Silovik

A "Silovik" (силови́к, plural: siloviks or siloviki, силовики́, from a Russian word for "force") is a Russian politician from the old security or military services, often the officers of the KGB, the FSB, the Federal Narcotics Control Service and military or other security services who came into power under President Vladimir Putin, the successor of Boris Yeltsin. It can also refer to security-service personnel from any country or nationality.

Derivation

The term derives from the fact that these people come from "power ministries", which under Yeltsin and Putin formed a de facto higher level inner cabinet. Sometimes the term is translated as "strongman". The drawback of this translation is that it obscures the particular career background of these persons, as described above.

Political tendencies

The siloviki do not go to the ideological extremes of nationalist groups such as Pamyat, the Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democratic Party or the Tsarist-era Black Hundred.

One point of view in Russia is that the siloviki are an appropriate counterweight to the Russian oligarchs, who might otherwise loot Russia and subvert its government.Fact|date=September 2008

Further reading

*cite news |title=The making of a neo-KGB state |url=http://www.economist.com/world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9682621 |work=The Economist |publisher= The Economist Newspaper Limited|date=2007-08-25 |accessdate=2007-08-24

External links

* [http://www.monitor.upeace.org/archive.cfm?id_article=107 William Safire on the "Siloviki"]
* [http://www.twq.com/07winter/docs/07winter_bremmer.pdf "The Siloviki in Putin's Russia: Who They Are and What They Want"] , Washington Quarterly, Winter 2007
* [http://www.exile.ru/articles/detail.php?ARTICLE_ID=13442&IBLOCK_ID=35 "The Exile" on Russia's brewing "Silovik war"]