The close circle of Russian President

Vladimir Putin

has a serious influence on him in making decisions related to the war in Ukraine.

Among the people who convinced the Russian leader to launch a full-scale invasion on February 24, the media name, in particular, Security Council Secretary Mykola Patrushev and oligarch

Yuriy Kovalchuk

.

Experts also noticed the strengthening of the role of businessman

Yevgeny Prigozhin

, who uses military actions to become an independent political figure and influence the Kremlin.

TSN.ua collected details about the representatives of the Russian "war party", their influence on Putin and on military operations.

Patrushev - "an even bigger jerk than Putin"

The Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation,

Mykola Patrushev

, is a person ideologically close to Putin, and they have a long-standing friendship.

During more than two decades of Putin's rule, Patrushev became the "gray cardinal" of the Kremlin, entering the closest circle of the president of the Russian Federation.

Patrushev's son Dmytro is the Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, some Russian political scientists even mention his name among the candidates to succeed Putin.

Patrushev is 71 years old, he was born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg).

His service in the KGB since 1975 connects him with fellow countryman Putin.

The current secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation headed the FSB for 10 years, replacing Putin himself in this position.

A series of bombings of residential buildings in Russia in 1999 is associated with the person of Patrushev.

The explosions helped boost the popularity of Vladimir Putin, who won the 2000 presidential election on anti-terrorism slogans.

According to the most common unofficial version, the terrorist attacks were organized by the FSB.

Patrushev played a key role in the murder of former FSB officer, critic of Putin's regime Alexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned by Russian intelligence services in 2006 in Great Britain.

As Secretary of the Security Council, Patrushev is one of the authors of the updated version of Russia's national security strategy, published in 2021.

The document refers to the direct permission for the state to use "forceful methods" to "obstruct or prevent unfriendly actions that threaten the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Russian Federation."

In fact, it is about authorization to use military force outside the borders of Russia - a legal blueprint for a future invasion.

Mykola Patrushev is a supporter of "conspiracy theory" and the author of a number of loud paranoid statements.

In particular, he claimed that the US wants to deprive Russia of all its natural resources, citing a fictional statement by US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

An associate of Putin is convinced that the "Anglo-Saxons" want to destroy the Russian ethnic group.

Patrushev likes to talk about "Ukrainian biolaboratories", where secret weapons against Russia were supposedly being developed.

Also, the head of the RF Security Council claims that Poland allegedly started the process of seizing territories in western Ukraine.

Russian political scientist

Andriy Piontkovsky

considers Patrushev's behavior to be manifestations of "clinical insanity."

"He is an even bigger jerk than Putin. Just read his speeches and speeches - it is absolutely clinical madness. He is close to Putin. All his resource is that Putin trusts him. But this is his weakness in case of Putin's death - he loses this resource and no one will need him. No one in the circle will perceive him as a successor," Piontkovskyi told TSN.

According to the political scientist, "Putin and Patrushev did their job - if it weren't for these two people, there wouldn't have been such a full-scale attack on Ukraine, it would have been limited to ORDLO."

Kovalchuk: ideologue and "wallet" of the President of the Russian Federation

Russian oligarch Yuriy Kovalchuk, unlike many other associates of Putin, is not a representative of the special services.

71-year-old Kovalchuk comes from the family of a Leningrad scientist, received a good education by Soviet standards, and went into business in the 1990s.

He is the largest shareholder of Bank "Russia", "Forbes" estimates his fortune at 1.3 billion dollars.

The businessman was a co-founder of the summer cottage cooperative "Ozero", where people gathered who later formed Putin's inner circle.

Kovalchuk is considered Putin's "personal banker" - the president of the Russian Federation entrusted him with his personal business interests and his family.

International finance is not Kovalchuk's only interest.

He has long admired the works of Ivan Ilyin, the philosopher of Russian fascism of the thirties, writes The Times.

According to The Times, during the covid-quarantine in 2021, Kovalchuk spent a lot of time with Putin at the Valdai residence, when the president of the Russian Federation was preparing for publication the article "On the historical unity of Russians and Ukrainians".

When the president and the banker sat together, an ideological manifesto of the philosophy of the future war was born, the publication writes.

Photo: RIA Novosti

As political scientist Andrii Piontkovskyi

told

, Kovalchuk is the only person who addresses Putin as "you".

"The only person Putin looks at rather from the bottom up. He is the main ideologist of the ultra-fascist ideology of the "Russian world", the victory in the war against the West as revenge for the defeat of the Soviet Union in the Third World - Cold War. The ideologist of the destruction of the Ukrainian state," he says .

As the political scientist noted, Kovalchuk "raised Putin in ultra-fascist views", as he is the ideologue of the "mobilization group", which has been operating within the administration of the President of the Russian Federation for the past 10 years.

"But Kovalchuk is a very intelligent person, he is not from the St. Petersburg court, like Putin. He was quite successful in the Soviet Union, a doctor of physical sciences. Then he got into business and became a multibillionaire. He is the main manager of Putin's entire financial empire... This person is surrounded by Putin is the only one who has balls," explained Piontkovsky.

Prigozhin: "Putin's dog" that grew fangs

61-year-old businessman

Yevhen Prigozhin

is a restaurateur, owner of the "Troll Factory from Holgin", one of the key figures in the Russian-Ukrainian information war.

But Prigozhin is best known today as the founder of the private military company "Wagner" - a mercenary army that "distinguished itself" in Ukraine, Syria, and a number of African countries since 2013.

Prigozhin is called "Putin's chef" because of his large business in the field of catering on state contracts.

In his youth, Prigozhin had problems with the law, in the 80s he was convicted, in particular, for theft, robbery, fraud, and served a 9-year prison term.

In the 1990s, Prigozhin founded the Concord group of companies, which initially included a chain of public catering establishments, and later - a construction business, a media holding with the famous "troll factory" and, finally, PVK "Wagner".

After the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine, Prigozhin was able to significantly increase his influence, and his illegal armed group is considered one of the most capable parts of the Russian army of occupation.

"Wagner", which does not have any official status in Russia, is already recruiting aircraft pilots and missile complex crews.

Prigozhin was also allowed to freely recruit prisoners into his private army.

The founder of PMK "Wagner" creates a powerful military structure, parallel to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Experts believe that Prigozhin and his ally, the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, have great political ambitions to challenge the Kremlin leadership.

The head of the "Wagner" PMC allows himself loud political statements, harshly criticizes the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Serhiy Shoigu and the Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.

In tandem with Kadyrov, he managed to remove Oleksandr Lapin from the post of commander of the "Center" troop group. 

Photo: Associated Press

Political scientist

Andriy Piontkovsky

believes that Putin, by allowing Prigozhin to increase his influence, "made a very serious mistake in matters of the security of his personal power."

"The attacks of Kadyrov and Prigozhin on the generals and the General Staff began two months ago. These are dogs that Putin let off the leash. After the defeat near Kiev, and even more so near Kharkov, a classic problem arose for fascist regimes - who is to blame for the military defeat, the Führer or generals? Putin decided, anticipating this clarification, to call the generals guilty - not himself, but "public opinion", excellent field commanders are attacking. But in this attack, the dogs gradually turned into big wolves, and are already showing their fangs to Putin himself", - said Piontkovsky.

channel Freedom.

According to the political scientist, Prigozhin's latest statements indicate that "he is clearly escalating."

"At first he exposed the generals for the inept command of the troops, and now he is getting into high-level political issues, changing the governors in St. Petersburg, Putin's homeland. His latest statement is generally fantastic - the high assessment of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky as a worthy adversary - goes against the general philosophy of war ", he noted.

Piontkovsky reminded that Prigozhin, like Kadyrov, has under his command tens of thousands of armed men with combat experience.

"The state in the person of Putin is losing its main role as a monopoly on violence," the expert said.

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