President Vladimir Putin now presides over a country and culture of terror. I write “now” because he was not always intent on strangling every voice in oppositon. Not that he was ever a liberal democrat. But Putin during his early years in power was far less repressive and despotic than he is now – especially since the start of Putin’s War.
Two weeks ago, Russian authorities arrested and imprisoned a prominent American reporter for the Wall Street Journal, Evan Gershkovich. And twenty-four hours ago, a Russian court sentenced a prominent Russian dissident, Vladimir Kara-Murza, to twenty-five years in prison. For telling the truth as he saw it – specifically for criticizing Putin’s war against Ukraine – Kara-Murza was found guilty of treason. Immediately he was sentenced to the harshest punishment for opposing the government that Russia has imposed in decades.
Like Alexei Navalny – Russia’s most prominent dissident – Kara-Murza has been not just imprisoned but poisoned. And like Navalny, Kara-Murza can be seen in one of several ways, As a fearless follower, or as a holy fool. As a leader who will in time be seen as ahead of his time, or as a misguided martyr who suffered was for nothing.
We cannot know how history will judge. What we can know though is this. That the only power Kara-Murza has is the power of his pen. That the only authority Kara-Murza has is his moral authority. He is, in other words, entirely devoid of either the power or the authority to determine his own fate. To be sure, because of his daring dissent he has important allies, such as the Washington Post, for whom he has been an occasional columnist. But Kara-Murza himself has no agency. For the moment he is the ultimate, consummate follower, completely at the mercy of his leader, President Putin.
Notwithstanding his devastating sentence, Kara-Murza continues to embrace the part he has chosen to play. “Not only do I not repent any of this,” he recently said, “I am proud of it.” And in the immediate wake of his sentencing his mantra remained the same: “My self-esteem has even risen. I realize that I have done everything right as a citizen and politician.”
In my book, Followership, I identified five different types of followers, one of which was the Diehard. Here is how I defined the type:
Diehards are as their name implies – prepared to die if necessary for their cause, whether an individual, or an idea, or both. Diehards are deeply devoted to their leaders; or, in contrast, they are ready to remove them from their positions of power, authority, and influence by any means necessary. In either case, Diehards are defined by their dedication, including the willingness to risk life and limb. Being a Diehard is all-consuming. It is who you are. It determines what you do.
Kara-Murza is the quintessential Diehard. If necessary, he will die hard for the cause in which he believes. If necessary, he will die hard trying to depose the man who for one year has controlled his every breath.