New book: ‘The Politics of Security in Modern Russia’

Time for a necessary self-indulgent notice: my latest edited book, The Politics of Security in Modern Russia, has just been released by Ashgate. Ed Lucas of the Economist calls it “Incisive, well-informed and disturbing” and — having had to harry hard-working and long-suffering contributors for re-writes when the original manuscript was all but done because of the Georgian war and the economic crisis — I call it a blessed relief to see it out!

You can find the full details and extracts on the publisher’s website, but meanwhile, here’s the blurb:



• The Putin era saw a striking ’securitization’ of politics, something that he has bequeathed to his chosen successor, Dmitry Medvedev. The omens from the early days of the Medvedev presidency have been mixed, marked both by less confrontational rhetoric towards the West and by war with Georgia and continued re-armament. Has the Medvedev generation learned the lessons not just from the Soviet era but also from the Yeltsin and Putin presidencies, or will security remain the foundation of Russian foreign and domestic policy?Fully up-to-date to reflect the evolving Medvedev presidency, the 2008 Georgian war and the impact of the economic downturn, this volume is a much needed objective and balanced examination of the ways in which security has played and continues to play a central role in contemporary Russian politics.The combination of original scholarship with extensive empirical research makes this volume an invaluable resource for all students and researchers of Russian politics and security affairs.
• Contents: Introduction, Mark Galeotti; Security strategy: sovereign democracy and great power aspirations, Graeme Herd; The politics of security, Mark Smith; Civil-military relations and the security apparatus, Bettina Renz; Neither reform nor modernisation: the armed forces under and after Putin’s command, Pavel Baev; Chechnya and regional security, C.W. Blandy; Nuclear arms control after a time of troubles, Stephen J. Cimbala; Terrorism, crime and the security forces, Mark Galeotti; The ’security economy’, Julian Cooper; Russia’s unending quest for security, Stephen Blank; Afterword, Dmitri Trenin; Bibliography; Index
• About the Editor: Mark Galeotti is Academic Chair, Center for Global Affairs, New York University, USA
• Reviews: ‘Incisive, well-informed and disturbing.’
  Edward Lucas, The Economist

Mixed messages from Moscow’s 2009 crime figures

Moscow police chief Major General Vladimir Kolokoltsev managed a populist one-two punch on 20 January. While congratulating himself on a decline in overall crime rates in the city in a press conference, he also got to single out the city’s migrant population as especially criminal. Yet the hidden subtext is also the continuing problem with police corruption and criminality.

Senior military dismissals strengthen CoGS Makarov’s hand and may mean decline of Main Operations Directorate

Substantive reshuffles of the Russian military high command tend to mean something. In the present climate, they tend to mean a purge of opponents to military reform as the unexpectedly effective (and necessarily ruthless) team of Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and Chief of the General Staff Nikolai Makarov push forward the next stage of their long-overdue modernisation programme. On 13 January 2010, they claimed two more exalted scalps: Colonel General Vladimir Boldyrev, commander-in-chief of the Ground Forces, and Major General Sergei Surovikin, head of the General Staff’s Main Operations Directorate (GUO).

The latest Russian police reform: the Kremlin is likely to be the only beneficiary

On Thursday 24 December 2009, President Medvedev signed a decree which he said would “enhance the work of the Interior Ministry”, and in particular “specify organisational changes and changes in certain financial and legal issues.”

Russia’s police, unreformed

The appointment, after five months’ haggling and searching, of Major General Vladimir Kolokoltsev to be Moscow’s new police chief after the dismissal of General Pronin, provides the hook for another RFE/RL commentary: Three Reasons Why Russia’s Police Remain Unreformed. The three reasons? Politicization, corruption and a lack of resources. Of course, the fundamental meta-reason behind all three is that the Kremlin isn’t interested in meaningful police reform that would create an effective, independent law enforcement structure such that could underpin a genuine rule-of-law state. Alas.

General Shamanov and corruption within the High Command

Just as a little cross-post, I would mention that I have just had a short commentary published on the RFE/RL website on the Shamanov case and what it may say about corruption within the High Command and the prospects for change. My downbeat conclusions are that “Whatever happens to Shamanov, the likelihood is that Russia’s dirty generals will continue to enjoy business as usual – so long as they keep a low profile.” After all, the present military reform programme represents a major bonanza for these crooks in braid, and the last thing they want to do is to see Defence Minister Serdyukov forced and able to do something serious about the numerous scams they have running.

In the belly of the beast: what the hit on ‘Yaponchik’ says about Russian organised crime

On the evening of Tuesday 28 July, the Russian vor v zakone (‘thief within the code’) Vyacheslav Ivankov, better known as ‘Yaponchik’ or ‘Little Jap’, had just finished a working dinner at the Thai Elephant restaurant on the Khoroshevskoye Shosse in northern Moscow. Although accompanied by a bodyguard, as he came onto the street, a sniper using a Dragunov SVD sniper rifle put from one to three bullets into his stomach (reports vary), leaving him seriously injured, albeit not dead.

On one level, this might seem of little real significance. Most of Russia’s still-common assassinations and contract killings are not of innocent civilians and investigative journalists but mobsters and their clients and associates. However, there are reasons to read rather more into this hit and to see the shootings as, if not a ‘shot heard around the world’, at least one heard around the Russian underworld.

Korabelnikov leaves Russian military intelligence

On 24 April 2009, General Valentin Korabelnikov was replaced by his deputy, Lt. General Alexander Shlyakhturov, as head of the GRU, Russian military intelligence (technically, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff).

Financial crisis puts new pressure on Russian police, but means boom time for security forces

Although Putin made a great play of his commitment to law and order, the emphasis always seemed to be on order more than law. Resources were devoted more to defence and public order, but nonetheless the bonanza of oil and gas revenues did mean that spending on the police picked up, making good some of the deficits created in the 1990s, when successive budget crises left them in a disastrous state. At the same time, a trickle-down of prosperity did help control (if not really reverse) the rise in street crime, while organized crime matured, with real power in the underworld moving from ‘street mafiya’ to ‘suit mafiya’, the age of the overt gangsters known as ‘bandits’ giving way to the behind-the-scenes ‘authorities’ who blended crime, business and politics. This did not mean that organized crime disappeared, but at least it did mean an end to the more violent, indiscriminate days of the 1990s turf wars.

However, the global financial crisis is making its mark in Russia, too.

(Temporarily) Lost in Transition!

Apologies for the lack of activity on this blog. I am currently in the process of my move from the UK to the USA, winding up my affairs here and generally busy with logistics of every kind. Normal service will resume in the New Year, once I am settled.