The Collective Putin

A long time ago in another lifetime, I was a History major in college.  My area of concentration was Russia & the Soviet Union.  This was during the Cold War and the Soviet Union was by far the most interesting places to study.  I kept my eye on this area because of what I did for a living [I was an Air Force intelligence officer].  It was fun to be an amateur Kremlinologist.  I was going to write a Master’s thesis on the effects of nationalism on the Soviet Union and whether it would break-up that superpower.  But a funny thing happened on the way to writing the thesis – the break-up actually happened, and for the very reason I suspected.  So after the collapse of the Soviet Union my focus on such things wasn’t as sharp as they had been prior to the August 1991 coup. But Russia’s decision to annex the Crimea in 2014 jump-started my desire to deep-dive back into all things Russian.   

While casting about for sources to get me back up to speed on Russian events, I found Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.  Given that RFE/RL was a child of the Cold War, imagine my surprise that such a thing still existed 25 years after the Cold War ended.  Not only does it still exist, it is flourishing.  RFE/RL is my go-to source for all things Russian.  In particular is their Russian analyst, Brian Whitmore.  He hosts a weekly podcast called The Power Vertical, which provides keen insight to what’s happening inside Russia.  During one of his podcasts, Whitmore referred to “the Collective Putin” and has continued to do so ever since.  What does he mean by “the Collective Putin”?  He doesn’t name many names, but he has mentioned a few on the air to give me a clue where to look for the rest of the names.  It is those people with whom Vladimir Putin has surrounded himself to govern Russia.  It isn’t just one group of people upon whom Vladimir Putin use – there are several circles of people, the membership of which sometimes overlap.  Having scoured many an online publication, this is the best list of names I can compile.  These groups of people have Vladimir Putin in common.  They sometimes overlap, but they don’t meet together.  Putin is one who stands above the fray and is the ultimate arbiter of issues between these groups.  

My first glimpse into the Collective Putin came in March 2014, when the US slapped sanctions against individuals within the Russian ruling elite.  That was a start, but what are the backgrounds of these people?  One such group is known as the Soliviki.  The folks at Global Security say the term siloviki is taken from silovye struktury, loosely translated from Russian as “force structures”.  So siloviki is a blanket term used to describe “men of force”, and these particular men of force have backgrounds in intelligence, state-security, and military with ties to the KGB, the Federal Security Service (FSB), the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), or even the armed forces.  As former-KGB, Vladimir Putin is a silovik.  The siloviki are the kind of people with whom Putin is most comfortable.  They offer Putin a direct defense against political threats.  Siloviki are like Marines – Marines think of themselves as “once a Marine, always a Marine.”  So too it is with the siloviki – once a silovik, always a silovik.  Vladimir Putin is quoted as saying “there is no such thing as a former Chekist.”  When the Soviet Union was on the cusp of collapse, Putin transitioned from KBG to politics in the civilian world, and wherever he’s gone in his career, the siloviki have gone with him.  Brian Whitmore refers to the siloviki has Putin’s “sword and shield.”   

Putin has managed to put his fellow siloviki in positions of government. He has also placed them in positions of authority in industries [most especially the energy sector and weapons manufacturing] and media that Putin uses as tools to cajole or coerce other countries to help Russia’s interests.  Putin’s Russia is a Chekist corporate state.  But this Chekist corporate state has no interest in Communist ideology.  Their interest is money and power.  Below is just a sample of those who have been along for the ride with Putin:  

                                                      Table 1:  Putin’s Siloviki

Silovik	Connection to Putin	Positions Held
Igor Sechin	GRU	-        Putin’s Chief of Staff, 1994-96 -        Putin’s deputy, Presidential Property Management Dept -        Deputy Chief of Putin’s presidential Admin, 1999-2008 -        CEO of Rosneft Oil Company, 2004-present
Sergei Ivanov	Leningrad KGB	-        Deputy FSB director overseeing analysis, forecasting, and strategic planning, 1998-99 -        Secretary, Security Council, 1999-2001 -        Defense Minister, 2001-07 -        Deputy Prime Minister, 2005-07 -        First Deputy Prime Minister, 2007-08 -        Chairman, United Aircraft Corporation (OAK), 2006-present
Nikolai Patrushev	Leningrad KGB	-        FSB Director, 1999-2008 -        Secretary, Security Council, 2008-present
Alexander Bortnikov	Leningrad KGB	-        FSB Director, 2008-present -        FSB Deputy Director, 2004-08 -        Chief, St. Petersburg FBS, 2003-04
Nikolay Tokarev	Dresden KGB	-        President of the Russian oil company Zarubezhneft, 2000-07 -        President of the Russian pipeline company Transneft, 2007-present
Sergei Naryshkin	Leningrad KGB	-        Chairman of the Board of Directors, Channel One, 2006-present -        Deputy Prime Minister for external economic activity, 2007-08 -        Chairman of the State Duma, 2011-present
Viktor Ivanov	Leningrad KGB	-        Director General of Almaz-Antey [Anti-aircraft] -        Head of the Internal Security Department of FSB -        Director, Federal Drug Control Service [FSKN], 2008-16 -        Deputy Head of the Presidential Staff for personnel, 2000-present
Viktor Cherkesov	Leningrad KGB/FSB	-        Director St. Petersburg FSB, 1992-98 -        First Deputy Director of FSB, 1998-2000 -        Putin's envoy to the Northwest Federal District, 2000-03 -        Director, Federal Drug Control Service [FSKN], 2004-08 -        Head of the Federal Service for Exports of Arms, Military and Special Equipment, 2008-present
Aleksandr Grigoryev	Leningrad KGB	-        Deputy Director of FSB, 1998-2001 -        Director of the Russian State Reserves Agency, 2001-04 -        Director of the Federal State Reserves Agency, 2004-08 [his death]
Sergei Chemezov	Dresden KGB	-        CEO of Rostec defense and industrial group - “Putin’s arms trader”
Andrei Belyaninov	Dresden KGB	-        Director General of Rosoboronexport, 2000-04 -        Director, Federal Defense Order Service, 2004-06 -        Director, Federal Customs Service [FTS], 2006-16

Vladimir Putin was born in Leningrad [now St. Petersburg] in 1952.  After graduating from the Leningrad State University, Putin joined the KGB.  He worked in counterintelligence before transferring to another directorate to monitor foreigners and the myriad consular officials in Leningrad.  After serving the KGB in Leningrad for 10 years, Putin moved to Dresden in East Germany.  After East Germany dissolved and became part of the Federal Republic of Germany, Putin went back to Leningrad.   Beginning in 1991, he started to work for Anatoly Sobchak, the city’s mayor.  It was during his time in the Leningrad/St. Petersburg government that Putin chaired what was the Director of the Committee for Foreign Liaison [KVS].  It was here that he immediately began to gather around himself the core group of people who would work with him throughout the 1990s and into his presidency.  Some of those people were fellow siloviki.  Others came from Komsomol, legal and business circles.   

Deputy Mayor of St. Petersburg

Between 1991-95, Vladimir Putin served first as a deputy mayor, then first deputy mayor [first among equals] of St. Petersburg under Mayor Anatoly Sobchak.  In this position Putin was responsible for oversight of all law enforcement, the Administrative Directorate of the city, the Hotel Directorate, the Justice Department, the Registration Chamber, and the Public Relations Directorate.  At the beginning of his tenure as deputy mayor, Putin was also still in the KGB’s active reserves until at least August 1991.  As a former KGB operative in East Germany, with dealings in East‑West German economic relations, Putin had more experience than most Russians in foreign economic relations.  

With this experience he was able to secure for himself the post of Director of the Committee for Foreign Liaison [KVS].  Here he was responsible for encouraging, regulating, and licensing foreign investment in St. Petersburg and Russian investment through St. Petersburg abroad.  He was uniquely positioned to regulate the movement of money, goods, and services into and out of Russia’s largest trading city.  Businesses that wanted to be established legally in St. Petersburg had to be licensed and registered by Putin’s KVS.  Putin dealt with literally thousands of foreign and native investors, from Coca‑Cola to organized crime bosses. 

When Putin went to work for Sobchak, he immediately began to gather around himself the core group of people who would work with him throughout the 1990s and into his presidency.  Here are just some of those people:  

                                                 Table 2:  Putin’s St. Petersburg Cadre

	Function in St. Petersburg	Position(s) after St. Petersburg
Igor Sechin	-        Putin’s Chief of Staff, 1991-96	See Table 1, Putin’s Siloviki
Viktor Zubkov	-        Deputy Chairman of the External Relations Committee, 1992-93 -        Department of the State Tax Inspection, 1993-98	-        Prime Minister, 2007-08 -        First Deputy Prime Minister, 2008-12 -        Chairman, Gazprom, 2008-present
Dmitri Medvedev	-        Adviser to Mayor Anatoly Sobchak -        Legal Counsel to KVS -        Friend of Vladimir	-        Chairman, Gazprom, 2002-08 -        Presidential chief of staff, 2003-05 -        First Deputy Prime Minister, 2005-08 -        President of Russia, 2008-12 -        Prime Minister, 2012-present
Viktor Ivanov	-        Chief of the Administrative Staff of the Mayor’s office	See Table 1, Putin’s Siloviki
Aleksei Kudrin	-        Vice Chairman of the Committee for Economic Reform -        Deputy Mayor, 1993-96	-        Minister of Finance, 2000-11
Sergei Naryshkin	-        Committee for Economy and Finance, 1992-95	See Table 1, Putin’s Siloviki
Dmitriy Kozak	-        Deputy head, St. Petersburg City Hall’s Legal Department, 1990-91	-      Deputy Presidential chief of staff, 2000-04 -      Putin’s envoy to the Caucasus & Southern European Russia, 2004-07 -      Deputy Prime Minister for 2014 Sochi Olympics
Alexei Miller	-        Putin’s deputy at KVS, 1991-96	-        Deputy Chairman, Gazprom, 2002-present
Nikolai Shamalov	-        KVS	-        Co-owner of Bank Rossiya
Vladimir Churov	-        KVS	-        Chairman, Central Election Commission, 2007-16
Vladimir Kozhin	-        Director General of the St. Petersburg Association of Joint Ventures	-        Head of the Presidential Property Management Department, 2000-present -        Assistant to the President for military and technical cooperation

During Putin’s tenure as First Deputy Mayor in St. Petersburg, he made a lot of “friends,” some of them “legitimate businessmen,” some of them not so “legitimate.”  Putin owned a dacha outside St. Petersburg.  Seven of his friends built dachas near his and together they formed a gated community called the Ozero Dacha Consumer Cooperative.  

Ozero Dacha Consumer Cooperative

All the cooperative members have assumed top positions in government and industry and have made lots of money.  A gated community of dachas on the banks of Lake Komsomolskoye, on the Karelian Isthmus near St. Petersburg.  On November 10, 1996 the eight members of this gated community [including Vladimir Putin], formed a housing cooperative.  Included in this cooperative is a bank account.  All members of this cooperative are entitled by Russian law to deposit or withdraw funds for their own personal use.  It’s a “share the wealth” bank account.  Karen Dawisha, author of Putin’s Kleptocracy:  Who Owns Russia? concluded this bank account is just one of many ways Vladimir Putin can receive money from others directly.  

Leader:  Vladimir Smirnov - Appointed by Putin to head of Tekhsnabeksport, one of the world’s largest suppliers of nuclear goods and services to foreign governments, including Iran.  

Vladimir Yakunin - had been first secretary at the Soviet mission to the UN, a post normally reserved for KGB officers.  Became the federal representative in the Northwest Region for Presidential Property Management Department in Moscow under Putin.  He moved on to become deputy minister of transportation in charge of the country’s seaports in 2000 and then in 2005 became head of Russian Railways.  He was relieved of his duties at Russian Railways in early 2016.  

Yuri Kovalchuk - described as “essentially the personal banker for many senior government officials of the Russian Federation, including President Putin.  He’s the largest shareholder of Bank Rossiya, and has been its chairman since 2004.  

Viktor Myachin – Former Director-General of Bank Rossiya (until 2004).  Since 2004 CEO of the investment company "Abros" that is a subsidiary of Rossiya Bank. This investment company owns 51% of the Согаз, a big insurance company in Russia.  

Sergei Fursenko - Head of Lentransgaz, which then became Gazprom Transgaz Sankt‑Peterburg, one of Gazprom’s largest subsidiaries.  

Andrei Fursenko - Appointed deputy minister, then first deputy minister, then acting minister of industry, science, and technology; after 2004 he became minister of education and science.  

Friends of Vladimir

Arkady and Boris Rotenberg – These two have known Putin since childhood.  They share a love of judo and hockey with Putin.  They own the SGM Group, the largest construction company for gas pipelines and electrical power supply lines in Russia.  The US Treasury says the Rotenberg brothers have provided "support to Putin's pet projects" by receiving and executing approximately $7 billion of contracts for the Sochi Olympic Games and state-controlled energy giant Gazprom.  

Gennady Timchenko – a longtime Friend of Vladimir.  He founded the Guvnor, one of the world's largest independent commodity trading companies involved in the oil and energy markets.  He sold his stake in Guvnor the day before the US slapped him with sanctions related to the annexation of Crimea.  He owns the Volga Group, an investment strategy company with stakes in energy and infrastructure.  The Volga Group controls the Stroytransgaz Group [STG], an engineering construction company that was originally a subsidiary of Gazprom. The Volga Group also owns 23% of Novatek, Russia’s largest independent natural gas producer.  

Others in Putin’s Orbit

Vyacheslav Volodin -  First deputy chief of the Kremlin staff since late 2011, Vyacheslav Volodin is one of President Putin's closest advisers. He is thought to have played a key role first in Russia's decision to move into Crimea, before overseeing the annexed Ukrainian region's political integration as part of Russia.  

Dmitri Kiselyov - A controversial state TV anchor who recently became head of the state news agency Russia Today. He is well-known for his anti-Western and homophobic diatribes, as well as his extremely hostile attitude to the protests in Kiev that led to the ousting of President Viktor Yanukovych.  

Vladislav Surkov - Currently a presidential aide, he is regarded as the mastermind of Mr. Putin's successive election victories through his controversial strategy of "managed democracy". He became known as the "grey cardinal" for his behind-the-scenes influence particularly in Putin's first presidential term of office from 2000-2008.  

Dmitri Rogozin - An outspoken deputy prime minister and former Russian ambassador to NATO in Brussels. He shrugged off the sanctions with a tweet that said: "All these sanctions aren't worth a grain of sand of the Crimean land that returned to Russia."  Deputy Prime Minister, in charge of defense and space industry.  

Viktor Zolotov - commander-in-chief of the new National Guard.  He was Putin’s bodyguard for 13 years.  Russian security expert Mark Galeotti refers to Zolotov as “one of President Putin’s most loyal and muscular henchmen”. The National Guard consists of riot police and paramilitary security troops that used to belong to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.  Zolotov reports directly to Putin.  Galeotti makes an interesting and thought-provoking observation:  

In my opinion, it is crucially important that all his life this man was a bodyguard. This profession produces a specific psychology. Military personnel, security officers, and police officers are all indoctrinated with the belief that their task is to protect the people and the state. A bodyguard, on the other hand, is trained to see his job as not to save Russia or the public, but a specific “protected person.”  

The “protected person” is Vladimir Putin.  

When the Soviet Union was still around, Kremlinologists had it relatively easy compared to today.  Back then there was one group of people to watch – the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.  Kremlinologists scrutinized positions on the reviewing stand on Lenin’s Tomb, who was sitting next to whom, who got published in Pravda, who gave the important speeches, or who headed the funeral committee when a General Secretary died.  With Putin, he’s got several power bases, the most powerful of which is the siloviki, but even they have internal squabbles.  He also has loyalty from oligarchs, business circles, and people like Ramzan Kadyrov and Viktor Zolotov.  He brought these people [except Kadyrov, Timchenko and the Rotenbergs] to Moscow, and they owe their positions to him.  I think it is these people that Brian Whitmore had in mind when he coined the phrase “the Collective Putin”.  

Did I miss anybody, Oleg?

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