Siloviki are the cancer that kills Russia

Terminal cancer that ails Russia is its police, KGB/FSB, FSO, Officers of the military and other such forces (militarized structures that which analogues in the West often has 'Force' in its name, like Police Force for example). Often, they are called Siloviki.

Loyalty of Siloviki is maintained by giving them privileged treatment, ability to abuse their powers to enrich themselves or to exploit ordinary people simply for their amusement.

Non-siloviki hate siloviki's special treatment, their abuses and their illegally accumulated wealth. Some to them want to end their tyrannical rule. Similar to how Rose Revolution in Georgia and Euromaidan in Ukraine ended siloviki rule in these countries. 

However, siloviki zealously guard their privileges and status. If people protest, they don riot gear and beat them. If someone like Alexei Navalnyi releases videos criticizing current system, they arrest him. Or poison him with polonium or Novichok if they happen to live outside of Russia. If someone were to reform the system from the top and eliminate these abuses, they would be more than willing to stage a coup and remove such a person from power.

Siloviki is the cancer that kills Russia, they destroy everything around them in order to keep their power and privileges. They are all to well entrenched on every level of the government system to simply remove them though.

Putin and Siloviki

Putin too looks after siloviki's interests to stay in power and stay alive. He started war in Ukraine because siloviki need it, not because he himself is so found of such conquest. Because of that any speculation for internal coup to remove Putin for the war in Ukraine is completely off the mark. They need this war, not him.

Putin is silovik himself, being part of SVR makes him so. 

What unites Siloviki and Bureaucracy

Siloviki may claim that they are patriots who look after country's interests as they understand them. However, it is a lie. Siloviki are united by their corruption and abuses of power. By their elevated status that they do not want to lose.

They steal together and then protect their ill-gotten goods together. Those who do not steal are not part of their closed club or thieves in disguise.

Why Siloviki need War in Ukraine

To put it simple, it is to eliminate any opposition to their continued rule. 

Young people who are able to speak English and use internet freely, can see online how the rest of the world lives. They are envious of freedom and prosperity that people in Europe have and want the same freedoms and prosperity for themselves as well. 

Some can emigrate, but others who are stuck in Russia are prime candidates to organize a mass protest or insurgency against Putin and siloviki rule. Georgians and Ukrainians did manage to change the system so can they. People like Navalnyi further steer the youth towards discontent.

Siloviki having hard time appealing to them.

Siloviki can keep older people content with their rule by using TV propaganda, broadcasted freely from Ostankino TV Tower on many of Russia free to air TV channels. Most of old people who cannot speak English and do not use internet tend to belive lies that Dmitriy Kisilevor Vladimir Solovyev tells them.

However young people increasingly unwilling to believe what first channel tells them.

Siloviki is well aware of the sentiments young people have and opted to do something before young people of Moscow could organize a Euromaidan of their own.

A war gives them a good excuse to draft these young people into military and then send them to them to their death in Ukraine.

If some of them flee the country to avoid being drafted, that works too.

Either way they are out of Moscow and cannot organize a Euromaidan to overthrow siloviki and Putin.

From a Western perspective deliberately slaughtering their own youth is not only unduly cruel, but also detrimental to economy. It is as good as shooting yourself in a foot. 

People of these ages are the most productive and useful for the economy. They are those who build prosperity West enjoys. Because of that Westen analytics simply cannot fathom why would any government deliberately slaughter people of these age group.

However, Russia prosperity mostly comes from oil and natural gas. These things will continue to flow even if every single man younger than 45 dies and siloviki's ill-gotten prosperity will continue. Because of that Russia's siloviki are willing to send youth to slaughter simply for slaughter's sake.