Wartime Russia has seen an unprecedented wave of political arrests. It has included the routing of the political clan of the once-powerful former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ; the detentions of dozens of regional officials, up to and including deputy governors; the suicide of a federal minister who was facing jail; and arrests of high-ranking judges. This wave has been accompanied by a massive program of asset confiscations, which has sent a chill through those with high-level contacts who once believed they were protected.   

In other words, the system is being reforged amid the fires of war. And the arrests and confiscations show no sign of dying down. On the contrary: while President Vladimir Putin is preoccupied with the battlefield, the regime requires resources to continue prosecuting the war and token displays of justice.

It’s customary in some quarters to attribute the rise in the number of such arrests to the personal ambition of individual security officers. To some extent this is true: after all, it’s the job of a security official to put people behind bars, and their success is judged according to the number of arrests and the volume of assets seized. However, changes to........

© The Moscow Times