will say here what I have no intention of discussing in any podcasts, but which must be shared with the Community insofar as the issue justifies my public statements on air that no leader deserves hero worship including the occupant of the Kremlin.
It is common knowledge that Vladimir Putin concluded a pact with Boris Yeltsin when the latter retired and handed the presidency to his wished for successor on a silver platter: that the Yeltsin “family” in the normal sense and in the mafia sense never be touched.
In the 26 years since then, there has been only one violation of that pledge by Putin: the imprisonment of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his eventual expulsion from Russia after serving 10 years in prisons and camps, but Putin’s hand was forced because the chairman of Yukos and Russia’s wealthiest man at the time had made a clear move to unseat Putin and take power for himself.
Otherwise, no moves have been made against other members of the extended Yeltsin family, even as some of them, in particular, Yeltsin’s widow, Naina, the widow of his former boss, Petersburg mayor Anatoly Sobchak, Lyudmila Narusova, and their daughter Xenia Sobchak have done what they can to upset the Putin presidency and bring back to power the Liberals of the Yeltsin years.
Naina is the director of the Yeltsin Center in Yekaterinburg, which is described as a social, cultural and educational center. It is in fact a nest for anti-Putin Fifth Column Russian politicians who would happily see Russia kow-tow to the USA so long as they can travel the world and enjoy the benefits from their ill-gotten wealth.
Xenia Sobchak stood in for Alexei Navalny in the 2018 presidential elections when Navalny was barred from running. At the time, a police raid found hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash in her apartment, which was intended to finance the anti-Putin movement. Was she arrested? Was she put on trial for her obviously criminal acts and intentions? No, it was all swept under the carpet and Xenia continues her career as a public personality taking in large sums for spreading gossip in social media.
Lyudmila Narusova is widely known in Russia to be corrupt but safe from investigation by holding public office. Today’s Russian news tells us that she has again been reappointed to be a “Senator” i.e. member of the upper house in Russia’s bicameral legislature. Yes, appointed, not elected by the executive office of the Tuva Republic, a tiny territory with a population of 336,000 located at the border with Mongolia in southern Siberia. To my knowledge in the couple of decades that Narusova has held this position, she has never visited Tuva. And why bother?
My point is very simple: power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Copyright Gilbert Doctorow, 2026
Helmer has an interesting theory, that Russia may see a new class of oligarchs emerge, who actually give a damn about Russia. He points out that the current crop is getting old, and more importantly that their heirs are not even Russians any more. They live in England, Switzerland, Italy, America, etc., and have no interest in returning to Russia.
A new class might emerge, from entrepreneurs, who are actually Russians. I wonder if that has any chance of happening.
Could we imagine any European politician making a promise to a former colleague -- and keeping that promise for 26 long years? Especially in the face of provocations which should justify breaking the promise?
Either President Putin is an exceptionally honorable man ... or there is more to this story.