A rift among national power brokers threatens the country with disintegration that could have even more violent consequences than the collapse of the Soviet Union had, Kremlin chief of staff Dmitry Medvedev warned in a wide-ranging interview published Monday.
“If we do not manage to consolidate elites, Russia may disappear as one state,” Medvedev told Ekspert magazine. “The disintegration of the Soviet Union would look like a kindergarten party compared to the collapse of the modern Russian state.”
Hmm, at least they admit their country is run by elites, something that doesn’t happen here much, as most believe the fiction that the US is a classless society. However, it appears there is a serious split among the elites in Russia, one which has now broken out into the open.
Liberal politicians said Monday that Medvedev’s calls for the elites to close ranks could pave the way for a crackdown on opposition and dissent.
According to analysts, however, the interview was the Kremlin’s response to growing discontent among politicians, businesspeople and intellectuals with Putin’s policies.
That’s only partly true. By their own words in calling for unification of the elites, they are saying the elites are fractured and warring, and not acting in unison as elites, being a separate class, normally do. Sounds like Putin’s grasp on power is slipping. And while neocons might think the collapse of Russia would be a good thing, it would not be that at all, as huge areas of central Asia would become destabilized with probable civil wars, private armies, drug lords, etc. fighting for power.