As the BBC notes, the leaked video of a prison beating has caused fury in certain segments of Russian society. The video shows an incident last year in which a prisoner, Yevgeny Makarov was tortured by guards after apparently insulting one of them.
That footage won’t shock as many Russians as you might think. In Russia, physical brutality goes hand-in-hand with the coercive instruments of the state. For decades, the culture of Russian military, law enforcement, and prison services has been defined by exploitation of one kind or another. The Russian armed forces are the worst offenders.
Underpaid, badly supported, and poorly led, Russian military conscripts and lower ranking soldiers are regularly abused their superior non-commissioned officers. In his book on service in the Russian army during the Chechen wars, Arkady Babchenko documents an almost daily cycle of beatings and extortion. These stories present the image of a Russian military that is beset by extreme corruption, endemic alcoholism, and extraordinary brutality.
So why does Russia allow this institutional violence to pervade its government?
In large part it’s down to the fact that challenging the order of things would require leadership against vested interests. Those powerful interests who benefit from the extortion rackets obviously do not want to see any serious investigation take place. Doing so would mean senior officials being prosecuted, but it would also require purging the military of thousands of non-commissioned officers. That would be an expensive, embarrassing and time-consuming effort that Vladimir Putin has no reason to engage in.
Instead, it is much easier to take action only against those perpetrators who are caught red-handed, as in the Makarov prison case. That course of response allows for the perception of remedial action without the complications of true justice.
Still, the ultimate reason for the lack of inertia toward serious reform is more simple: many Russians accept the violence as an inherent part of their society and the operation of state power. The binding of Russian aggression and pride means that any efforts to challenge the old order are also viewed as acts of weakness against the nation’s honor.
And so the current way of things remains the rule.
