8 March, 21:21
Within the framework of conceptual analysis of modern state-political institutions, it is appropriate to examine their evolution through the lens of corporate-mafia governance mechanisms.
The operational specificity of structures such as the KGB/FSB demonstrates persistent characteristics of an oligarchic monopoly on violence and resource redistribution, making them closely resemble organized crime syndicates.
This phenomenon is particularly evident in neo-imperial formations like the post-Soviet political entity known as the Russian Federation, which, in essence, functions as a corporation with exclusive rights to exploit human and natural capital in its controlled territories. The mechanism of power retention in such systems is inconceivable without coercion: public consent to illegitimate practices is possible only under the threat of repression or within conditions of informational hegemony.
War, in this context, is not merely an instrument of geopolitical expansion but an inevitable consequence of a mafia-state system. As the prominent Soviet sociologist and futurist Igor Bestuzhev-Lada rightly pointed out, any extremist structure—regardless of its ideological orientation—inevitably reproduces the hierarchical model of a criminal syndicate, in which the leading figure (the so-called "Pahan" (boss, kingpin, big dog, shot caller)) mobilizes resources through instrumentalized loyalty of subordinates ("Shestyorki" (errand boy, gofer, stooge, minion, flunky, lackey)) for expansion, whether through internal repression or external aggression. Otherwise, according to systemic logic, he will be swiftly replaced by a more radical actor.
Viewing the Russian Federation through this paradigm inevitably leads to the conclusion that its aggression against Ukraine was not a situational excess but a predetermined stage in the evolution of this system. The Russian state entity, being not merely the heir but the direct continuation of the imperial tradition in its most archaic, violent form, is incapable of existing in a stable state without expansion. Any attempt to "stop" Russia’s aggressive actions without a structural transformation is doomed to failure: violence is embedded in the very logic of its existence.
Thus, the only viable solution to eliminating this threat is the dismantling of the mafia-imperial structure and its deconstruction into independent entities capable of existing without a centralized mechanism of coercion. Only the removal of the imperial core and its ideological foundation will create conditions for the formation of post-Russian entities free from the expansionist vector. Otherwise, even with a temporary loss of capacity for aggression, its resurgence remains only a matter of time.