My interview was published today in the Financial Times. Approximate Russian summaries are available here and here.
It seems to me that the more important part is the one about building dynasties and feudalism, but everyone is quoting the section on sanctions, so let me clarify:
I believe an important feature of this war is that its main beneficiaries are not the so-called *siloviki* (security-service hardliners) or other hawks, but propagandists. Political operatives.
The people churning out talk shows, reports about “crucified children,” “Anti-Maidans” (pro-Kremlin anti-protest rallies), party statements, letters from cultural figures, and so on.
This is, in fact, the most important part of the party of war, because it was the war that sent their budgets, influence, and political importance through the roof. And unlike the siloviki and all those supposedly true-believing volunteers, the propagandist wing of the party of war naturally believes in nothing, knows perfectly well that it is lying, and is tied to the West five hundred times more closely than any opposition figure.
A perfect example is Vladimir Solovyov, who is mentioned in the interview. From Monday to Friday, he makes money by shouting about the horrors of the West and the virtues of Putin, and from Friday to Monday he relaxes in Italy at his home on Lake Como, snickering at the fools who believe his TV and radio chatter.
Another part of the party of war that is just as vulnerable to sanctions is the Russian oligarchs. Some repulsive figure like Alisher Usmanov goes around whispering in corners that Putin is bad, while personally enforcing political censorship at the newspaper Kommersant, turning it into God knows what. Then he flies to Switzerland and enjoys European comfort, freedom of speech, and the rule of law.
Sanctions should be imposed on this pack of crooks straight down the *Forbes* list, and they should be politely taken by the arm as they step off their private jets in European airports, turned around, and sent to the Luhansk People’s Republic — the state created by their political patron.
Propagandists, oligarchs, and political operatives alike are the most cowardly, corrupt, and vulnerable-to-Western-pressure part of the Russian elite.
What is the point of sanctions against Motorola or Strelkov (who couldn’t care less about visas) if there are no sanctions against Ernst and Dobrodeev, who have done so much to incite war and killing that all the field commanders are left nervously smoking on the sidelines?
An important point: sectoral sanctions hit everyone. If the SWIFT system is cut off, millions of people’s bank cards will stop working. Millions will be furious.
But if tomorrow visas are denied to Abramovich, Kulistikov, Solovyov, and Mamut, millions of Russians will applaud. And regardless of political orientation: pro-Putin, anti-Putin, not-Putin-enough, too-Putin — nobody feels sorry for Usmanov, Ekaterina Andreyeva, Mitkova, or MP Yarovaya. It’s not travel to Tula that would be banned for them, but travel to Paris.
As for me, I’ve been abroad 0 times in the last three years, but look at the foreign passport of any United Russia deputy — it’s swollen with visas as if it were a folder listing the atrocities of Right Sector (a Ukrainian far-right group), as described by Channel One television. This is where the blow should land. Draw up a list of the thousand most hypocritical and vile oligarchs, propagandists, and officials, with their children in England’s private schools, and save them from the corrupting influence of the West.