When Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov was dismissed on June 1, some argued he had been too aggressive in his campaign against corruption, others that he had been too soft. But the reason for Ustinov's resignation was mundane. President Vladimir Putin had selected First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev as his successor, but the The siloviki clan led by Ustinov and Igor Sechin, the presidential administration deputy chief of staff, decided that Ustinov was the man for the job. Ustinov got the sack because his clan had become too powerful.

Last week, Sergei Zuyev, owner of Russia's largest furniture retailers, Tri Kita and Grand, was arrested on charges of tax evasion. It's a sign of the times. It began as an ordinary turf war between Mikhail Vanin, who was customs chief until mid-2004, and the man once expected to replace him, Yury Zaostrovtsev, head of the Federal Security Service's economic security ...