Professor Jef Huysmans at Queen Mary University of London describes insecurity as a politically and socially constructed phenomenon, and argues that insecurities arise from institutional and political reactions to a threat. In his interpretation, “a threat functions as an event or condition that triggers and/or sustains the mobilization of governmental security agencies, political rhetoric on insecurity, and popular perceptions of danger.” Important to the politics of insecurity is defining the threats, which Huysmans acknowledges is contested. Two issues are often used to help in the contestation of threats: “(1) the subjective nature of the threat and (2) how much political priority it deserves.” This article focuses on the first point, which asks whether a threat is perceived or real, and examines the insecurities of Putin’s Russia to political opposition.