<!-- wp:html --><p>Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty/Reuters</p>
<p>The vast criminal network that is Russia’s power structure is starting to spin out of <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/former-kremlin-flacks-dish-on-putins-public-image-crisis-over-ukraine-war">Vladimir Putin’s</a> control.</p>
<p>The president hasn’t just turned a blind eye to <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/boris-nemtsov-exposed-putins-corruptionand-paid-with-his-life">corruption</a>, he has systematically channeled the malfeasance to prop up allies, jail opponents, install cronies in positions of power and—<a href="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/04/26/russia-president-vladimir-putin-money-oligarchs/9543309002/">according to some reports</a>—to make himself the <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/a-secret-putin-palace-on-russias-black-sea">richest man</a> on Earth.</p>
<p>The trouble with a national network of corruption—which has operated with impunity at every level of society for years—is that it’s very difficult for one man to contain.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/one-of-putins-biggest-mistakes-is-finally-catching-up-with-him">Read more at The Daily Beast.</a></p><!-- /wp:html -->
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty/Reuters
The vast criminal network that is Russia’s power structure is starting to spin out of Vladimir Putin’s control.
The president hasn’t just turned a blind eye to corruption, he has systematically channeled the malfeasance to prop up allies, jail opponents, install cronies in positions of power and—according to some reports—to make himself the richest man on Earth.
The trouble with a national network of corruption—which has operated with impunity at every level of society for years—is that it’s very difficult for one man to contain.
