Former KGB officers really don’t like any aspect of the country’s affairs to be outside their control, be it an election, the media, civil society, or even the internet or racy cartoons. This is however especially true with the economy, as we’ve seen illustrated by a spate of nationalizations, price controls, repeated shutdowns of market trading, and a suggestion from Putin to invest the stabilization fund into domestic securities. Let’s just say that they don’t really get along with this whole free market thing. Case in point, the siloviki are getting tired of having too many banks, and appear to be ordering a quick consolidation. These deals are going to have some winners and a lot of losers, which could further erode the pact between the Kremlin and the oligarchs. The Wall Street Journal reports:

The central bank declined to comment for this article, but a person close to the government confirmed the existence of the initiative. “The idea is not that the government will do this by force but that the current financial crisis is a good opportunity to let this happen in an evolutionary way,” the person said.