Seems true enough to me, though I'm willing to be educated. Where is the Russian equivalent of, say, the Koch brothers or Soros? That is: wealthy, powerful people who use their wealth to drive policy aimed (often) at unseating the established government.

Russia had a few of those in the mid 90's. They're all jailed or exiled, or in more than a few cases murdered. Who are Putin's powerful domestic opponents whose existence you think is unfeasible to deny?