Closely, in terms of the national political economy and military and intelligence issues. I’ve also been to Russia, can communicate in Russian (no longer close to fluent), and have studied Russian history closely (for example, closely enough to also know the name “Walter Duranty” and also the concept of “whataboutism”, which you might want to look up).
Two daughters (maybe some kids out of wedlock, too). I’m not sure what relevance that has to us, except that he apparently uses one of them to hide some of his vast fortune (as I recall, like his cellist friend, she does something in the arts while also managing to be a billionaire).
Not the exact ones, but I’m well aware that the former have gone down and the latter up at alarming rates. I don’t entirely blame that on Putin (there was a lot of meddling by American neoliberals during the Yeltsin era that also led to a horrible economy), but he hasn’t exactly stanched either despite his “pro-family” policies.
As noted above, horrible. While American capitalists in the early 1990s are partially to blame, the home-grown oligarchs who emerged once the Soviet empire fell were and remain much more culpable. Putin – as is the case with many right-wing authoritarian ultra-nationalist leaders – came to power via that economic misery. He didn’t so much eliminate the oligarchs as corral and control them, making sure to “wet his beak” in every industry and financial deal along the way.
I haven’t. I have noticed that Putin (with the help of his assistant/spin doctor Surkov) is willing to allow the occasional demonstration against the authorities as long as they don’t actually threaten his regime’s power. Sometimes (though perhaps not in these cases) they actually covertly fund and back the protests via cut-outs.
Perhaps that is one of the protests the regime secretly backed, then. We’ll never know, but it’s clear that the authorities don’t see these protests as a real threat to their power. The militia-style normal police can be bastards, but they’re nothing compared to the OMON/National Guard troops who are called in when a protest truly upsets the regime.
And yet you’re positing yourself as more knowledgeable about the Russian Federation than anyone else here. I know it’s an uncomfortable topic for you, but really…
I’ll only re-iterate what @Brainspore said: your fanboi crush on an ultra-nationalist ex-KGB thug who’s siphoned off an estimated $200-billion from his own people, who violates the rights of LGBTQ+ people, who pursues an expansionist agenda within Russia’s historical sphere of influence, and who poisons his political opponents is embarrassing. The same goes for your weak and transparent attempts to smear anyone who opposes him and his corrupt regime.
