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© GRAPHIC NEWS

© GRAPHIC NEWS

© GRAPHIC NEWS

Graphic shows members of the Security Council inner circle and identifies so-called siloviki (strongmen).
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RUSSIA

Putin’s inner circle

By Duncan Mil

September 18, 2016 - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday fired Sergei Ivanov, his chief of staff and one of his closest allies, in the most high-profile power reshuffle at the Kremlin in years. The post is believed to have been given to Anton Eduardovich Vaino, the grandson of Karl Vaino, the former head of the Estonian Communist Party.

Seven of the 13 permanent members of the Security Council of the Russian Federation have an intelligence agency background, including President Vladimir Putin himself, who served in the KGB for 16 years and headed the FSB. Following are pen-pix of the other so-called siloviki (strongmen).

Nikolay Patrushev, 65: Secretary of the Council, headed the FSB (Federal Security Service) from 1999 to 2008. Patrushev recently declared in Moskovsky Komsomolets “the strategic goal of the West is the destruction of Russia,” that Russia and Ukraine are “one people”, and “all Baltic states are ours.” The British inquiry into the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006 implicated Patrushev.

Aleksandr Bortnikov, 64: Director of the FSB since 2008, he is believed to be one of Putin’s closest and most hawkish advisers on Ukraine and the Muslim North Caucasus. Named on EU sanctions list in July 2014 for allegedly fuelling separatism in east Ukraine.

Rashid Nurgaliyev, 60: Deputy Secretary of Security Council since 2012. KGB member in 1980s-90s, working under Patrushev. Nurgaliyev continued when the KGB became the FSK (Federal Counterintelligence Service) in 1991 and FSB in 1995. Joined MVD (Ministry of Internal Affairs), and in 2004 became Minister of the Interior. The Beslan Mothers Committee accused Nurgaliyev of “negligence and inaction” following the 2004 Beslan school siege, which led to the deaths of more than 385 people

Mikhail Fradkov, 65: Director of the SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service) since 2007. Served as Prime Minister of Russia from 2004 to 2007. The spymaster came under attack in 2010 for failing to expose a double agent in his SVR who betrayed 11 Russian sleeper agents to the United States. Fradkov is considered independent amongst the Kremlin’s warring clans.

Sergey Naryshkin, 61: Speaker of the State Duma since December 2011. Served at Soviet Embassy in Brussels in 1988, rumoured to be a KGB agent. Naryshkin has called for the break up of NATO. The EU placed Naryshkin on its sanctions list following Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 11/08/2016; STORY: Graphic News; PICTURES: Associated Press / Getty Images, Wikipedia
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