This reminds me of something a person with Russian connections once told me. I am not sure of when exatcly, but Putin was "good" president, ie he had not restored the power of the state yet.

But first some context: Around year 2000 there was a number of Swedish action movies featuring as the bad guys russian maffia establishing themselves in Sweden. Bringing the Russian chaos and corruption to Sweden. Rysskräck and all that. As usual with Swedish action movies, they were not particularly good.

Anyway, what I was told was that the scenario was ridiculous. First because the Russian maffian was well established in Sweden, and second because they valued the well-functioning and safe Swedish society for vacation homes, sending kids abroad and so on. Their main interest was keeping it that way so that they could enjoy their ill-gotten gains.

Yes, it is just what some guy told me but as long as we are trading narratives...

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