Mad Vlad is a “Stalin copy-cat murderer” who rules Russia through “revolutionary terror that’s broadcast on tv”, a security expert has said. Professor Anthony Glees said the tyrant carries out “purges done in glitzy 21st century style”.
He likened Putin’s style to that of murderous Soviet Union dictator Joseph Stalin, whose reign of terror caused the death and suffering of tens of millions as he crushed all opposition before he died in 1953.
Prof Glees, a security expert from the University of Buckingham, said: “Putin is now doing the same thing but has realised he needs to kill far, far fewer people to achieve the same effect.”
Putin is Russia’s longest-serving leader since Stalin, who conducted “purges” which were largely carried out beyond the gaze of the public and in which over a million Russians were killed.
Prof Glees described the purges as the “mass murders of folk who, for the main part, were either entirely innocent of any wrongdoing or were believed to be potential enemies of his regime of terror without any supporting evidence.”
Speaking exclusively to the Daily Star, he said: “Without doubt Russians were intimidated by the purges; Stalin was able to die a natural death, praised by his inner circle despite his appalling crimes.
“In my opinion what Putin is a Stalin copy-cat murderer, his serial killings are designed to intimidate and neutralise anyone who might be in a position to defy him.”
It is thought that between 2014 and 2017, 38 leading Russian businessmen and oligarchs died in what has been dubbed “mysterious death syndrome”, either by falling out of windows, down stairs or in apparent suicides.
And from 2014 to February 2022, some 20 military generals have died. The most recent of these was Lt Gen Vladimir Alexeyev, 64, who Prof Glees said was “almost certainly shot by his own GRU bodyguards inside the apartment block where he lived.”
Prof Glees added: “Like Stalin, it serves Putin’s purpose to let innocents perish, alongside foes but also alongside friends. Like Stalin, Putin wants Russians to fear him.
“This is revolutionary terror that’s broadcast on tv; purges done in glitzy 21st century style. Putin wants us all to know that he will kill relentlessly to stay in power.
“But he won’t kill everyone and that is his golden secret: he is still worth kowtowing to because on balance the riches outweigh the risks. He is murdering some to encourage the others. And it is working, alas. There is no sign that anyone has the guts to take Putin on.”
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