Many of you have probably heard that refrain before. To which I am now obliged to add: there are no former KGB agents. I have been saying for years that Putin showed enormous personal growth during his years in power, and those who harped on his career in the KGB were failing to see the changes in the man. Now, regrettably, I see that he is reverting to whence he came.
I say this because day by day it is clear that a crackdown on Russian society is proceeding under the false explanation that it is necessary to prevent drone strikes, to stymie assassination attempts by Ukrainians? and so forth. To that I say: nonsense. These measures are useless. The only way to ensure the safety of Russia and its citizens today is to decapitate the Zelensky regime by missile and bomb strikes on Kiev, on Lvov and other key cities in Ukraine: Everything else is make-believe.
Generally on these pages we talk geopolitics. Today I am talking politics, which is about who holds power. And today it is the successor to the KGB, the FSB, that daily acquires more power to monitor and control civil society. If you are not a Putin worshipper, watch out! The same vile oppression that Americans experienced after 7/11 under the Patriot Act is playing out here in Russia.
A day ago I called attention to the vicious words of journalist and talk show host Vladimir Solovyov when he denounced all those Russians who want to see the war ended very soon, calling them defeatists and agents of the enemy. Another straw in the wind was the announcement a couple of days ago that the internet platform that gives Russians direct interface with the government, Gos Uslugi announced that it will be accepting and implementing requests from citizens that phone calls to them from abroad not be put through. The West may be basking in Russophobia. But the Russian authorities are now encouraging xenophobia at home..
I remain cut off from Substack, which appears to be blacklisted in Russia presently. And today I was cut off from an interview with Judge Andrew Napolitano on ‘Judging Freedom’ because the internet was dead – both mobile internet and cable internet – in the entire region of St Petersburg. I am told that this occurs fairly frequently nowadays.
Friends and acquaintances here tell me this is happening fairly frequently these days. This runs entirely counter to the notion of a country open to the world that Putin has claimed time and again.
*****
Yesterday I reported that the nearest Economy Class supermarket to me has reduced their product assortment and sacrificed quality to maintain prices compared to what I saw on my last visit in November 2025. Today’s visit to the upper middle class Perekroystok supermarket in my neighborhood showed a different picture. The product range has even grown since my last visit and quality is excellent. To be sure, on many items prices are approaching West European levels. Investment in technology is impressive, none more so than the scales that print price labels for fruits and vegetables that you choose to buy. The scales visualize the broccoli or pears that you put on them to weigh and ask you to confirm that it is indeed broccoli or pears. We have nothing comparable in Belgium or elsewhere in the countries of the EU that I visit. On the other hand, the supermarket is short on labor. In this very large store, there was only one cashier on duty and she also had to look after parcels that had been preordered by customers and to assist the customers who were being directed to self service checkout machines and could not complete their purchases unaided. As I know, there are not enough workers to go around. This is reconfirmed by the sign I saw today on the side of a Yandex taxi – recruiting drivers with the promise of earnings of 2,000 euros a month. That figure is several times what it used to be before the Ukraine war and it comes not from some newfound generosity on the part of management.
I insist that apart from the several hundred thousand workers who left the private sector for the highly paid 6 months of service in the war zone, the labor shortage is also due to the vastly bloated bureaucracy that employs so many people doing what no one should be doing at all. As I have said before, Russia badly needs its own Elon Musk to set things right.
Copyright: Gilbert Doctorow 2026
Gilbert Doctorow 
Dr. Doctorow, Musk’s DOGE was a sham and a fraud. It was cover for deconstructing the parts of the government that were investigating or regulating Musk’s businesses. When they had been neutered, Musk left, having ended all those investigations, and leaving incompetence and vandalism in his wake. Look at how many fired people had to be rehired! It was all a distraction, but it did expose the lack of fraud and waste in parts of the government. Now, the Pentagon…I’d love to see an army of forensic accountants let loose on the Pentagon.
LikeLike