The Dark Circle Behind Putin’s “Illusion of the Revival of Russia as a Great Power

＜The “conclusion of this war” reached by military journalist Buntaro Kuroi, who “observes and analyzes Putin, not Russia,” is as follows. The war started by Putin and his friends’ “dream of reviving Russia as a great power” has no way out. >

The “Circle” Supports a Lonely Dictator

There is no one in Russia who can speak out against the reigning dictator, Vladimir Putin. All of the senior members of the regime are nervous in Putin’s presence, and they are all scared of offending the dictator.

Putin, in turn, is lonely. Moreover, he has been extremely avoidant of meeting people since the new Corona pandemic of 2020. He is rarely in the Kremlin and has lived holed up in a luxurious villa. The dictator is lonely, both mentally and physically.

However, he has an entourage that has supported him over the years, creating an extremely small inner circle. So what kind of members are there? The following is a list.

(1) Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the Security Council

He is the only person in the current Putin administration who can be called a “close ally of Putin. He originally worked for a long time at the Leningrad Branch of the KGB, and is about the same age as President Putin, who was also a KGB employee from Leningrad. After the end of the Cold War, he continued to work for the successor organization to the KGB, and when Putin rose through the ranks, Patrushev was brought up through the ranks, becoming Deputy Director General of the FSB (Federal Security Service) before becoming Putin’s successor as Director General of the FSB.

Later, in 2008, Patrushev was appointed Secretary of the Security Council, the head of the Security Council, which oversees the Putin administration’s security strategy. He is a representative figure of the “siloviki,” which refers to people from the intelligence and military agencies that Putin heavily employed in his process of becoming a dictator. He is known for his hawkish stance, even more so than President Putin.

(2) Yury Kovalchuk

A close associate of President Putin who manages his personal funds. A billionaire who is also the largest shareholder of the “Bank of Russia” (*not the Central Bank of Russia), headquartered in St. Petersburg. One of the providers of Putin’s luxurious villa, which is also one of his hidden assets, and the closest of all. Putin is believed to have spent much of his time at the Kovalchuk-provided villa since the Corona disaster. He is also said to be the person with whom Putin, who rarely meets with people at present, spends the most time together.

(iii) Igor Sechin, Chairman of the State Oil Company “Rosneft”.

During the Cold War, he has worked abroad in the trade sector and as a military interpreter, but is believed to have actually been a KGB agent. He then moved to the Leningrad administration in his native city, and after the end of the Cold War, he continued to work in the administrative field of the city of St. Petersburg, where he became a close associate of Vladimir Putin, who was then deputy mayor of the city. After that, he was always by Put in’ s side, and in Putin’s administration, he served as deputy head of the presidential administration and assistant to the president, and then became chairman of the state oil company “Rosneft. Together with Patrushev, he is considered a powerful figure in the “siloviki. He also served for a time as Deputy Prime Minister of Russia.

(4) Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Secretary of the Security Council

He was born in Leningrad, but is more than a year younger than Putin. He met Professor Sapchak at the Faculty of Law at Leningrad University and became his secretary when Sapchak moved into politics. He became Putin’s colleague and close associate. He was pulled out as Putin rose through the ranks of central politics, serving as first deputy head of the presidential administration, chairman of the natural gas company Gazprom, and head of the presidential administration. He also served as head of Putin’s presidential campaign. He served as President during Putin’s temporary retirement as Prime Minister, serving as his de facto acting President. He then served as Prime Minister before becoming Deputy Secretary of the Security Council in 2020.

(5) Aleksandr Bortnikov, Director General of the FSB (Federal Security Service).

A contemporary of Puchin, he worked for a long time at the same KGB Leningrad station. After the end of the Cold War, he remained with the FSB, serving as Director of the FSB St. Petersburg Branch, Director of the FSB Leningrad Provincial Bureau, Director of the Economic and Security Bureau at FSB Headquarters, and Deputy Director General of the FSB. He has been Director General of the FSB since 2008.

6) Sergei NARUSHKIN SVR (Director General of the Foreign Intelligence Agency)

A native of Leningrad, he became an economic expert and worked in Belgium for a time during the Cold War. There are unconfirmed reports that he was trained by the KGB while working abroad, and that he met Putin at that time. In any case, after the end of the Cold War, he worked for Vladimir Putin in the administration of the city of St. Petersburg. He is two years younger than Putin and is treated as a junior. He served under Putin as Deputy Prime Minister, Head of the Presidential Administration, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and since 2016, Head of the SVR.

(vii) Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Dmitry Kozak

Although born in Ukraine, he graduated from the Faculty of Law at Leningrad University and worked for the Leningrad Municipal Administration and, after the Cold War, for the St. Petersburg Municipal Administration, where he became Putin’s confidant when he was deputy mayor. After serving as deputy mayor of St. Petersburg, he rose through the ranks of Putin’s administration, serving as first deputy head of the presidential administration, plenipotentiary representative of the president to the Southern Federal District, and deputy prime minister. He was also implicated in the Moldovan conflict and the invasion and annexation of Crimea in 2014. He is currently in charge of overseeing Ukrainian affairs, including intelligence operations, in Putin’s administration.

(viii) Bacheslav Borodin, Speaker of the House of Representatives.

He served as the head of the election campaign for Putin’s presidential campaign, and has served as the first deputy head of the presidential administration, deputy prime minister, general secretary of the ruling “United Russia” party, and deputy speaker of the House of Representatives.

(ix) Sergei Shoigu, Minister of Defense

A former construction engineer during the Cold War, he worked in local government, and after the Cold War ended, he served for a long time as Minister of Emergency Situations. 2012, after a brief stint as Governor of Moscow Region, Putin appointed him Defense Minister. Although he has no military experience, he has a firm grip on Russia’s military authorities. He is seen as Putin ‘s yes-man.

⑩Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff

Appointed Chief of the General Staff in 2012. He is a professional soldier who does not show any political moves. He also serves as First Undersecretary of Defense.

His close aide, “Extra: the two Ivanovs,” is a member of the inner circle…

While winning dictatorial power within Russia, Putin formed a peer group from friends and juniors from his youth. Many were from theKGB, and many more were old “friends” from or based in Leningrad. The core of the group, those from the former intelligence and military agencies, were called “siloviki. The aforementioned include Patrushev, Secretary of the Security Council, Chairman of the State Oil Company “Rosnefti” Sechin, and FSB Director General Bortnikov.

Other representatives of the early Siloviki were. Sergei Ivanov and Viktor Ivanov, the “two Ivanovs.”

Sergei Ivanov was Putin’s classmate on stilts at Leningrad University and KGB Advanced School, and after the end of the Cold War, he worked in the SVR (Foreign Intelligence Agency). When Putin was selected to head the FSB (Federal Security Service), he was welcomed from deputy director of the SVR’s European Bureau to deputy director of the FSB, and then to secretary of the Security Council, minister of defense, and head of the presidential administration, but he retired in 2016.

On the other hand, Viktor Ivanov, a former KGB official two years older than Putin, became friends with Putin while working in the Leningrad branch of the KGB and joined the city administration when Putin was deputy mayor of St. Petersburg after the Cold War ended. He became head of the department when Putin became Director General of the FSB. Since then, he has served as Deputy Director of the FSB and Assistant to the President. He then served for a long time as head of the Federal Drug Control Agency, retiring in 2016.

These two Ivanovs were the key figures in Siloviki, especially the latter, Viktor Ivanov, who was one of Putin’s closest confidants, but the current movements of both are unknown.

Reaction to the “Humiliation” of Russia’s Dark Ages

These are the leading figures behind Vladimir Putin’s current presidency. In terms of influence over Putin, the presence of Patrushev, Secretary of the Security Council, who has been a “comrade” since his days as a KGB official during the Cold War, stands out above the rest. In the recent invasion of Ukraine, it was probably this same person who, together with Putin, actively promoted the invasion.

Both Putin and Patrushev spent their thirties and forties during the dark days of Russia in the 1990s, and they may have developed a refractory yearning for the “Soviet totalitarian society” that had been drilled into them since childhood. And when Putin came to power, they may have vowed to restore the Soviet Communist Party and KGB-style order and revive Russia as a great power.

They are willing to kill others to achieve their strong goal of “restoring Russia as a great power,” which is akin to revenge. I cannot help feeling that the result is this tragic war of aggression.

Buntaro Kuroi: Born in 1963. Military journalist. Based in Moscow, New York, and Cairo, he has covered many conflict zones. He is a member of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and Technology (JSPS). He is the author of numerous books on military and intelligence-related topics.