies on Instilling Fear Because He Can’t Deliver Prosperity and His Lies are No Longer Believed, Turchenko Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Dec. 17 – In 2020, Mikhail Turchenko says, Vladimir Putin took steps to solidify his position relative to others in the Russian elite by extending his ability to remain in office for as long as he wants. In 2021, he turned to the problem of keeping the population from expressing its discontent.

            Because he could no longer count on the economy delivering a rising standard of living or on his propagandistic lies being believed, the European University political scientist says, he turned to instilling fear. In fact, he made that tactic his “primary tool” of rule for the first time (ridl.io/ru/odin-god-iz-zhizni-konsolidirovannoj-personalistskoj-diktatury/).

            As a result, Turchenko argues, the Russian regime has become “a consolidated personalist dictatorship under the direction of hardliners.” At the start of the year, the Kremlin moved against the Navalny movement; but it rapidly expanded repression to include journalism, the Internet, and “even those not involved in politics as such” such as actors and comics.

            Putin appears to be following Machiaveli’s advice that while it is best if a ruler is both loved and feared, ‘it is far safer to be feared than loved if you can’t be both.’” Economic stagnation has cost him much support, and his propaganda no longer works as effectively as it did with fewer people relying on state media and more openly distrusting it.

            As a result, Turchenko says, “the politics of fear has become an increasingly attractive means to control public attitudes.” And there is yet another reason why this approach is attractive to the Kremlin. Many Russians depend on the state for their incomes, and they don’t want to take the obvious risks of losing that.

            To be sure, the political scientist says, repression can undermine the legitimacy of government institutions and even lead people to go into the streets. But for the time being, it is having the opposite effect; and as long as that is the case, “the Russian regime will stop at nothing to maintain the status quo.”