This is a translation of excerpts from a blog Putinism As Is by a Radio Svoboda analyst and blogger Artem Kruglov. In the light of Helsinki Summit 2018 and Trump/Putin relationship, it is important to know these facts of Putin’s background.

“The group around Putin today is the same as the one that brought him to power from St. Petersburg in the 1990s,” wrote celebrated author Karen Dawisha in her book Putin’s Kleptocracy. In today’s political climate it is critical for the EU and US analysts, journalists and general audience to understand the true origin and background of the Russian mafia state. “In the 90s, gangsters and the KGB fused into one structure,” said Olga Litvinenko, a politician who served in the Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg from 2007 to 2011 and an estranged daughter of Putin’s ally and long-time friend. This structure is what we now call a mafia state. “Putin was never in business and he does not have ‘business associates,’” noted Nikita Kulachenkov, a forensic accountant and political activist fighting against corruption in the Russian government, has also served as a principal investigator at the Anti-Corruption Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Moscow and founded by Alexei Navalny. “Russian oligarchs do not own their fortunes. They can’t hide their money. They need the status quo and will fight for it, using the mafia methods” — even if it requires taking these mafia methods to the West.

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