I really get the impression that nobody "controls" Russia. I'm not so sure Putin could stop the Russian military or the Russian Mafia from dealing arms to Iran even if he wanted to. The place is just a cesspool of corruption bordering on anarchy, if I'm seeing what I think I'm seeing, reading between the lies of the media.
Everyone seems to agree - Yeltsin included - that Russia just doesn't have the "Democratic" (yecch... America's Demonrats have absolutely poisoned that word for me) traditions to allow it to make a clean break with totalitarianism.
Moreover, even Solzhenitsyn has implied that stringent measures are necessary in Russia and elsewhere to combat terrorism.
Based on all that, I'm really not so sure Putin just wants to turn Russia back into the Soviet Union, or start another cold war, or anything of the sort. I can't defend him, but I can't indict him, either - and I sure as hell don't envy him.
"I can't defend him, but I can't indict him, either - and I sure as hell don't envy him."
I sure as hell don't trust a guy who was former KGB!!!!!!
The last decade was difficult for Russia. Imagine living one day in one country and then waking up in another. The transition to democratic institutions and a market economy have been wrenching. Its brought with it terrorism, corruption, and official lawlessness. So you can forgive Russians for wondering if the price they paid for freedom was too high. All the same, neither the Soviet Union nor the Cold War is coming back. Russia is not interested in a confrontation with the West. Today, Russia's greatest vulnerability is the threat of internal disintegration. President Putin's measures may arrest it or speed it up. We'll see if he can dodge the conundrum that left the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, without a country.
That is a good point actually. Recently Sweden I think was calling for international control of Russian nukes for just this reason, in fact.
I have seen Russians in the news claiming there are not enough prosecutors and the mafia are so wealthy and powerful that they fear it cannot be cleaned up.