Silovik

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Russian with military, intelligence, or security backgrounds

title: "Silovik" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["politics-of-russia", "russian-words-and-phrases"] description: "Russian with military, intelligence, or security backgrounds" topic_path: "politics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silovik" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Russian with military, intelligence, or security backgrounds ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Встреча_с_офицерами_и_прокурорами,_назначенными_на_вышестоящие_должности_2.jpg" caption="[[Sergei Ivanov]], [[Nikolai Patrushev]], and [[Vladimir Kolokoltsev]] at a meeting of [[Vladimir Putin]] with officers and prosecutors appointed to senior positions, April 2015"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Putin,_Lavrov,_Bortnikov,Naryshkin(2016-12-19).jpg" caption="Sergei Naryshkin]], 19 December 2016"] ::

In the Russian political lexicon, a silovik (силовик, roughly meaning a 'strongman'; plural: siloviki, силовики, 'strongmen') is a person with a security service background, i.e. government institutions responsible for the exercise of coercive state power.

Examples include the Russian Armed Forces, the Russian national police, Russian national drug control (GUKON), Russian immigration control (GUVM), the Ministry of Justice, the Federal Security Service (FSB), former KGB personnel, Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian General Staff (GRU), the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), and the Federal Protective Service (FSO). This word is also used for a politician who came into politics from these organisations.

Siloviki is also used as a collective noun to designate all troops and officers of all law enforcement agencies of post-Soviet countries, not necessarily high-ranking ones.

Etymology

The term siloviki ('siloviks') is literally translated as "people of force" or "strongmen" (from Russian сила, "force" or "strength"). It originated from the phrase "institutions of force" (), which appeared in the early Boris Yeltsin era (early 1990s) to denote the military-style uniformed services, including the military proper, the police (Ministry of Internal Affairs), national security (FSB) organisations, and some other structures. For example: | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=KVROAAAAYAAJ | title = Russian Politics and Law, Volumes 29-30 | journal = Russian Politics and Law | date = 1990 | volume = 29–30 | page = 90 | accessdate = 23 July 2014 | quote = [...] the supreme leader, who firmly relies on the structures of force (the army, state security, the Ministry of Internal Affairs) [...]

A similar term is "securocrat" (law enforcement and intelligence officer). Daniel Treisman in turn proposed a term "silovarch" (silovik and oligarch).

Description

Siloviki often wish to encourage a view that they might be seen in Russia as being generally non-ideological, with a pragmatic law-and-order focus and Russian national interests at heart. They are generally well educated and bring past commercial experience to their government posts. It is assumed that siloviki have a natural preference for the reemergence of a strong Russian state.

The siloviki do not form a cohesive group. They do not have a single leader and there is no common, articulated "silovik agenda". However, according to John P. Willerton, these security-intelligence officials brought the work ethic and skills—that Putin apparently favoured—to the administration.

A former KGB general said that "a Chekist is a breed... A good KGB heritage—a father or grandfather, say, who worked for the service—is highly valued by today's siloviki. Marriages between siloviki clans are also encouraged."

Persons and positions

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Встреча_Президента_России_Владимира_Путина_с_главой_компании_«Роснефть»_Игорем_Сечиным.jpg" caption="[[Igor Sechin]] (right) was often described as one of the closest ''siloviki'' to Vladimir Putin. His nickname is ''[[Darth Vader]]''."] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Meeting_on_the_outcomes_of_the_Russia-US_summit.jpg" caption="Russia–United States summit]] in Anchorage, Alaska, 16 August 2025"] ::

Senior siloviki under the presidency of Vladimir Putin include Sergei Ivanov, Viktor Ivanov, Sergei Shoigu, Igor Sechin, Nikolai Patrushev, Alexander Bortnikov, and Sergey Naryshkin who have had close working relationships with Putin and held key positions in Putin's governments. Willerton points out, however, that it is difficult to assess if their common security-intelligence background translates into common political preferences.

Following the 2011 Russian protests, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, having made promises of political reform, nevertheless appointed several siloviki to prominent positions in the government: Sergei Ivanov to chief of staff of the presidential administration; Dmitry Rogozin to deputy prime minister; and Vyacheslav Volodin to deputy chief of staff.

Putin's chief national security adviser, Nikolai Patrushev, who believed that the West has been in an undeclared war with Russia for years, was a leading figure behind Russia's updated national security strategy, published in May 2021. It stated that Russia may use "forceful methods" to "thwart or avert unfriendly actions that threaten the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Russian Federation".

References

References

  1. (21 February 2011). "State Building in Putin’s Russia: Policing and Coercion after Communism". Cambridge University Press.
  2. Illiarionov, Andrei. (2009). "Reading Russia: The Siloviki in Charge".
  3. Treisman, Daniel. (1 December 2007). "Putin's Silovarchs". Orbis.
  4. Willerton, John. (2005). "Developments in Russian Politics". Duke University Press.
  5. (23 August 2007). "Russia under Putin. The making of a neo-KGB state.". The Economist.
  6. (28 February 2022). "Vladimir Putin: The security men, officials, and friends who are in Russian president's inner circle". Sky News.
  7. (15 March 2022). "Meet Russia's siloviki — Putin's inner circle". The National.
  8. Andrew E. Kramer. (28 December 2011). "Political Promotions in Russia Appear to Belie President's Promise of Reform". The New York Times.
  9. Troianovski, Anton. (30 January 2022). "The Hard-Line Russian Advisers Who Have Putin's Ear". [[The New York Times]].
  10. Galeotti, Mark. (5 July 2021). "New National Security Strategy Is a Paranoid's Charter". [[The Moscow Times]].
  11. (31 May 2021). "Russia's security strategy envisages 'forceful methods'". [[ABC News (United States).
  12. (11 March 2022). "Putin's inner circle: Who has the Russian president's ear on the war in Ukraine?". [[Deutsche Welle]].

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