For fifteen years, Gleb Pavlovsky worked as an adviser to Russian Presidents Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin, and the one-term Dmitry Medvedev. He was one of the chief architects behind the “power vertical” concept— the need for a strong leader in order to create stability. Freedom and democracy were supposed to “come later.” Unfortunately for Pavlovsky, the exact opposite happened. After writing several articles on why Medvedev should run against then-Prime Minister Putin in the 2012 presidential election, he got fired. Today he says he is happy he was kicked out in time before the regime descended further into authoritarianism —and …read more
Source: Atlantic Council
