The tone of this article is so strange. It's like the author is lamenting the fact that fewer Russians are signing up to violently extort and oppress members of their own communities on Putin's behalf. Apparently the jackboots getting worn out is a bad thing?
The entire operation over there seems strange, packed with monomaniacal China watchers.
I missed the extortion and oppression parts...
Could it be that you are reading in between the lines, hence the strangeness?
It has the words "police state" right in the title. Is that a term you've never heard before?
The title is a play on words.
Because many people describe Russia as a police state.