Scandal Shakes the Siloviki

Ariel Cohen November 15, 2012

If last week’s corruption scandal involving the former Russian defense minister was not embarrassing enough for Moscow, the plot now thickens. A police investigation is targeting one of the Russian high-tech modernization projects, a type of GPS called GLONASS (Global Navigation Satellite System). The threads may lead to higher-ups, and turn into another episode in the ongoing fight between the “economists” and the siloviki (literally, “men of power”), (Editor’s Note: See Siloviki ) who supervise defense projects such as GLONASS.  The “economists,” a weaker faction on the Russian political Olympus, led by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and senior officials around him, are all in favor of investigating their political opponents. …… It was never a secret that Serdyukov presided over a very corrupt institution. Senior Russian officials told me that according to their estimates, a third to a half of the defense-procurement budget is pilfered. However, corruption, which is systematic, is probably not the key reason for Serdyukov’s removal. It is common for top Russian officials to have business ties and amass substantial wealth, which is typically tolerated—unless an official falls out of grace with the powers that be in the Kremlin.   To Read More…..