In the Russian political lexicon, a silovik (Russian: силовик, IPA: [sʲɪlɐˈvʲik]; plural: siloviki, Russian: силовики, IPA: [sʲɪləvʲɪˈkʲi]) is a person who works for any state organisation that is authorised to use force against citizens or others.

Jan 23, 2023 · Many of the most powerful people in Russia make up the Siloviki faction—the elite group of businessmen and other leaders with close ties to state security, the police, the investigative...

Oct 31, 2022 · In reality, any decision in a political trial is made by order from the Kremlin. Who supports this system, who protects it? The so-called security forces, known in Russia as …

Apr 1, 2017 · Russia's “force structures” (silovye struktury) are the state's military, security, and law enforcement bodies. Siloviki, then, are those who work or worked for one of the force structures, or “power ministries.”

Mar 18, 2024 · Under Putin, the siloviki have taken control of Russia's political, economic and cultural landscape, the country's lifeblood and the social basis of its power. They have become all the more omnipresent as the conflict in Ukraine has transformed the military-industrial complex, their preferred sector, into an engine of economic growth.

The holders of political power in Russia today are the siloviki (sometimes called “securocrats” by political scientists). These are the people who work for, or who used to work for, the silovye ministerstva -literally “the ministries of force”-charged with wielding coercion and violence in the name of the state.

May 13, 2024 · Let's start with the siloviki - the security men around President Putin, most of whom rose up through the ranks of the KGB as he did and have a hawkish, Cold War mindset. They believe themselves in an existential battle with the West where the ultimate goal of the US vis-a-vis Russia is regime change.

Mar 15, 2022 · At 58, president of the Duma Lower House of Parliament Vyacheslav Volodin is one of the younger members of the inner circle. He has been touted as a possible successor …

The siloviki – Russian security and military personnel – are a key part of Team Putin. They are not, however, a coherent group, and there are important organizational and factional cleavages among the siloviki.

Although the Kremlin factions likely number between two and 10, depend-ing on how one defines them, there are believed to be three primary groups. They are commonly referred to as the liberals, technocrats, and siloviki.