UPDATE: The Putinization of Russia extends to Georgia…

For years, I’ve warned about the Putinization of Russia — a calculated campaign by Vladimir Putin to dismantle the democratic reforms championed by his predecessors. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll recognize this as the work of a neo-Stalinist president bent on reversing the strides made by Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin. Gorbachev, in a last-ditch effort to save the crumbling Soviet Union, introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) to breathe life into its stagnant bureaucracy and economy. Meanwhile, Yeltsin—Russia’s first president after the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991—embarked on a sweeping privatization of state-owned enterprises, laying the groundwork for what might have been a more open society.

Despite his rhetoric to the contrary — and George W. Bush’s naïve praise for his supposed democratic values — Putin has been relentless in consolidating totalitarian power in Russia. I’ve chronicled his efforts over the years, including here in a 25 March 2005 article titled President Putin Reforming Russia in His Own Image, here in a 1 June 2005 article titled Vladimir Putin Sends Political Dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky [the Richest Man in Russia] Off to the Gulag!, and here in an 18 May 2006 article titled Putin’s Wife Reveals His (Old-Fashioned) Philosophy on Domestic Affairs…. Each of these pieces highlights his systematic dismantling of democratic norms under the guise of reform.

Moreover, Putin has been equally determined to revive Soviet-era influence over the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union. I commented here in a 3 January 2006 article titled Putin Fires First Salvo in New Cold War in Europe, where I detailed how he strong-armed Ukraine by cutting off its gas supplies — delivered through Russian pipelines — to extort higher prices and reassert dominance. This tactic signaled his willingness to weaponize energy as a tool of political coercion, reigniting Cold War tensions in the process.

It’s hardly surprising, then, that recent reports suggest Putin has now directed his Stalinist ire toward Georgia. Since the Rose Revolution of 2003 ousted pro-Russian leaders, Georgia’s pro-Western president, Mikhail Saakashvili, has openly scorned Putin’s Russia. Saakashvili has also made no secret of his ambitions for Georgia to join both the EU and NATO — an agenda that directly challenges Putin’s vision of reasserting Russian dominance over former Soviet states.

“I know what it is to try to build your own nation when danger is knocking on the door.” [Georgian President Saakashvili]

Naturally, no one expected Putin to tolerate Saakashvili’s public defiance of Russia without retribution. True to form, and in keeping with his reliance on old KGB tactics, Putin predictably deployed spies to destabilize Saakashvili’s democratically elected government.

As a result, in recent months, relations between these once allied, comrade-nation states have devolved into a frosty standoff reminiscent of the Cold War tensions that defined U.S.-Soviet relations.

For instance, in late September, Georgian authorities arrested five Russian military officers on charges of espionage. In response, Putin lashed out, accusing Saakashvili of engaging in “terrorist and hostage-taking activities” and dismissing him as a mere puppet of Western governments—namely, the United States.

Highlighting just how jingoistic the hostility between the two nations has become, Putin escalated the conflict by recalling his ambassador and ordering the evacuation of all Russian citizens from Georgia. Then, in a move reminiscent of his earlier strong-arm tactics against Ukraine, he imposed an economic blockade by halting all transport and mail communications with Georgia. To top it off, The Guardian reports that he has now unleashed his trademark pressure tactic: leveraging higher gas prices to tighten the screws even further.

NOTE: It’s worth acknowledging that Jews whose families were expelled from Russia under the czars or Stalin might bristle at Saakashvili’s opportunistic analogy. Still, there’s no denying that Putin’s ongoing Putinization of Russia — and his bullying of neighboring states — evokes unsettling echoes of those historical injustices.

Russia Vladimir Putin, Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili