Can anyone say whether the term “siloviki” is really current among Russians or does that reporter (yulia latinina) get credit for an excellent neologism?

It is not found in my Russo-Engrish didactionaries and женщина русская мая never heard of it, though she understood it immediately

“sil” = “strong”; “silovik” sounds like convict slang for “big bad boss”, right? Maybe it’s pro-democracy dissident slang, no? Or should we consider any dissident slang to be a subset of convict slang in general?

…or in Generals?

Let us never forget Solzhenitsin, Sakharov, Anna P. and countless others living or fallen. And if they have cool slang, let’s use it, too!