The country has always been characterized by power struggles that can be quite bloody at times.
After the Soviet Union’s first leader, Vladimir Lenin, died in 1924, a power struggle ensued between Joseph Stalin and Lenin’s ideological son Leon Trotsky.
After getting rid of Trotsky, who was assassinated in Mexico in 1940, Stalin initially ruled collegially with Grigory Zinovyev and Lev Kamenev. However, these two were eventually removed as well.
Stalin ruled the Soviet Union with an iron fist that not only eliminated his political opponents, but also forcibly deported millions of people of different ethnicities in the Soviet Union.
After Stalin, Georgy Malenkov emerged. However, Malenkov did not last long after being sidelined by Nikita Khruschcev. Khruschcev himself was shaken by Leonid Brezhnez and Alexei Koysygin.
The reigns of Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko saw a period of relative safety from internal upheaval.
However, the last Soviet leader to promote openness, Mikhail Gorbachev, almost fell victim to the political adventures of hardline Communist Party figures led by Vice President Gennay Yanayev, Prime Minister Valentine Pavlov and KGB Chief Vladimir Kryuchkov.
Gorbachev survived the 1991 coup after Russian President Boris Yeltsin fortified Gorbachev against the hardliners.
Between weakening and all-out
Until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, which led to the independence of 15 Soviet republics, including Ukraine, power struggles within the Kremlin’s inner circle continued.
In Putin’s own era, many of his aides have gone on to become his political opponents.
Some of them became fugitives abroad, including former Finance Minister Vladimir Milov and former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov.
It was a different story for opposition figures. They were suppressed, some even killed by extrajudicial executions, including Boris Nemtsov and Boris Berezovsky who had fought alongside Putin before disagreeing with each other.
Since coming to power in May 2012 as prime minister, Putin has been a leader with a strong grip on power.
