The fates of Egypt’s and Libya’s ousted dictators have haunted Putin lately, says Alexei Venediktov, who speaks with the Russian leader regularly as editor in chief of the radio station Ekho Moskvy. He was particularly troubled by the image of “Mubarak’s own generals putting handcuffs on him,” says Venediktov. “Putin could not comprehend such betrayal.” And Putin was hit hard by the defection of his former finance minister and longtime personal friend Alexei Kudrin to the opposition’s ranks. “Now Putin understands that the liberals are ready to abandon him,” says Illarionov. Russia’s “real ruling tandem” of liberals and ex-spooks “has fallen apart.”