Russian elites fear purges and a wave of arrests. “Paper”

Wealthy Russians fear for their safety and the safety of their families after Yevgeny Prigozhin’s public calls for urgent “Stalinist repression” writes Bloomberg, citing unnamed representatives of the business elite and officials.

Russian businessmen and officials who spoke to the agency also expressed concern that the founder of PMC Wagner is becoming a more and more prominent figure in the Russian government.

Details. Prigozhin’s public attacks on high-ranking military officials and St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov heightened bureaucratic concerns about the Kremlin’s readiness to defend its own, journalists write.

A senior source with the agency compared the situation in Russia to a military dictatorship, and some members of the elite even say that the country could face purges and a wave of arrests, as during Stalin’s rule.

In addition, Bloomberg continues, representatives of the business and bureaucratic elite are concerned that the militarization of the economy and society is only accelerating, despite public statements about the completion of mobilization. They compare the commission of the government and the security forces with the structure of power during the Great Patriotic War.

That said, anxiety about the future has not yet turned into covert resistance to Vladimir Putin’s actions, the sources say, despite nearly nine months of confirming many elites’ assessment that the invasion was a “catastrophic mistake.”

Why the Elites Don’t Intervene. Bloomberg writes that even in the government, many do not support the war, but are too scared to speak out or resist. Business is trying not to interfere in politics in order to maintain its production.

Big Picture. Earlier, the telegram channel “Prigozhin’s Cap” published the entrepreneur’s answers to questions from the RT channel. The journalist of the channel asked the reason for ignoring the military situation by the richest people in the country.

Prigozhin, in response to a question, stated that it was necessary to “turn on the levers and mechanisms for the total destruction of these people as businessmen.” “In relation to them, Stalinist repressions are urgently needed,” the owner of the Wagner PMC added.

Photo: Kremlin press service