Want to know how much Russia has returned to being a Soviet-style dictatorship? Just ask Yury and Boris.

Until a week and a half ago, Yury Yevdokimov was governor of Russia’s Murmansk region—comparable to an American state governor. But Russia’s president fired him.

The president can do that, you see. Thanks to a system Vladimir Putin established in 2005, governors are appointed by the president rather than popularly elected. Any governor the Kremlin doesn’t like, for any reason, can quickly find himself unemployed.

What was Yury’s crime?

Well, a couple of weeks ago, Putin’s ruling political party lost an election. In the mayoral race in the city of Murmansk, the United Russia candidate was routed—nearly two votes to one—by independent candidate Sergei Subbotin.

Now, Subbotin is hardly an enemy of the state or a rabble rouser. “I’m a supporter of Vladimir Putin,” he often says with pride. Nevertheless, Moscow’s response to his victory was ruthless.

As Kim Zigfeld put it in American Thinker, “[T]he Kremlin reacted with thermonuclear political force” (emphasis mine).

First, the president, Dmitry Medvedev, immediately pitched a bill into parliament that would authorize his appointed governors to propose firing mayors like Subbotin. If passed, this bill will rip power from Russia’s courts, which alone have such authority today, and give it firmly to the Kremlin. It would “create a normal, effective vertical of power,” Medvedev explained—meaning it would tighten the ruling party’s control over local politics.

Public Chamber member Vyacheslav Glazychev describes it more bluntly: The bill’s purpose is to “bring in harsh subjection of mayors to governors” who are controlled by the Kremlin. “There is no other meaning to this bill.”

While the measure circulated in the Duma, United Russia representatives were at work back in Murmansk. They lodged complaints that Governor Yevdokimov had unfairly campaigned on Subbotin’s behalf, which they claimed was against elections law. And just like that, Yury was gone.

Then, last Monday, Boris Nemstov, while campaigning to become mayor in another Russian city, was splashed with ammonia. Nemstov has authored a series of papers criticizing the Putin economy, work that the Kremlin has censored. The ammonia incident occurred just hours after Nemstov had issued “yet another tough critique of the Kremlin, this time questioning whether the nation’s economic meltdown was undermining the city’s prospects to successfully host the 2014 Winter Olympics,” Zigfeld wrote. “Nemstov had no doubt that the attack was instigated by the Kremlin, and quite possibly carried out by its frenzied Hiter-youth cult known as ‘Nashi.’”

These moves speak volumes about life in Russia today. Behind President Medvedev, of course, is Prime Minister Putin, the architect of the nation’s authoritarian reconstruction.

Most people in the West shed no tears after the Soviet Union dissolved and Russia stumbled and bumbled through the 1990s. Vladimir Putin, by contrast, shares the sentiment of most of his countrymen—that the 1990s were a decade of humiliation. Since assuming leadership of Russia in 2000, the shrewd ex-kgb agent has gone about setting things right again. And he has largely succeeded.

He has systematically streamlined his nation’s political architecture in order to amass his personal power. He has imposed rules whereby the Kremlin can eliminate virtually whomever it pleases from participating in politics. He has consolidated and nationalized his nation’s formidable energy resources and used them as foreign-policy weapons. He has overseen an oil-and-gas-driven economic revival. He has rebuilt his nation’s military.

In the process, Putin has brutally squashed an uprising in Chechnya, clamped down on independent Russian media, attacked human rights organizations, and intimidated his rivals into silence. His government has been implicated in several shady incidents: the poisoning of pro-Western presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko prior to Ukraine’s 2004 elections; a massive cyberattack against Estonia after it moved a prominent Soviet-era statue; the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya; the lethal poisoning of spy-turned-Putin-critic Alexander Litvinenko. Perhaps Boris Nemstov should consider himself lucky he was splashed with mere ammonia.

In short, Putin has engineered a remarkable, mercurial return to international prominence and power for Russia—and in classic Russian authoritarian style.

Today, Russia is throwing its weight around at international conferences. It is expanding its armed forces. It is establishing military bases on the Black Sea. It is conducting naval exercises in Latin America. It is helping with Iran’s nuclear program. It is pushing back at nato expansion. It is driving the U.S. military out of Kyrgyzstan, complicating America’s efforts to supply its troops in Afghanistan. It is threatening, if the U.S. puts a missile shield in Eastern Europe, to bomb it. It is signing deals with Central Asian countries to undermine U.S. and European proposals to build oil and gas pipelines that bypass Russia. It is voicing support for plans to undercut the U.S. dollar.

The new American administration wants to overlook those issues. As President Obama meets with Medvedev at the G-20 gathering in London today, he is scrupulously trying to avoid creating offense. He wants to push the reset button and treat Moscow like a trustworthy ally.

Europeans, however, are having Cold War nightmares. They haven’t forgotten their bloody history with Russia, and deeply fear the return of the Soviet bear. Heavy-handed tactics like undermining election results, firing governors and disfiguring politicians’ faces recall that history. Of course, Russia is still armed to the hilt with nuclear weapons. And now, to make matters worse, Europe is deeply dependent on Russian energy.

This situation calls to mind an electrifying biblical prophecy.

In 2003, Vladimir Putin secured tremendous personal power in national elections—power he has since expanded even further. At that time, our editor in chief pointed to this prophecy. In his January 2004 Trumpet cover story, “Russia Frightens Europe—and Fulfills Bible Prophecy,” he wrote, “The Russian election is triggering a fear that will hasten the uniting of the European Union. The Russian election will cause Germany and other European nations to want a stronger leader. Throughout history, Germany has often sought a strong leader. Bible prophecy says it will do so again—for the last time!” (Watch the attached video, which has some remarkable statements from a Key of David television episode Mr. Flurry taped on the subject at the time.)

Read Mr. Flurry’s entire article to see how Europe’s fear over Russia’s growing power is directly prophesied in the Bible. Those prophecies clearly describe how Russia’s resurgence will actually help ignite and draw together a European superstate—and subsequently contribute to an enormously destructive world war. Our booklet Russia and China in Prophecy explains the whole picture.

The return of Russia as a fearsome totalitarian power was forecast in Scripture. We’re seeing it before our eyes.