Kleptopedia / The Anatomy of the System
RU

Vertical of Power

Structural Schematic

Structural Architecture of the 'Vertical of Power'

Apex: Presidential Office & Security Council
Strategic decisions, patron arbitration, quota allocation
Coercive Enforcement: FSB, FSO, IC, Rosgvardia
Kompromat monitoring, disciplinary purges, market enforcement
Economic & Regional Custodians: SOEs & Governors
Gazprom, Rosneft, Rostec, regional administrative machinery
Operational Extraction Base
Subcontractors, grey cash nodes, municipal procurement
Appointments, Coercion, Loyalty Quotas
Rent Extraction, Black Cash, Loyalty Remittance
Sovereign hierarchy enforcing subordination across all public and economic domains
Diagram Legend
Entity Types
  • Person
  • Organization
  • Network
  • Market / Route
  • Process
  • Historical Institution
  • Regime / External Partner
Relationship Types
  • Direct structural / patronage tie
  • Documented secondary / contested link
  • Flow direction (patronage / extraction / krysha)
Visual Layers
  • Structural context
  • Primary entities & mechanisms
  • Active / inspected focus
Based on open-source analytical consensus.

Vertical of Power

Term (RU): Вертикаль власти
Schema: DefinedTerm

Working Definition

Hierarchical system of control in which key appointments, resource allocation and political decisions flow from the top (Putin and his innermost circle).

Analytical Use on This Site

The vertical of power is the organisational backbone of the post-2000 consolidation. It describes the recentralisation of decision rights and the subordination of regional, business and security actors to the apex. It is the structural counterpart of the Uber Krysha metaphor: the same hierarchy that allocates rents also disciplines those who receive them. The concept is used descriptively and does not imply perfect top-down control in every domain.

See Also

Related Entities