... full-fledged mafia state. One day, historians will chart its exact structure, but it seems clear that it consists of several large families headed by President Vladimir Putin's close associates and loyal oligarchs. Alongside them, countless crews of siloviki, bureaucrats, gangsters and affiliated businessmen work on their own, their networks varying from local to nationwide. A friend recently had her car stolen. She reported it to the local police and soon got a call from a man, who, using the description...

On Monday, Vladimir Putin will take the presidential oath of office for the third time. After 12 years in power, Putin has increased his control over the country's major institutions, the siloviki and state bureaucracy. On Monday, Vladimir Putin will take the presidential oath of office for the third time. After 12 years in power, Putin has increased his control over the country's major institutions, the siloviki and state bureaucracy...

... 1990s. He therefore feared that his own handpicked successor could turn against him. During 2007, Putin wavered between two first deputy prime ministers: Sergei Ivanov and Medvedev. Ivanov, a former defense minister, was more competent and had ties to siloviki circles, while Medvedev was politically weak but extremely loyal. At the last moment, Putin opted for loyalty, assuming that once Medvedev was elected president in 2008, he would build his own power base. This didn't happen. Medvedev failed to...

..., only talks sense. Part of his brief will be to oversee the energy sector, which seems to be in the crosshairs. One surprise was the appointment of relative unknown Alexander Novak to oversee the energy portfolio. At the same time, the departure of siloviki top dog Igor Sechin from government is another big shakeup in the structure of control over energy — he's been moved to head Rosneftgaz, the holding company that owns the state's stake in oil major Rosneft. This appointment has been widely...

... president — then the composition of his new government might have created a generally positive impression. The argument can be made that, with Igor Sechin and Viktor Zubkov gone, the new government is weighted more heavily in favor of liberals than siloviki. The only remaining first deputy prime minister is Igor Shuvalov, widely considered to be progressive and liberal, and who speaks so eloquently — in both Russian and English — at various international forums about improving the investment...

...,” said Shamil Yenikeyeff, a research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. Multibillion-dollar privatizations of Rosneft and other energy sector companies are likely to be the key flashpoint between liberals in the White House and the siloviki — the former spies and military officers who rose to power with Putin in the early 2000s of whom Sechin is a leading figure. “That battle could be quite severe and push disunity within the Russian elite,” Yenikeyeff said. Putin...