Publication

This paper shows that the window of opportunity for ensuring Russian democracy is rapidly closing and that the Putin regime has turned into an autocratic system of power. The author claims that the president's policy of division of power between the two major clans within the Kremlin – the so-called "siloviki," representatives from the security services and the armed forces, and the "liberal-technocrats" - has strengthened Putin’s position. The article also explains that none of the two main successor-candidates, Sergei Ivanov, representing the siloviki faction, and Dmitri Medvedev, representing the liberal-technocrats, are likely to be able to control the members of the opposing clan.