Government power attracts psychopaths; the higher the position, the more psychopathic. From the videos about the old Soviet Union I've been watching lately, it appears that axiom obtained even more thoroughly there than it ever did even here. Might take a few more years before the old guard completely dies off and they get back to a more normal level of archopsychopathy.
You might enjoy The Russians, a circa 1978 book by Hedrick Smith of the New York Times. The things he decried about the USSR after touring it are all coming true in the USSA :-s