The empowerment of Putin loyalists who command their own forces may not bode well for the stability of the state.

Gulnaz Sharafutdinova is Professor of Russian Politics and Acting Director of Russia Institute at King’s College London. She is an author of the awar... d-winning The Red Mirror: Putin’s Leadership and Russia’s Insecure Identity (Oxford University Press, 2020), an earlier book, Political Consequences of Crony Capitalism Inside Russia (Notre Dame University Press, 2010), and numerous articles.
The empowerment of Putin loyalists who command their own forces may not bode well for the stability of the state.