Not according these folks. From Fiona Hill and Clifford Gaddy’s biography of Putin, Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin:
The special closed world of the oligarchs at the core of Putin’s informal system echoes the relationship between the tsar and his elite servitors. Neither the current crony oligarchs nor the original post-Soviet oligarchs are oligarchs in the Western sense. They are not a single group or even a set of groups with an independent base of power. They are all part of Putin’s one-boy network. They do not jockey for power with Putin, although they do clearly try to get access to the person of the president to transmit their views and concerns and have some influence over his decisions. As in earlier, historical versions of this system, their positions and status are entirely dependent on Putin. So is the oligarchs’ property — it is a privilege that flows from their relationship with the president.
As president, Putin protects the oligarchs and his inner circle. The oligarchs steward and manage the key sectors of the Russian economy. They pay formal taxes and also deliver tribute to Putin and the state through the informal systems of taxation. They prosper because they deliver and precisely because they have Putin’s protection.
Putin’s’ informal, unofficial system and the formal world of the state apparatus both depend upon unity of command. Putin may have rejected the idea of a unipolar world dominated by the rules and institutions of the United States and its Western allies, but he is very much a unipolar president. Others can bring ideas to the table and criticize the president during the deliberative part of the policy process, but his word is final. What he says, goes, once the decision is made. . . . In Putin’s conceptualization of himself as CEO of Russia, Inc., and in his conceptualization of the vertikal vlasti” — a top-down, strict chain of command — “everyone beneath him is an operational manager. They implement, they do not set the strategic direction.”
Then there's little nugget from Once Upon a Time in Russia, a profile of Russia’s oligarchs written in 2015. Looks like Putin established who was boss from the start:
In the first week, Putin invited all of the oligarchs out to Stalin’s old house. This is a place where there’s like bullet holes in the walls where people used to get lined up and shot. He had all the oligarchs sit down at a table. He got up in front of them, and he said, you’ve all made tons of money. You’ve all done really, really well. You can keep your money. But from here on out, you stay out of my way. All the oligarchs who stayed out of his way are the oligarchs who are around today doing very well, and the oligarchs who did not, who spoke up, all died or were exiled — were found hanging in their bathroom or fell down an elevator shaft or fell out of a helicopter. It was not good business going up against Putin. Putin very quickly became the most powerful oligarch of all.
The author, Ben Mezrich, says this today:
(Put has) weeded out everyone who’s an enemy. The oligarchs who remain are utterly loyal to him, and, honestly, very afraid of him. . . . These sanctions, I think, are pretty intricate when they go after these people who have so little to gain from what’s going on right now and have everything to lose. I do think you’re seeing cracks appear, and I do think as a class, the oligarchs want this war to end.
The good news is that with every passing day, Russia become a le$$er power and a bigger pariah. How long before his people start boiling rocks to make soup?
The special closed world of the oligarchs at the core of Putin’s informal system echoes the relationship between the tsar and his elite servitors. Neither the current crony oligarchs nor the original post-Soviet oligarchs are oligarchs in the Western sense. They are not a single group or even a set of groups with an independent base of power. They are all part of Putin’s one-boy network. They do not jockey for power with Putin, although they do clearly try to get access to the person of the president to transmit their views and concerns and have some influence over his decisions. As in earlier, historical versions of this system, their positions and status are entirely dependent on Putin. So is the oligarchs’ property — it is a privilege that flows from their relationship with the president.
As president, Putin protects the oligarchs and his inner circle. The oligarchs steward and manage the key sectors of the Russian economy. They pay formal taxes and also deliver tribute to Putin and the state through the informal systems of taxation. They prosper because they deliver and precisely because they have Putin’s protection.
Putin’s’ informal, unofficial system and the formal world of the state apparatus both depend upon unity of command. Putin may have rejected the idea of a unipolar world dominated by the rules and institutions of the United States and its Western allies, but he is very much a unipolar president. Others can bring ideas to the table and criticize the president during the deliberative part of the policy process, but his word is final. What he says, goes, once the decision is made. . . . In Putin’s conceptualization of himself as CEO of Russia, Inc., and in his conceptualization of the vertikal vlasti” — a top-down, strict chain of command — “everyone beneath him is an operational manager. They implement, they do not set the strategic direction.”
Then there's little nugget from Once Upon a Time in Russia, a profile of Russia’s oligarchs written in 2015. Looks like Putin established who was boss from the start:
In the first week, Putin invited all of the oligarchs out to Stalin’s old house. This is a place where there’s like bullet holes in the walls where people used to get lined up and shot. He had all the oligarchs sit down at a table. He got up in front of them, and he said, you’ve all made tons of money. You’ve all done really, really well. You can keep your money. But from here on out, you stay out of my way. All the oligarchs who stayed out of his way are the oligarchs who are around today doing very well, and the oligarchs who did not, who spoke up, all died or were exiled — were found hanging in their bathroom or fell down an elevator shaft or fell out of a helicopter. It was not good business going up against Putin. Putin very quickly became the most powerful oligarch of all.
The author, Ben Mezrich, says this today:
(Put has) weeded out everyone who’s an enemy. The oligarchs who remain are utterly loyal to him, and, honestly, very afraid of him. . . . These sanctions, I think, are pretty intricate when they go after these people who have so little to gain from what’s going on right now and have everything to lose. I do think you’re seeing cracks appear, and I do think as a class, the oligarchs want this war to end.
The good news is that with every passing day, Russia become a le$$er power and a bigger pariah. How long before his people start boiling rocks to make soup?
Life is too short to waste on crap football.