The State Always Eats Its Own

---

There is a rule that applies to authoritarian spaces every time. At some point, the party starts eating its own. And in Russia, it is beginning. This is with Sergey Markov. Let me give you these two posts from Important Stories, as if they were a single essay. They are very connected to how the state functions when it starts to persecute its own.

Post one and two:

The Russian Ministry of Justice has for the first time recognized a political scientist who was part of the leadership of “United Russia” as a foreign agent. Sergey Markov was stripped of his rights after a visit to Azerbaijan and praising words about President Aliyev

Political scientist and propagandist Sergey Markov became the first trusted representative of Vladimir Putin to be recognized as a “foreign agent”. From 2007 to 2011, he was a United Russia deputy in the State Duma and was a member of the Supreme Council of Putin and Medvedev’s party “United Russia.” At the time of writing, Markov’s name appears on the “United Russia” website as a member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, as well as on the website of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy of the Russian Federation, of which the political scientist is a member.

💬”I am not a foreign agent, and everyone knows this,” the political scientist himself commented on the Ministry of Justice’s decision.

Throughout the war, he actively participated in z-propaganda, justifying the actions of the army and special services and explaining Putin’s motives on his Telegram channel “Markov’s Logic”. He did not allow himself any criticism of the country’s leadership. Nevertheless, the Russian Ministry of Justice decided that “Markov participated in the creation and dissemination of messages and materials of foreign agents for an unlimited circle of persons,” “participated as a respondent on information platforms provided by foreign media and as a foreign agent,” and “disseminated false information about decisions made by public authorities and the policies they implement.”

🇦🇿In July, Markov visited the III Shusha Global Media Forum in Karabakh’s Hankendi (before the enclave was captured by Azerbaijan, the city was called Stepanakert and was the capital of the unrecognized republic). In an interview with Azerbaijani media, he called Heydar Aliyev “a brilliant intellectual” and one of the “most experienced leaders of the modern world.” At the same forum, Aliyev openly supported Ukraine: he accepted a collection of Ukrainian Armed Forces patches from a journalist and told her, “Keep it up” (this moment is in the photo, with Markov in the background).

🗣Markov’s visit to Azerbaijan amid the Baku-Moscow conflict caused outrage among Z-authors: he was accused of “sucking up” to Aliyev and it was proposed to recognize him as a foreign agent. This was done a month later.

👉Markov is one of the few Russian propagandists who agreed to give comments to journalists who left the country. In particular, he appeared on the “Khodorkovsky Live” channel and gave comments to the “We Can Explain” channel. In one of them, he predicted a rapid career rise for spies of Russian special services who were released in an exchange last year and claimed that they “acted for the benefit of all civilization.”

---

⚡”United Russia” removed political scientist Sergey Markov’s page from its website after he was declared a “foreign agent”

The page of pro-government political scientist Sergey Markov was removed from the “United Russia” website, noticed by “MO.” This happened after he was added to the register of “foreign agents.” The page with Markov’s name on the UR website is available in cache.

The removed page listed the political scientist’s credentials, including his membership in the State Duma from the “United Russia” party. It also stated that on February 6, 2012, he was officially registered as Vladimir Putin’s trusted representative.

Markov himself began to add foreign agent labels, although he initially did not do so in his first two Telegram posts.

“I understand that someone wanted to pick on the fact that I gave interviews to Western media and defended Russia’s interests and Vladimir Putin there? Cool. Cool and stupid. Once again: declaring Markov a foreign agent is a blow to those who sincerely support Vladimir Putin. And everyone understands this,” he wrote.

◾️Markov was added to the register of “foreign agents” on Friday, August 22. He was accused of participating in the creation of materials by other “foreign agents” and spreading fakes about decisions by Russian authorities.

So an insider is now a foreign agent. This comes with serious job consequences, as well as the ability to own property and pay taxes. And one has to wonder if we are at the party, always eating its own moment? And I think we are.

Sadly, there is a parallel to the United States. Now it is Chris Christie’s turn to start sweating bullets. And here is the post from President Donald Trump.