Putin’s Militarization of Russian Life Intended to Allow Him or His Successors to Introduce Martial Law at Will, Kochinyev Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Dec. 13 – Putin has “transformed Russia into a militarized society,” one in which formal institutions are largely irrelevant and “where all power is structured to allow for the possibility of introducing martial law, Yury Kochinyev says. And “this model of national existence” means that Putinism will not disappear with the departure of Putin.

            Instead, the security agencies will retain control even if they fight among themselves for primacy, the St. Petersburg political scientist says; and thus there is a risk that as bad as Putin himself has been, the system he has put in place is likely to “become even more totalitarian” (censoru.net/2023/12/13/putinizm-budet-zhit-i-bez-putina.html).

            That is especially likely to be true during any transition when the security agencies will accept as common their need to be able to suppress the population quite possibly by the introduction of martial law. And for the West, this means that Russia can be restrained in its foreign policy “only through joint economic pressure and, when needed, military force.”