Wow. What a great article. I will need to finish it later. I have saved it for later reading, a nice Medium feature.

There was a time I think that American mafia dons fantasized about having direct control of the government. Russia's story, from what I've read so far in your article, seems to suggest that a simllar fantasy has come true for Russian mobsters through Putin.

Putin: history's greatest criminal mastermind? Sure seems that way.

I have read so many articles touching on Sergei Magnitsky but nothing remotely close to the detail of this. Nothing that explains anything. I don't really blame mainstream media for this - this stuff is so murky and complex that it takes a lot of effort to unwind it.

Thank you for doing that for us.