What Putin Stands For
JOHNSON, REUBEN F.
What Putin Stands For Planes, uranium, tanks, infrastructure, and nuclear power for sale. by Reuben F. Johnson Kiev Apopular joke about Russian president Vladimir Putin these days—like most humor...
...The KGB-St...
...before accepting...
...Of course, if the motto of both is "enrichissez-vous," then perhaps there is no conflict...
...This is the same customs service that allowed several million dollars worth of Polonium-210 to be carried on British Airways flights to London in order to poison former KGB officer-turned-defector Alexander Litvinenko...
...The pile of Russian weapons sent to Hugo Chavez—$3 billion of Suk-hoi Su-30MK2 or Su-35 fighter aircraft, Mil Mi-35 attack helicopters, Mil Mi-17 and Mi-26 helicopters, Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifles, and other goodies—should be of at least minor interest to anyone concerned with U.S...
...As of March 1, 2007, ROE has consolidated control over all arms sales by Russian companies...
...But the Times does not know the half of it...
...Keeping arms plants pumping out weapons for export to China, India, and Venezuela is now the Russian government's top priority—more important even than the smooth functioning of the Ministry of Defense...
...With the number of MiG aircraft that had been sold abroad in the last three decades and the infrastructure that the company had established around the world for sales and service, there would be little to no value added by inserting a state-run entity as a middleman...
...Another close KGB colleague of Putin's, Sergei Ivanov, was defense minister until this February...
...Small wonder that after Ivanov and the Russian president made consecutive trips to India earlier this year, a New Delhi columnist wrote that Putin is an acronym that stands for "Planes, Uranium, Tanks, Infrastructure and Nuclear power...
...national security...
...But the call for a "presidency without an end" by Mironov—the most senior official to make the suggestion—shows that panic is beginning to set in among those who will lose power and influence when Putin leaves...
...It instills a sense of patriotism that the previous hymn adopted under Boris Yeltsin [for which no lyrics were ever written] did not...
...But first, tell me—how much time do we have left on the current flag contract with Aquafresh toothpaste...
...Moscow wants Tehran as its next major weapons customer...
...Earlier this year he was also named CEO of the new Unified Aircraft Building Corporation, an amalgamation of all the formerly separate Russian aircraft design bureaus and associated production plants into one mammoth conglomerate...
...The entirety of state-owned and controlled enterprises are run by and for the benefit of the cabal around Putin—a collection of former KGB colleagues, St...
...At times it was decided that having only one monopoly arms export company was the best option...
...What is at stake is a multi-billion dollar business empire...
...Several Russian defense enterprises have also held export licenses that allowed them to sell abroad without the involvement of the state arms export apparatus...
...But it is not just a comfy lifestyle and other privileges that could come crashing down once Putin exits the presidency...
...Putin then hangs up and summons his chief of staff and prime minister...
...This back and forth process—as well as the numerous names by which these companies have been called—resembles an Old Testament family tree more than it does a Western-style history of corporate mergers and rebranding...
...Petersburg lawyers, and other political cronies...
...All con-tracts—and sales commissions—will flow solely through Chemezov, ROE's general director...
...One such firm was the Russian Aircraft Building Corporation MiG...
...That is an interesting proposal," answers the Russian president, "but I will have to consult with my advisers Reuben F. Johnson writes on defense and aerospace for The Weekly Standard and several U.S...
...But there have been no official steps proposed along these lines...
...This all began to change when Putin became president and appointed two KGB cronies he has known since their days of serving together in the former Soviet vassal state of East Germany, Andrei Belyaninov and Sergei Che-mezov, to take over Rosoboronexport (ROE), the Russian government's arms export agency...
...We propose that you ditch the red, blue, and white vertical-tricolor Russian flag and replace it with the old Soviet flag," he says...
...The old Soviet music with these new lyrics," says the Coca-Cola executive, "reminds all of the people what was good about the Soviet times plus what they have to be proud of now as Russians...
...Only with one small difference...
...They understand that Putin will not stay on, but they do not know what to do next," he told the assembled Moscow press corps...
...If you will place a small Coca-Cola logo in white on the flag's red background in the bottom right-hand corner our company is ready to finance your entire election campaign...
...by Reuben F. Johnson Kiev Apopular joke about Russian president Vladimir Putin these days—like most humor in this part of the world—contains more than a little truth...
...Putin is sitting in his office and the phone rings...
...Today Chavez, tomorrow Ahma-dinejad...
...The caller introduces himself as the Moscow representative for Coca-Cola...
...That is, whenever you decide how you will change the Russian constitution so you can run for a third term...
...In the same vein as this decision we have a commercial proposal for you...
...that described how the presidential apparatus under Putin had taken control of virtually all of the nation's industrial wealth...
...There are two truths in this joke: One—under Putin, the personal financial interests of the state apparat-chiki have become completely inbred with the national interest...
...The Kremlin immediately reiterated Putin's stated position opposing such an amendment...
...Garry Kasparov, the former Russian chess master and a Putin opponent, called a press conference in response to Mironov's proposal, which he characterized as "hysterical weeping" by those in Putin's entourage who are afraid of losing their positions (along with the luxury apartments, BMW sedans, and other perks...
...The second truth is that the idea of a Putin third term is less of a joke with each passing day...
...No one has yet explained how one can simultaneously be head of a ministry and the head of a company that supplies that same ministry with all of its military aircraft without some significant conflicts of interest...
...That is, until late afternoon on the last Friday in March, when Sergei Mironov, speaker of the Federation Council (the Russian parliament's upper chamber), called for the Russian constitution to be amended to allow SUBSCRIBE TO THE WEEKLY STANDARD'S EMAIL ft NEWSLETTER!^ Putin to remain in office beyond the end of his second term...
...Ivanov has now been kicked upstairs to the office of first deputy prime minister and has lost the defense portfolio, but he remains the head of the Military-Industrial Commission— formed just last year—which oversees the production of arms for export...
...The export process is also closely watched by Belyaninov, who was appointed by Putin to be the head of the state customs service...
...This band of comrades has managed to place all of the large money-making industries under their control— so much so that the thought of losing their grip when the Russian president's second term ends next year is a source of rising anxiety for his inner circle...
...MiG and other defense enterprises who had been operating on their own have had their export licenses liquidated...
...And then there's Iran...
...Comrades, we have another proposal about changing the flag," he tells them, "but this one is quite a bit more attractive, and I think we should consider it...
...Since the end of the Soviet era, arms sales abroad have been controlled by state-owned companies—the number and names of which depended on which direction the pendulum was swinging from month to month...
...Tellingly, it was the proposed ban on all arms exports to Iran...
...All of this is a sign that what really matters to the comrades in arms around Putin is to keep the multi-billion-dollar weapons-export deals humming...
...The possibility has been talked about incessantly within political circles as well as on the street—and most Russians have assumed that some form of parliamentary chicanery would eventually be invoked in order to make it a reality...
...To get Moscow to sign on to the recent Security Council resolution clamping new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, the Russian contingent demanded one item be deleted from the sanctions list...
...The famous planemaker having its own license was deemed a sensible arrangement...
...He congratulates Putin on having brought back the inspiring music of the old Soviet national anthem, but with new lyrics penned to celebrate the "reborn, strong Russia...
...But another Kremlin monopoly is even more ominous...
...The Kremlin's control over the state-run natural gas monopoly Gazprom, Putin's breakup and seizure of the oil company Yukos, and the expropriation of other valuable natural resource operations (namely, the regulatory sleight-of-hand that was used to hijack the Western-financed Sakha-lin-2 oil and gas exploration project) have been well publicized in the West...
...It is also what drives the movement to make Putin president for life or to ensure that he can hand-pick his successor...
...Ivanov's replacement as defense minister, Anatoly Serdyukov, is a former furniture store manager turned tax service official who—it has just been announced—will be sent for a month-long crash course in national security at the Russian armed forces General Staff Academy...
...A year ago, the New York Times Moscow bureau produced an article entitled "Workers' Paradise Is Rebranded as Kremlin, Inc...
...and European defense publications...
...This may eventually provoke a reaction from Washington...
...Petersburg social club that now has a monopoly on power in Moscow (and effectively silences those who oppose them) wants to expand the sale of Russian arms to anyone and everyone who wants them...
...at other junctures there were as many as three companies, because the politics of the day deemed competition to be healthy for the Russian defense industry...
...Putin's comrades in arms are determined to keep the money flowing in—regardless of what it means for the rest of us...
Vol. 12 • April 2007 • No. 30
