Is Russia’s president a Dictator?

Originally when I think of Russia, the stereotypes of Vodka, KGB, that all Russians are named Ivan or Natasha, and that they wrestle Bears are what immediately comes to mind.  Many of these stereotypes are perpetuated by Hollywood, from movies like The Avengers, where the character Black Widow (Natasha) whose backstory is a Russian spy. But, on a more serious note, after googling Russian news articles the number of articles that surfaced about poisoning reveal a more serious stereotype that I have heard but was hesitant to discuss.  That stereotype being that the Russian Government uses or allegedly uses chemical agents to poison potential opposition.

In September 2020, Alexey Navalny, a Russian politician, lawyer, and founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation who has spoken out against Russia’s president Vladimir Putin was poisoned.  A video of Alexey agonizing in pain while in an airplane from the Siberian city Tomsk, to Moscow.  After testing of water bottles Alexey had drank from, forensic testing concluded that the chemical agent Novichok or AA234 was the poison used as an attempt to kill Alexey (Halasz, Jones, & Mezzofiore, 2020).  Russia’s government denied any involvement.  But there has been a history of poisoning of those who spoke out against the Russian government.  Why poison? It instills fear in its enemy, and more importantly plausible deniability, poisoning allows the Russian government the ability to say they had nothing to do with it, and it is less theatrical than an assassination via gunshot.

While spies, assassination, and poisoning make for a thrilling spy novel.  Assassinations via poison impacts the country’s identity and the way the world views their National Culture. Hofstede describes Culture as the “the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another” (Penn State, 2020). Does this make the Russian president a Dictator? The answer is No.  A dictator is a ruler with absolute power over a region, power which has oftentimes been obtained by force (Provenzano, 2020). Russia holds elections, and many of those elections have been contested, there have been accusations of voter fraud, nonetheless the election process is what gives Putin’s regime credibility that the election system is honest.

Regardless, the global publicity, and if the poisonings are revealed to be true, the damage to the country’s image is already set in motion.  How the world perceives Russia’s culture is controlled by who’s in charge.  It leaves naïve Americans like myself under the impression that their president utilizes fear to control the people of their country.  It also makes me consider whether Russia is really a threat, their continued alleged usages of assassinations via poisonings will continue to tarnish Russia’s global image and perpetuate the stereotypes and prejudices many hold against their culture.

Reference

Berger, M., & Taylor, A., (2020).  Why poison is the weapon of choice in Putin’s Russia. Washington Post. Retrieved from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/08/21/why-poison-is-weapon-choice-putins-russia/

Halasz, S., Jones, B., & Mezzofiore, G., (2020). Novichok nerve agent used in Alexey Navalny poisoning, says German government. CNN.  Retrieved from: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/02/europe/alexey-navalny-novichok-intl/index.html#:~:text=Russian%20opposition%20leader%20Alexey%20Navalny%20was%20poisoned%20with,the%20Novichok%20group%2C%20the%20German%20government%20said%20Wednesday.

Provenzano, B., (2020). Is Vladimir Putin a dictator? Here’s what the experts have to say. MIC. Retrieved from: https://www.mic.com/articles/156026/is-vladimir-putin-a-dictator-here-s-what-experts-have-to-say