How the War Had Evolved by Mid-October 2007: Putin’s MO During the Crisis; November 2007—Sechinites Sense Betrayal and Raise the Stakes

Abstract

Putin had found that he could not balance the clans. In addition, he decided that the only feasible way to keep the Sechin faction under control and ensure his own personal security was to grant it a major concession—he would remain at the helm of decision-making by taking the post of prime-minister. But the Sechinites did not relent—that was not enough. He must run again or at least anoint Naryshkin. They had a deputy finance minister arrested, had Belkovsky denounce Putin for amassing an alleged fortune of $40 billion, and had a famous 1992 attack on Putin for corruption by Marina Sal’ye reprinted. All this provoked Putin into attacks on them to make them keep quiet during the final weeks before the presidential election. Chaplina wrote an article denouncing them, and Shvartsman gave a factual interview about their ruthless use of physical and other intimidation against private business owners to force them to surrender their properties to state companies.