Oligarchs?

I came away from the piece in the FT at reference 1, with the thought that, in sanctioning the oligarchs, we are missing the real target. The oligarchs may have got a lot of plunder in the past, say in the closing years of the 20th century, but they are no longer part of Putin's inner circle. Nor are the professional soldiers. Rather the inner circle contains trusted colleagues from his days in the KGB. Securocrats, rather than bureaucrats, soldiers or oligarchs. Known to the man in the street Russian as the siloviki, the toughs. 

And what these people are into more than money, although they like that well enough, is the greatness of Russia and its glorious, Tsarist (and Orthodox) past. The dreadful past which eventually resulted in the November revolution in 1917. Lieven tellingly tells us of a recent propaganda film made about the Decembrist revolt (reference 2) in which the heroes are not the conspirators, rather the forces of Imperial law and order who triumphed over them. Lenin would not have approved.

He also tells us that plenty of men and women in the street go along with the siloviki. They hate the loss of standing of Russia and they hate the oligarchs who plundered the country at the time of the dissolution of the Soviet order. They want to bash something. The propaganda has got to them.

All of which suggests that bashing the oligarchs might be appropriate - but it is not going to do the trick.

PS: the caption of the snap above is: 'Patrushev [former head of domestic intelligence and now secretary of Russia’s National Security Council] speaking at a meeting of the Security Council three days before February’s invasion of Ukraine © EPA'. Odd looking way to conduct an important meeting. Perhaps he will soon have his ministers crawling up the centre carpet on their hands and knees, in good, ancient Persian style. Perhaps, as in Hitler's closing years, his minsters will have terrible trouble staying awake while he rants away about his pain of the day.

References

Reference 1: Inside Putin’s circle — the real Russian elite: As the west focuses on oligarchs, a far smaller group has its grip on true power in Moscow. Who are the siloviki — and what motivates them? - Anatol Lieven, Financial Times - 2022.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decembrist_revolt.

Reference 3: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/04/commemorative-cathedral.html. Part of the Orthodox connection.