Russian police are investigating former Kremlin puppet master

Vladislav Surkov (left) worked as first deputy head of the Kremlin administration from 1999 to 2011. Photo: ALEXEY NIKOLSKY/AFP

Russian police are checking whether Vladimir Putin's former chief strategist broke the law by writing an article suggesting that Russia and the West might one day unite after the war in Ukraine.

Vladislav Surkov, once dubbed the Kremlin's «puppeteer» by friends and foes alike, helped Putin create his tightly controlled political system. He was fired from the Kremlin in 2020.

In an article published on September 27, entitled «The Birth of the North», Mr Surkov suggested that no major power would get what it wanted from the war in Ukraine, and that Russia, the US and Europe would move closer in the future.

“There will be a Great North — Russia, the USA and Europe will form a single socio-cultural space,” Mr. Surkov said, adding that the term “Global South” indicates that there should also be a North. .

Two Russian state news agencies, TASS and RIA, reported that Russian police began checking the article after the complaint. The Baza Telegram channel was the first to report the complaint.

Vladislav Surkov helped Putin create his tightly controlled political system, but left the Kremlin in 2020. Photo: Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images Europe

Mr Surkov's article contradicts the Kremlin's current line that the West is a declining and arrogant power doing evil. about splitting Russia in order to seize its vast natural resources.

But many among Russia's elite are concerned about the Kremlin's turn toward China, which Putin is visiting this week, and say Russia is culturally and historically rooted in Europe, despite the current confrontation with the West over Ukraine.

G — Mr. Surkov said in his article that the world's major civilizations will face chaos in the coming years and that although Russia's alliance with the West may seem far-fetched, so was a united Russia in the 13th century.

< p>He said, that the chance to achieve agreement was missed when the West laughed at Putin's proposal in the 2000s for Russia to join the NATO military alliance.

Sergei Markov, a political scientist close to the Kremlin, called the police investigation stupid.

“Surkov should not be trolled,” Mr. Markov said. “Surkov is a very talented and experienced person.”

“Pushing talented, bright people like Surkov into the opposition is a political mistake. Give Surkov a job.”

Surkov worked as first deputy head of the Kremlin administration from 1999 to 2011, then worked in the government, and then in the Kremlin as an adviser to the president.