On April 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin suddenly announced creation of a National Guard, of up to 400,000 personnel, to control drug trafficking and terrorism.But former Pentagon adviser Evelyn Farkas has a different take: “I see this as riot control.”Putin is distracting attention from bad economic news, due to sanctions, she said. “This has to do with his nervousness about maintaining control and having a ready force in case he has large demonstrations in light of the poor economic conditions.”Russia’s parliamentary elections are in September, and the economy is shrinking due to sanctions over Ukraine and low oil prices. …read more
Source: Atlantic Council