Jean Lewandowski lives in Nashua.
“The…takeover of all levers of power meant the population had been alienated from the political process….they were content to let the [state] monopolize political and economic decision-making, as long as it didn’t intrude on their own lives.” – Masha Lipman, Russian political analyst
Putin’s People, by British journalist Catherine Belton, was published in April 2020, but Belton has been documenting Vladimir Putin’s rise to power for 20 years. She details financial crimes like money laundering and off-shore accounts, and corrupt, tangled relationships too complicated for my linear mind to grasp, but this is the gist.
The Soviet-era spy agency, the KGB, the oligarchs, and the Russian mafia had a contentious but profitable relationship in creating a shadow economy in the decade before the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991. The KGB was already infiltrating corporations and banks in the West in the 80s and 90s, so it was easy to start funneling dark money offshore to protect their assets. Attempts to create democracy in Russia in the 90s failed because there was no real framework for it. Boris Yeltsin believed in democracy and capitalism, but he was so entangled with the oligarchs, and Russian institutions were so corrupt, the economy fell apart.
Putin stepped into the power vacuum, claiming to believe in capitalism and democracy (as a KGB official, he’d lied for a living for years) and convincing Yeltsin to hand him the presidency. He already knew that Western capitalists are easily corruptible and that because they’ve become so cozy with politicians throughout Europe and the U.S., this was the best path to weaken the European Union and NATO and allow him to gather the power to realize his dream of leading a new Russian empire.
When a couple of his people met Donald Trump at one of his New Jersey casinos in the mid-90s, they could hardly believe their luck. He was vain, greedy, and corrupt, and shady real estate deals were perfect for money laundering. There are many dots to connect after that, including the proposed Moscow Trump Tower; Trump’s betrayal of American intelligence by supporting Putin’s lies about cyberattacks; attempted corruption of Vladimir Zelenskyy (for Putin, the annexation of Ukraine is the key to empire); and his undermining of NATO.
All these pieces and more were in place to realize Putin’s ambitions. Belton didn’t make predictions about the 2020 election, but I think when Trump lost, Putin’s dreams of acquiring an empire by grift and subversion dissolved, leaving no choice but to invade Ukraine.
How do we know this isn’t just left-wing propaganda? We have dear Russian friends we’ve known since the late 90s who alerted us back then that the “same thieves,” as one of them said, were back in charge. Now, their hearts are broken that their beloved country is responsible for the devastation in Ukraine and the misery at home. Resources are dwindling. Their children have fled the country with their families. Thousands of young men are returning home in body bags. Their president is a murderer. Everything feels dark and uncertain.
Why should Americans care about these things? Because Putin’s corrupt influence didn’t evaporate when Trump lost. It’s still here, funding hate groups, corporatists, and useful idiots who are still playing a big role in our politics. Because everyone who has ever supported the Big Lie; who excuses, denies, or threatens further fascist attacks like Jan. 6th, the attempted kidnapping of Gov. Whitmer, the attack on Paul Pelosi, and the innumerable threats against public servants and elected officials, is playing by the dictators’ handbook. Everyone who supports “I alone can fix this” Trumpism, forsaking every value except blind loyalty to a single man, is playing into the hands of a career criminal.
We mourn for the twin tragedies in Russia and Ukraine, and we can use their suffering as a cautionary tale. We know that those who use media to spread lies and conspiracy theories are purposely stoking hatred and violence. Those who deny or excuse politically motivated violence are sowing chaos so they can seize more power. Those who say the answer to shortcomings in our common institutions is to abandon them to the loudest strongmen and highest bidders are telling us to give up on democracy.
Good news for America came this week. We election officials saw a wave, not of hostile tribalism, but of conscientious voters who were not content to be “alienated from the political process.” We were thanked over and over for serving. We’re heartened that voters are rejecting election denialism and political violence when they’re disappointed with the outcome.
We still desperately need to enact meaningful campaign finance reform to block the corruption pipelines, loudly reject white nationalism and other hate-fueled ideologies, and support civil liberties. But here in New Hampshire and many other states, as democracies around the world struggle against authoritarianism, we are showing them that peaceful, committed democracy is the only way to preserve, protect, and defend democracy.
For more insight into the rise of Putin and his connections in the West, I recommend Russian-American journalist Masha Gessen’s 2012 book, The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin.