30 July: Vladimir Putin speaks during a ceremony at a Russian chapel in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia. (c) Darko Vojinovic / AP / Press Association Images. All rights reserved.I joke. Kind of. I actually think I’m much less of a conspiracy theorist than many professional Russia-watchers, especially those focusing on security-related issues, for whom this is certainly a busy time.
On 19 July, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) raided the Moscow division of the Investigative Committee and arrested three of its senior officers over suitcase-loads of bribe money. On 25 July, the US Democratic National Committee brought Kremlin politics into the US elections after alleging that Russian intelligence are behind the hack and subsequent leak of embarrassing emails. Then, on 28 July, the Kremlin reshuffled a series of administrative positions that usually no one cares about (the governor of Yaroslavl oblast? Really?), which is now being taken as an omen of major changes ahead for Russia.
This is all perfect raw material for conspiracy theory — arcane and airily authoritative claims about what’s going on within the inner sancta of the security agencies and the Kremlin, dire warnings about a dramatic development just over the horizon and the elevation of Viktor Zolotov, the new National Guard commander, to boogieman of the hour.
