As far as business in Russia goes, this sounds like a fairly normal course of events. Almost every large company has someone Putin-connected at the top, and when the Kremlin wants more control that's how they exercise it. (Either that, or corrupt court judgments that directly change corporate control.)
Don't be surprised if there are a rash of allegations of corruption, embezzlement, etc., against Durov. The sad thing about Russia is that they could be true, they could be part of a conspiracy against Durov, or both. You'll never know.
"I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest."
True, but I don't think Putin has thought out his Ukraine folly and Russia will suffer in the long term. The West has become so dominant that Putin can rattle his rusty sabre and everyone says "meh".
I don't think there's any question about dominance, rather, it's about complacency.
If in the coming years Russia takes Ukraine, and or other countries like Latvia or Moldova, it'll be due to the West being complacent. Putin - or any dictator - 'winning' the first four rounds due to other nations having an attitude of not giving a shit, would match up with what typically has happened throughout history.
"The West has become so dominant" that Putin was able to successfully leverage anti-western feelings in a semi-democratic way for 15 years now, with no end in sight. "The West has become so dominant" that Bin Laden is still considered a hero by millions of people. "The West has become so dominant" that anti-Western sensibilities still hold solid democratic majorities across the Middle East and South America (Egypt etc).
Honestly, where did you get this feeling that "the West has become so dominant"? From a military standpoint, Europe is bent on disarming: not even the UK can now afford the sort of effort that a close US partnership still imposes, and the US government itself is busy cutting everything it can. In fact, only a massive threat from Putin might be able to revive European defence budgets. Most European armies are creaking, from a technological standpoint; the only European nation pumping fresh cash in their armed forces is Russia, which is why Putin can afford to be so bullish. 1995 was almost 20 years ago, the world has changed. Bin Laden and Afghanistan militias showed that "the West" is, in fact, long from being "dominant" both at the military and cultural level.
I was hoping to see these comments more prevalent in the hackernews thread. The story struck me at first as being interesting but then it seems like there's more murkiness involved and it's not an open-and-shut case. Not that the veracity of this passage is great, but seriously I was hoping for more of a critical eye on the story:
"United Capital Partners, a private company registered in Moscow that owns 48 percent of Vkontakte, disputed Durov's statements on Tuesday, saying he had been seeking to “politicize the situation” because there were “serious legal claims” against him and he was suspected of embezzlement."
Don't be surprised if there are a rash of allegations of corruption, embezzlement, etc., against Durov. The sad thing about Russia is that they could be true, they could be part of a conspiracy against Durov, or both. You'll never know.