evidence: This narrow channelling of the country’s resources into security services has brought about a steady decline in living standards for ordinary citizens. Most of them aren’t fortunate enough to be employed in government ministries such as the MVD (Internal Affairs, which includes FBI-like functions), the security forces (the infamously unaccountable siloviki, including the Federal Security Service known as the FSB), the military, the police or connected to oligarch-run business networks with ties to Putin. [...] But without the necessary connections and a willingness to participate in corrupt, often criminal activities, it is becoming increasingly difficult if not impossible for the average Russian to lead anything resembling a normal life. [...] Putin constantly claims to be "operating within the framework of the law," but the legal system in Russia is manipulated for the sole purpose of supporting and protecting the powerful.