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Karen Dawisha
76 quotes
“I expected a lot more criticism when I wrote the book... I think everyone is beginning to see the kind of person Putin is. What he did in Ukraine crossed a line, and that really mobilized the media to portray him as what he really is. ...I never meant for this book to bring down Mr. Putin; its purpose is to be educational... It may... provide evidence, but I would really just like it to educate readers about Russia, about Putin's presidency, and politics.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: as quoted by Victoria Slater, "Political science professor sees success with book" College of Arts and Science (Feb 4, 2015)
“Putin operates a ""... that severely punishes disloyalty while allowing access to economic predation on a world-historic scale for the inner core of his elite.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Clifford Gaddy, Barry Ickes, "Putin’s Protection Racket" Center for Research on International Financial and Energy Security (Sep 23, 2010)
“Anton Surikov... former military intelligence specialist.. "...all Russian politicians are bandits from St. Petersburg." Surikov...was dead within several months of this 2009 interview.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ref: Ben Judah, "Last Cake with a Russian Agent" Standpoint (January/February 2010)
“Bank Rossiya was not... just a vehicle for investment by... what would become Putin's circle. It was... one of the many places where this circle... collaborated with, Russian organized crime. ... concluded ...18.6 percent of the original shares in Bank Rossiya were owned by ...[companies affiliated with] mob boss Gennady Petrov (arrested by Spanish police in 2008 as head of the Tambov-Malyshev crime group).”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ref: , "Fursenko, Andrey Aleksandrovich" Election2012.ru, (2012)
“The bank... united elites close to Putin... [and] became a vehicle for investment... [e.g. for] 51 percent control over SOGAZ... A report on corruption... claimed... Bank Rossiya... [paid] $58 million, despite... [a] value of $2 billion.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ref: , Boris Nemtsov, , Ol'ga Shorina, "Putin. Corruption. An Independent White Paper" Putin-Itogi.ru. (2011)
“[R]eports allege that after Putin became president, Tsepov continued... running... the ’s tribute system... "administrative resources"... provided to those who paid the largest tribute... Once... accepted... payments from... public funds were disbursed for the campaign. ...[G]overnors were chosen who responded to central interests irrespective "of ...promoting the welfare of the inhabitants of the region." ...Russkiy Kur’er wrote that ...a price list for promotion to governor ...included charges of $3 million to $5 million ...”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ref: Andrey Petrov, "Skol'ko stoit Gubernator" [How much does a Governorship Cost?] Russkiy Kur'er (Sep 21, 2004)
“[Putin] was... in the 's active reserves until at least August 1991, and... initially... placed with Sobchak by the KGB... to monitor... emergence of democratic leaders... [F]oreigners who did business in Russia... universally reported... to get something done in the city, you worked through Putin, not Sobchak.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“... "...Putin’s political philosophy and favorite concepts—managed democracy, administrative vertical, dictatorship of law, a 'control' shot to the back of the head, etc.—are close to this group.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ref: Andrey Piontkovsky, "Who Is in the Minority?" (Sep 5, 2005)
“Gref and Kudrin appeared... drawn to Putin... because of his... liberal economic policies and... ability to... get things done in St. Petersburg... when most... were paralyzed by the "alegal" political situation and the total eruption of criminal activity at all levels.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Smirnov met Putin in 1990 in Germany... He... headed one of the companies... in the [early 1990s] food scandal... millions being stolen; [beginning in 1994] he and Putin sat... on the board of the... SPAG... accused of laundering money for Russian and Columbian organized crime; and he signed over a monopoly position to the Petersburg Fuel Company, which he co-owned with Barsukov-Kumarin. ...Putin ...appointed Smirnov head of Tekhsnabeksport, one of the world’s largest suppliers of nuclear goods and services to foreign governments...”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ref: , Boris Nemtsov, , Ol'ga Shorina, "Putin. Corruption. An Independent White Paper" Putin-Itogi.ru. (2011)
“... in 2005 became head of . In... 2013 Putin announced... $43 billion... borrowed from Russia’s pension fund... to stimulate the economy, including $14 billion to build three infrastructure projects, two... by Russian Railways. The Russian free media... forecast... such... would... stimulate... corruption. ...Navalnyy ...criticized Yakunin’s entry to... Russia’s billionaires... as the head of a state-owned firm ...a salaried employee ..."In all other countries, the railways are used for movement, but we use them for stealing.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ref: , "Dacha Yakunina" [Yakunin’s dacha] Navalny.livejournal.com (Jun 1, 2013)
“By 2013 the Russia list of the wealthiest businessmen in Russia was replete with friends of Putin.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Putin’s relationship with his friends was... of reciprocity: ...supporting their raids on private businesses, providing ...no-bid state contracts ...allowing the courts to legalize their activities and criminalize those of ...opponents. In return ...they became the bulwark of his base ...helped finance and secure his electoral victories ... removed ...enemies... and... paid him . All... began in St. Petersburg in the early 1990s, when he started to promote ...s from ...Leningrad and ...”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Putin's ...securing a monopoly position for select firms was a feature ...while deputy mayor. While he professed ...economic liberalization and private property, he ...acted to reduce competition ...and maximize profits for ...friends. In St. Petersburg, Åslund reported, "...Swedish and Finnish businessmen complained about Putin squeezing out their companies ...through ...lawless tax police, to the advantage of [friendly] companies ...”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ref: , Russia's Capitalist Revolution: Why Market Reform Succeeded and Democracy Failed , (2007) p. 201. Also see: overhead from presentation. (Nov 19, 2007)
“Putin... allegedly favored a takeover of the St. Petersburg port by the Tambov organized crime group.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) first seen 1995 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ref: 1) Louise Shelly, "Contemporary Russian Organised Crime" Organised Crime in Europe: Concepts, Patterns and Control Policies in the European Union and Beyond ed. Cyrille Fijnaut, Letizia Paoli (2004) pp. 563–85. 2) …
“...Timchenko's company "was a beneficiary of a large export quota under a scandal-tainted oil-for-food scheme set up by Mr. Putin when he worked as head of the city administration’s foreign economic relations committee in 1991 ..." Timchenko and his colleagues were never prosecuted, and indeed he went on to establish .”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ref: , Neil Buckley, "On the Offensive: How Gunvor Rose to the Top of Russian Oil Trading" The (May 14, 2008)
“2014... U.S. government’s sanctions... claimed a direct connection between Putin, Timchenko, and : "Timchenko’s activities in the energy sector have been directly linked to Putin. Putin has investments in Gunvor and may have access to Gunvor funds.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ref: U.S. Department of the Treasury, "Treasury Sanctions Russian Officials, Members of the Russian Leadership's Inner Circle, and an Entity for Involvement in the Situation in Ukraine" (Mar 20, 2014)
“International, with Timchenko as co-owner... grew out of and benefited from the Russian state's dismantling of in 2003... gained control of... 5 percent of Russia’s total economic output and revenues of over $70 billion annually.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ref: Andrew E. Kramer, David M. Herszenhorn, "Midas Touch in St. Petersburg: Friends of Putin Glow Brightly" The New York Times (Mar 1, 2012) 2) , Neil Buckley, "On the Offensive: How Gunvor Rose to the Top of Russian O…
“After his electoral loss in 1996, Sobchak... charged... with corruption... had to flee the country... widely reported as masterminded by Putin. ...[G]etting Sobchak out... protected those, like Putin, about whom there was a lot of incriminating information. ...Sal'ye ..."Before, Putin was under Sobchak’s protection [under his roof], and now Sobchak was under Putin’s protection [krysha].”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ref: Sergey Buntman, "Interview with Marina Sal'ye" Ekho Moskvy (Jan 28, 2000)
“Sal'ye summed up the operation and Putin’s ambition... "...Cook up a legally defective contract ...take a license to the Customs Office... open the border... send the goods abroad... and put the money in your pocket. ...It was ...not put out to tender. They needed their 'partners'... of the shadow economy, criminal and mafia structures, front companies that could ensure this... . ...[H]is ...lamentations about the disappearing firms deserve nothing but contempt.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ref: Marina Sal’ye, "V. Putin—'Prezident' korrumpirovannoy oligarkhii!" [V. Putin—'President' of a Corrupt Oligarchy!] Antikompromat [Source: Public Foundation "Vice"] (Mar 18 2000)
“Putin... 1991... was made head of the supervisory council overseeing the... gambling industry in St. Petersburg. ...[H]ow did the city become a majority owner in... [that] gaming industry in St. Petersburg? ..."by relinquishing the right to collect rent for the facilities that the s occupied," the city could claim 51 percent ownership ...[E]stablishing a joint stock company called Neva Chance, which... went on to create over twenty-five different [gambling industry] companies ...many ...headed by ex-FSB officials ...”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ref: , , The Age of Assassins: how Scary are Russia's new Rulers? (2008) pp. 64-66.
“Baltik-Eskort operated openly as a private security service to protect Putin, Sobchak, and other[s]... It... allegedly acted as a liaison with the criminal underworld in St. Petersburg, including... Aleksandr Malyshev, reputed head of the Malyshev criminal organization, and , the reputed head of the Tambov crime organization. Some... employees were members of criminal groups and... accused of being involved in the assassinations of political figures...”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ref: , , The Age of Assassins: how Scary are Russia's new Rulers? (2008) pp. 260-261.
“Some... gambling companies were controlled by ex-KGB, and as such ...pushed hard to get the to submit to their authority. ...Several reputed members of the Tambov and Malyshev gangs became acquainted with Putin at this time. ...Reputed crime bosses who might not have easily received visas to Western countries now arrived as members of official cultural delegations and did their business abroad under ...protection of ...delegations.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ref: Vladimir Ivanidze, "Kto takoy V. V. Kiselyev, kotoryy vyvel na stsenu V. V. Putina?" [Who is this V.V. Kiselyev, who brought V.V. Putin up on stage?] Novaya gazeta (Aug 29, 2011)
“Putin will not go gentle into the night. ...[L]ess flexible and more bombastic in his public appearances ...those in his inner circle suggest that after the 2011–12 election demonstrations, there is ...fear. Gleb Pavlovskiy, his PR guru... believes that Putin will never leave power and ...hampered by the idea that Russians will always decide ...by violence. Pavlovskiy ...heard Putin say, "We ...know that as soon as we move aside, you will destroy us. ...you'll put us to the wall and execute us. And we don’t want to go to the wall.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with Gleb Pavlovskiy (January 2012) in Fiona Hill, Clifford G. Gaddy, Mr. Putin. Operative in the Kremlin (2013) p. 20.
“[T]hese sanctions represented a public admission by the United States government of what it had known for over a decade... Putin has built a system based on massive predation not seen in Russia since the Tzars. Transparency International estimates $300 billion are paid every year in corruption. , according to official Russian Central Bank figures since 2005 have been $335 billion, and ... stated that Russia now has the highest income inequality of any country in the world.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“110 billionaires control 35% of the... wealth of this very wealthy country. ...[T]he median wealth in Russia ...(50% are richer, 50% are poorer) ...is ...$871. It is the lowest median wealth figure of any country. A country that is a net exporter of energy has a lower median wealth than India. It... scores below Nigeria in its ability to control corruption, and... its willingness to control corruption.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Putin system nationalizes the risk and privatizes the reward to loyalists.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The pattern we see now of the redistribution of to the inner core, has been in place since the beginning, and even before . This is not a system in which robber barons create the industrial basis of a robust emerging capitalist economy. This is a system in which barons are robbed by value-detracting state raiding elites whose sole position is determined by their relationship to the current president. Value-detraction is an extremely important part of this picture.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Most of the academic world... have spent the last 20 years focusing on democracy in Russia... but not on authoritarianism succeeding, and the basic conclusion... in this book is that Russia is not a system under Putin, of accidental autocrats.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is a system that was created with a purpose by intelligent design from the very beginning of the Putin regime. ...[E]ven the 2000 election was fraudulent. Putin would not have won in the first round without massive fraud.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[F]rom the very beginning the Putin project was... all about guaranteeing to win.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Gleb Pavlovsky... an extremely important member of the PR team around Putin in 2000, and who has fallen out with the ... stated (and I agree...) that "Putin was part of a very extensive, but politically invisible layer of people, who after the end of the 1980s, were looking for a revanche in connection with the collapse of the Soviet Union.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The argument of the book is that this group failed in 1991, but they succeeded in 2000. It's the same group, ideologically, not everybody, but ideologically.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This group was seeking also to help themselves. They were a group of trained officers, very interested in economic liberalism, but with political control, and primarily liberalism for them[selves].”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Seeing the collapse of communist rule in Eastern Europe after 1989, and the loss of the ruling status of communist parties... the [CPSU] authorized the ... to move money out of the Soviet Union, realizing that if the CPSU lost its ruling status... [i.e.,] access to the state budget without limit, they would need money to live in a . Something that the Polish, East German and Hungarian parties hadn't thought about.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Money started to flood... in such amounts that they virtually bankrupt the Gorbachev regime first, and then when Yeltsin failed to find the Communist gold, they also significantly handicapped the ability of the Yeltsin regime to succeed.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[T]his was CPSU money safeguarded by the , but when Yeltsin outlawed the CPSU, who did the money belong to? ...[T]o whoever knew what the bank account number was, and this started the scramble for offshore accounts. Kroll International was hired... by Gaidar and Yeltsin. They couldn't find the money.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[T]he core of the book starts 1991... I regard it as the most conservative analysis possible, based on extensive interviews, of Putin's involvement in illicit activities in the 90s. His efforts to suppress legal cases... against him, and the rise to power of the group around him.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What we know about this episode... It's there in the written source material. We just need to do the work of... bringing it to light. ...[T]he book is dedicated to free Russian journalism because it was Russian journalists who followed this story, first and foremost! ...[T]hey wrote this story when there was free journalism. They covered it extensively. They were on Putin's tale from the very beginning. They couldn't write this now, but they were writing it in the 1990s.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[I]t was a detailed account of the criminal activities that [Andrey Zykov] feels Putin was involved in—abuse of power... of his official position... relations with organized crime, knowledge about money laundering... a whole range of economic crimes.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reference is to a 2010 YouTube video posted by Lieutenant Colonel Zykov, laying out evidence from his investigation of Putin's early years in the St. Petersburg government.
“[I]nstead of seeing Russia as a democracy... failing, we need to see it as an authoritarian system... succeeding... [and] incapable of being democratic. They don’t want to be democrats. ...And if that’s correct, when did that start? And that... took me to the '90s... [T]hey were stealing from the... beginning.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He was the linchpin. He controlled which foreign companies could register their offices and receive offices. ...[A]ll this property was Soviet property. The Soviet Union hadn't fallen yet. So how was a company... to get access to property to set up... in St. Petersburg? Putin would... assign it.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[F]ly-by-night companies were set up. Many of his friends... still around today, were behind those companies. The goods went out, and incomplete or no shipment came back. So millions... were made just in that episode alone.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[W]hat they saw in... [Putin] was that he had protected Sobchak. And as they said, "He didn't give up Sobchak, and he's not going to give us up.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They needed... situations in which, if they could postpone... elections entirely and make it more difficult for the opposition to focus on unimportant things, like the corruption of the Yeltsin family. ...So there was a real Yeltsin interest... also... a Putin interest because he wanted to be president. ...I think ...evidence that there was an FSB operation to place explosives in the apartment building in Ryazan is incontrovertible.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[T]he system is... mutual support and tribute. It's a system. If you are on a list of possible people who might be approached to be a member of the ... you have to pay for your seat. Once you’re in... you can... charge businessmen to have line items in the budget. Same thing all across all sectors.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[T]wo numbers is all we need. The median... wealth for the average Russian is $871, according to ... Median wealth in India, over a thousand dollars. The other number is 110... individuals own 35 percent of the wealth of Russia.... the most unequal country by far in the world.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[Putin] doesn't back down.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[Saint] Petersburg... was known as the "bandit's capital," and Putin was regarded by many as the link between organized crime and the mayor's office. ...[H]is activity was investigated by city and federal officials. All... squashed when he came to power.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[A] trillion [dollars] has been subject to capital flight from Russia since 2005... primarily to Western banks.”
Karen Dawisha (1949–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source