Assuming people are being brought in for security reasons I don’t think it’s the general population he’s worried about: it’s his own security forces. He should be afraid of another Zhukov removing his security forces and then him getting the Beria treatment. Or not. It just seems strange, but who knows.
“Assuming people are being brought in for security reasons I don’t think it’s the general population he’s worried about: it’s his own security forces.”
I’ve said before, many times: Russians will suffer almost any hardship or deprivation; but they will NOT tolerate national humiliation.