http://www.sabhlokcity.com/2015/01/the-sorry-case-of-putins-corrupt-totalitarianism-russia-is-a-mafia-state-just-like-india/

[I had drafted this some days ago but forgot to publish it. something reminded me to check and so I’m publishing today]
Chanced upon an article in the Australian Financial Review ("Red Robber Barons Back in the USSR" by Anne Applebaum). It is the same as this book review published in NY Times. The book being reviewed is Karen Dawisha's Putin's Kleptocracy. A talk by Karen about her book, below


I also came across Padma Desai's letter to the Financial Timeswhich states clearly.
Mr Putin remains an egocentric, authoritarian ruler. In the old days, the tsars ignored the nobility (boyars) at their peril. Leonid Brezhnev, leader from 1964-1982, had to deal with the politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. By contrast, Mr Putin is an absolute ruler. The Russian legislature is his rubber-stamping body. Despite the amnesty measures, Russia remains a police state with widespread controls on internet activity and public meetings all unveiled under presidential executive orders.
For some misguided reason I was relatively sanguine about Russia after reading relatively positive articles in newspapers/magazines over the years. Here's one that I randomly picked up from the internet. Moscow is supposedly a modern city. Padma Desai's talk in Melbourne a couple of years ago depicted a modestly positive picture. But after reading this book review, I wrote to her and she responded that she has not read the book yet. But she recommended I read her letter in Financial Times (which I've cited above). Clearly she has changed her stance re: Putin.

This book about Putin's origin and operations tells us that things are pretty ordinary in Russia, today.
And this – which I came across today – confirms that Russia is a mafia state, just like India: Alexander Litvinenko was to expose ‘criminal’ Vladimir Putin