Vladimir Putin cuts a solitary figure, leading Russia’s military into a high-risk war that threatens to tear apart his country’s economy.
He has rarely looked more isolated than in two recent, choreographed appearances with his inner circle, where he sits at a resolute distance from his closest advisers.
As commander in chief, ultimate responsibility for the invasion rests with him, but he has always relied on a deeply loyal entourage, many of whom also began their careers in Russia’s security services. The question is who has his ear, during this most fateful moment in his presidency.
If anyone does, it is long-time confidant Sergei Shoigu, who has parroted the Putin line of demilitarising Ukraine and protecting Russia from the West’s so-called military threat.
This is a man who goes on hunting and fishing trips with the president to Siberia, and he has in the past been viewed as a potential successor.
As chief of staff, Valery Gerasimov, it was his job to invade Ukraine and complete the job fast, and by that standard he has been found wanting.
He has played a major role in Vladimir Putin’s military campaigns ever since he commanded an army in the Chechen War of 1999, and he was at the forefront of military planning for Ukraine too, overseeing military drills in Belarus last month.
Described as an “unsmiling, craggy bruiser” by Russia specialist Mark Galeotti, Gen Gerasimov also played a key role in the military campaign to annexe Crimea.
Nikolai Patrushev is one of three Putin loyalists who have served with him ever since the 1970s in St Petersburg, when Russia’s second city was still known as Leningrad.
The other two stalwarts are security service chief Alexander Bortnikov and foreign intelligence head Sergei Naryshkin. All the president’s inner circle are known as siloviki, or enforcers, but this trio are closer still.
Few hold as much influence over the president as Nikolai Patrushev. Not only did he work with him in the old KGB with him during the communist era, he replaced him as head of its successor organisation, the FSB, from 1999 to 2008.
Source – BBC
