Who is Russia’s most dangerous man? If you put that question to Mark Galeotti – one of the most prominent Russia analysts in the world – you might get a somewhat surprising answer.
Russia’s most dangerous man is not President Vladimir Putin, but Nikolai Patrushev (70), Secretary of the Russian Security Council, says Galeotti, author and professor.
“Patrusjev is the perfect embodiment of a paranoid and conspiratorial mindset that unfortunately represents a conceptual tumor at the heart of Putin̵
The former FSB director is one of several controversial figures in Putin’s inner circle who are now advising the president in Ukraine.
These are Putin’s hawks.UKRAINE: Sniper Olena Bilozerska is on the front lines when the Russians attack Ukraine. Video: Henning Lillegård / Dagbladet
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“Haukenes hauk”
Like Vladimir Putin, Nikolai Patrushev was born and raised in St. Petersburg and has a KGB past. When Putin resigned as director of the FSB, the successor to the KGB, Patrushev succeeded him.
The two have known each other since the 1970s.
Patrushev has headed the secretariat of the Russian Security Council since 2008. Since then, Patrushev has been Putin’s perhaps most important security adviser.
“He’s the hawk’s hawk,” says Galeotti of the 70-year-old Patrushev’s attitude toward the use of military force.
Patrushev has previously argued that Ukraine’s Euromaidan revolution in 2014 was not a popular uprising against a corrupt Ukrainian regime, but rather a conspiracy orchestrated by the CIA.
– Don’t think until I see it
He also believes that Western powers are working to destroy Russia and has said that the United States “would rather see Russia not exist at all,” according to The Guardian.
He last addressed Western values in September, noting that it was only a matter of time before human-animal marriage was legalized in certain parts of the West, according to Russian newspaper Argumenty in fact.
“Patrushev is in a unique position to influence Putin. “He promotes Putin’s most conspiratorial and wicked view of the world,” Galeotti said, adding:
“He’s too smart to ignore him, but not smart enough to see through his own paranoia. That is why he is also the most dangerous man in Russia.”EUROS IN EUROPE: Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt announces that the Norwegian authorities are encouraging Norwegians in Ukraine to leave the country. Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum / NTB
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“Reminiscent of Hitler’s occupation”
A similar figure is Sergei Naryshkin, director of the Russian foreign intelligence agency SVR.
Naryshkin was also born and raised in St. Petersburg and has a KGB past. He has known Putin since the 1990s, when both worked for the mayor of St. Petersburg.
Like Patrushev, Naryshkin also advocates conspiracy theories. The SVR director claimed earlier this year that the poisoning of activist Alexei Navalny was a Western conspiracy to feed the opposition in Russia, according to The Guardian.
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He compared the situation in Ukraine to “Hitler’s occupation” and described the Ukrainian authorities as a “real dictatorship”, according to the New York Times.
Naryshkin is also ruthless.
The SVR director was previously asked in an interview if he had ever been scammed. Then Naryshkin replied the following:
“One thing reassures me: these traitors have already been burned in the flames of hell, or no doubt will.”PREPARED: Dagbladet’s team in Ukraine was allowed to take part in a military exercise in Yavoriv. Reporter: Line Fransson. Commentator: Morten Strand. Video: Henning Lillegard. Clip: Magnus Paus
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– Worrying
Although both Patrushev and Naryshkin are key advisors, it is ultimately Putin who makes the final decisions on security issues, points out Kristin Ven Bruusgaard, a postdoctoral researcher at UiO’s Institute of Political Science.
“Galeotti can easily call Patrushev the most dangerous man in Russia, but Patrushev’s views are probably not that far removed from Putin’s views, although there are some nuances,” Bruusgaard told Dagbladet.
Without insight into the workings of Putin’s inner circle, it is difficult to say who is influencing whom. Is it Patrushev and Naryshkin beating the war drums, trying to get Putin to keep up, or is it the other way around?
The twins train for war
– If this is a plan formulated by Putin himself, it is difficult to imagine that the bureaucracy or the circle around him will challenge him. My impression is that there are no nobody in Putin’s inner circle. In this case, I don’t know who it should have been, says Bruusgaard.
She adds:
– I rather believe that the world view on which decisions are made is produced in the secret service. It is disturbing when you read Naryshkin’s statements, among others, because his statements convey a completely different understanding of reality than we do.– ADMINISTER: US President Joe Biden on how to join forces with Germany against Russia if they invade Ukraine. Video: AP
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Denied invasion
Putin, Patrushev and Naryshkin all deny that Russia has any plans to invade Ukraine.
However, the United States believes that Russia has decided to attack Ukraine and that an invasion can happen “at any time”.
Whether or not Putin and his inner circle made an invasion decision is entirely uncertain.
– What’s next, pillow?
– But we know that they made the decision to prepare everything necessary to conduct a large-scale military operation, and that in itself is an important decision. Russia has done more than necessary just to scare and shock people, says Bruusgaard.
It is estimated that there are between 100,000 and 130,000 Russian soldiers on the borders with Ukraine.
