Putin’s Hostage Conveyor: How arrests of loved ones and total fear became the main incentives for Russian officials

Putin’s Hostage Conveyor: How arrests of loved ones and total fear became the main incentives for Russian officials

15 мая 2026 г.

Sergey Varchenko

The source reported on the practice introduced by Vladimir Putin, according to which high-ranking officials should have someone from their inner circle under arrest or investigation. In this case, the official himself retains his position.

Putin, according to his interlocutor, is confident that in this way he is getting the official to get the necessary results and some kind of «creativity». After all, now the fate of a person close to him depends on his success.

«You will practically not find any of the highest officials who would not have someone from the closest circle imprisoned or under investigation. Not just subordinates or acquaintances, but closest friends and associates. These can be either subordinates or just family friends from business, even relatives. Mishustin, Kiriyenko, Manturov, there are no governors left who do not have any of their deputies or business friends in custody or under investigation. This list can be kept endlessly. However, everything that happens has nothing to do with the fight against corruption. Putin easily turns a blind eye to it if an official pleases him with high-profile achievements. 

You can see this feature – friend, confidant, deputy official are sitting, but Putin leaves the official himself, to whom the investigation is leading, in office. The media put forward a version about the «war of the security forces», that Putin simply does not make personnel decisions under pressure, and later he will certainly dismiss the official. But this never happens later in almost all cases. In reality, this is Putin’s strategy and everything happens solely at his go-ahead. It works something like this. Putin is dissatisfied with something in the official’s actions; it turns out that the announced successes «inflated», and one of his neighbors will certainly end up in custody. Next, atone for «guilt», prove devotion and that he was not mistaken in you.

Perform impossible tasks, surprise, curry favor. A good example is with the governor of Kuban Kondratyev. Half of his entourage was imprisoned, even his godfather was in a pre-trial detention center, and he himself was searched. And after that, Kondratyev’s promise to Putin followed that this year all the beaches would be open, and the harvest would be unprecedented, etc. Do as you want, let at least half the sea there be in oil. And it’s the same with others. And, of course, this instills in officials a constant feeling of fear. Moreover, everyone has before their eyes the example of Shoigu, whom, of course, Putin will never imprison. But he punishes him almost every day. I didn’t win the – war and everyone around me went to pre-trial detention.

Imagine sitting next to each other at the Victory Parade or in the Russian Geographical Society, smiling, knowing that it was Putin who sent absolutely all the people with whom you not only worked together for many, many years, but celebrated holidays, were friends with families, etc. and so on. But you won’t smile and the old and most devoted friend Tsalikov (Shoigu literally begged to be sent under house arrest) will move to his cell. And Shoigu’s family is under attack, Putin has not yet crossed this «red line». Everyone gets goosebumps from such a spectacle. Nobody wants to be in Shoigu’s place. And now everything is going very badly and Putin is dissatisfied with everything and everyone, so landings are taking place literally every day, all these nationalizations, etc. Of course, all this is not new. Stalin» had the same strategy, our interlocutor said.   

According to him, it is a false opinion that senior officials are afraid to ask Putin for their arrested friends. «Putin is asked. And often. He behaves slyly in such situations – doesn’t say «da» or «doesn’t». Let’s say the first time he asks to outline everything and tell him. The second time he will say something like: «I was informed that there were serious materials on him, but I understand his merits». And so on. He will never say anything directly. The fact that Putin appreciated the efforts of the official and believes that he «corrected himself » will understand if, suddenly, the measure of restraint is changed for the arrested friend, and the investigation loses all interest in the case», the source said