Who Is Nikolai Patrushev The Russian Can Take Responsibility As Putin Recovers

The allegations have not been independently verified, and Moscow categorically denies that Putin is in good health. But who will run the Kremlin if Putin gets sick one day? Nikolai Patrushev, 70, is the secretary of Russia’s Security Council, an influential body that responds directly to Putin and issues directives on military and security issues within Russia. Most of the council’s power belongs to Patrushev, who is widely regarded as an ardent ally of Putin. Like Putin, Patrushev is a Russian intelligence agent, first with the Soviet KGB and then with the Russian FSB, according to the English-language Moscow Times. The paper likened Patrushev’s role to that of an American national security adviser. In a 2017 profile, Politico called Patrushev a “Kremlin hawk” known for his “fiery nationalism, conspiratorial worldview and extensive espionage experience.” Patrushev joined the KGB as a young man in 1974, according to Politico. After meeting with Putin in the 1990s, Patrushev became head of Russia’s internal intelligence service, the FSB – a position he held for a decade. He joined Putin’s Security Council in 2008. Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev could be in charge of Russia if Putin steps down. SERGEI KARPUKHIN / POOL / AFP via Getty Images President Vladimir Putin and FSB leader Nikolai Patrushev (left) fly a helicopter to visit a military outpost in Nalchik on February 4, 2008. MICHAEL AFLI Images The former spy was reportedly among Putin’s advisers during Russia’s annexation of Crimea by Ukraine in 2014, and it is no surprise that he is a staunch supporter of Putin’s current, illegal invasion of Ukraine. Last week, in a rare interview with the state-run Russian newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Patrushev accused the United States and Europe of supporting neo-Nazi ideology in Ukraine and seeking to drag the conflict “to the last Ukrainian.” Patrushev also pushed the Kremlin’s false line that the Ukrainians and Russians are one people, divided only on the orders of Western powers. Russian President Vladimir Putin (right, front), accompanied by Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev (right, back), attends a meeting with senior BRICS officials. SERGEI KARPUKHIN / POOL / AFP via Getty Images Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) and Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev arrive for a meeting with security and intelligence chiefs in 2017. POOL / AFP via Getty Images “Using their allies in Kyiv, the Americans, in an effort to suppress Russia, decided to create an antidote to our country, cynically choosing Ukraine for it, trying to effectively divide a single people,” he said. Patrushev has also suggested that the war would lead to the partition of Ukraine. “The result of Western policy and the regime in Kyiv can only be the division of Ukraine into several states.” he said. Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev at the Beijing Grand People’s Hall on September 14, 2016. LINTAO ZHANG / POOL / AFP via Getty Images With Post cables