Nikolai Patrushev: Putin’s Probable Successor
Nikolai Patrushev is the current Secretary of the Security Council of Russia. Patrushev was formerly employed by the KGB in the 1970s as a security officer in Leningrad and headed the unit charged with combating smuggling and corruption. Vladimir Putin became one of his closest friends during their service for the KGB. After Putin became the FSB Director, Patrushev’s career skyrocketed, with Patrushev becoming the FSB’s First Deputy Director in 1999. He was promoted to Director by President Boris Yeltsin in August of the same year, replacing Putin. In 2008, Patrushev became Secretary of Russia's Security Council, which makes decisions on national security matters on behalf of the President. Politico reports that Patrushev is known for his ‘fiery nationalism, conspiratorial world view and extensive espionage experience.’
In addition to being a close ally of Putin, Nikolai Patrushev is one of his most trusted representatives and, according to a former MI6 employee, is likely to be the successor to Putin should Putin’s health fail. The Security Council spokesman, Yevgeny Anoshin, has described Patrushev as a patriot who,for many years, has been devoted to the Russian Federation and to Putin. In addition, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Patrushev has always played an important role within his sphere of authority. With Patrushev at the helm, the FSB has become a key element of the Putin regime's punitive apparatus. During Patrushev's leadership, the FSB launched an assault on Russian human rights and freedoms. By working for Putin, FSB officers consolidated power, destroyed political competition in the country, silenced the free press, independent parties, and associations for the general public. Activists, dissidents, and opposition members are still being persecuted.
With the accession of Putin to President, Patrushev founded a Federal Security Service that was both an effective domestic and foreign tool of Putin's regime. An inquiry into the 2006 poisoning of FSB whistleblower Alexander Litvinenko by the United Kingdom found that both Patrushev and Putin probably approved the FSB operation to kill Litvinenko. As Secretary of the Russian Federation's Security Council in 2008, Patrushev fully supported Russian aggression against Georgia during the so-called ‘five-day war’. Following the annexation of Crimea, Nikolai Patrushev was placed on the EU's sanctions list.
Patrushev has publicly voiced his opinion on the war in Ukraine, stating that it was the U.S. that orchestrated tensions in eastern Ukraine and tried to bring down Russia. A broadcast statement by Patrushev stressed the importance of defending the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Russia. Patrushev is openly supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and promotes its war aims. During interviews with Russian publications, he predicted a global food and refugee crisis would cause Europe to collapse, while Ukraine would break up into several nations.
Additionally, Patrushev has stated that he believes Russia will achieve its goal of ‘demilitarising Ukraine’. He blames the U.S. for the reckless expansion of NATO, arguing that it wants to turn member states into ‘puppet, colonial countries, just like Ukraine.’ He has also stated that the possibility of Finland and Sweden joining NATO must be seen as a new threat to Russia, being known for his belief that Russia is in an existential struggle for its survival. Indeed, Patrushev that the West increasingly uses hybrid tools to fund non-systemic opposition, incite and intensify interfaith and ethnic conflicts, and initiate colour revolutions, thus causing destabilisation in the world. Similarly, Patrushev has voiced his concerns about what he calls ‘the aggressive promotion of values of the neoliberal trend.’
The success of Patrushev demonstrates the influence of hard-liners in the KGB, who have been fighting to catch Putin's attention for over two decades. When Putin started the war, it was believed that Patrushev's ideas were at the root of Putin's decisions. Andrei Kolesnikov, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, argues that Patrushev’s interviews indicate that, as Putin's representative, he is the one who explains and clarifies his views.
Thus, given Patrushev’s hostility to the United States and support for the war in Ukraine, he is unlikely to attempt to alter Putin’s stance on the matter. Rather, taking into account Patrushev’s advisory role and his reputation as both a hardline supporter of Ukraine’s invasion and an opponent of the so-called Western dominance, there is a good chance he will encourage Putin to continue with his ‘special military operation’.