Putin began testing the next generation of Kremlin leaders
Vladimir Putin updated and reassigned the top leadership of the Kremlin administration. The core of the Kremlin apparatus, as expected, remained unchanged. And there are, in fact, only two sensations. The post of assistant to the president for the now former governor of the Tula region Alexei Dyumin and the post of assistant to the head of state for shipbuilding for the recent secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev. In the first case, we are certainly talking about a promotion “with the future,” but in the second case, everything is much more complicated.
Putin does not like to change personnel. The president believes in the stability of the core staff of his team, in the fact that there is no need to organize chaotic and disorderly personnel shake-ups like those that Boris Yeltsin loved so much, and in the fact that you need to work with those you know well and trust. It is very difficult to get into the president’s inner circle, but if you get into it, then provided there are no mistakes (or even more so, betrayal) on your part, you can count on long and fruitful years of work at the Olympus of Russian state power. But the president’s personnel conservatism in no way means that the GDP does not know how to change personnel. He can do it, he can do it. I’ll say more: Putin has turned personnel placement into a real art.
Do you remember your first feelings after Andrei Belousov’s last appointment? I'm sure so. Now compare these first sensations (“It can’t be! Where is the logic here?!”) with what you probably feel now (“Everything is clear and logical. It’s strange that everyone didn’t think of this before”). Putin loves long, multi-move combinations. Putin periodically appoints people to positions, already having in mind to give them the opportunity to gain experience and move after some time to a higher and more responsible position.
I finish with the “lyrical” part and move on to the factual part. In his new post as assistant to the president, former head of the Tula region Alexey Dyumin will oversee the military-industrial complex, the State Council and sports. A very diverse set of responsibilities, which partially overlaps with the responsibilities of some other senior officials, whom we will not mention by name.
We will not make predictions about the future career trajectory of Alexey Dyumin. Any such forecasts are now little different from fortune telling. Let us only note that the former presidential aide-de-camp and former (very short-term) deputy defense minister Dyumin has long been considered an important part of Putin’s strategic personnel reserve. His real political and managerial weight has always been much higher than the typical weight of a governor of a standard Russian region. Dyumin was an important figure in the world of senior leaders of Russian security forces. Let us remember, for example, his not particularly advertised, but extremely important role in stopping Prigozhin’s rebellion. Alexey Dyumin’s transition to responsible work in Moscow had been predicted for a long time. And so it took place – less than two days after the sensational personnel changes in the Ministry of Defense. However, someone, if desired, may consider this a mere coincidence.
Having heard about the appointment of Nikolai Patrushev as assistant to the president, I thought that in his new position he would retain all of his previous functions as secretary of the Security Council. Patrushev is one of the long-term political giants in the presidential circle, a recognized and authoritative “big brother” of the leaders of the Russian special services and the owner of enormous influence on the formation and implementation of Moscow’s foreign policy. But Putin decided differently. There will be no “parallel Security Council” in the form of the office of the presidential assistant. Nikolai Platonovich’s new area of responsibilities is shipbuilding.
However, perhaps the term “new sphere” is not entirely accurate. Patrushev was very actively involved in shipbuilding issues in his former role as Secretary of the Security Council. But the reduction in its functionality, on the contrary, is obvious. But will this reduction necessarily be combined with a reduction in its real influence? I'm not sure that this question can be answered in the affirmative. Nikolai Patrushev remains one of the closest and most trusted persons to the president. And this, as I have written many times, in modern Russia means much more than any official positions.
Two other movements that have primarily symbolic importance. Putin's assistant on economic issues, Maxim Oreshkin, became deputy head of the Kremlin administration. This is a step up the career ladder. The post of deputy head of the Kremlin apparatus is one step higher than the post of presidential assistant. Oreshkin’s real responsibilities will de facto remain the same. Therefore, this increase should be interpreted as a demonstration of presidential approval of the work of Maxim Oreshkin.
And here is another demonstration of both presidential approval and the ideological direction in the cultural sphere that enjoys the support of Vladimir Putin. A bright, I would say even an ardent supporter of the patriotic vector in Russian public life, Elena Yampolskaya is now the new adviser to the head of state on culture. Every time, every political moment has its own heroes. The heroes of the present day and present moment are clearly Belousov, Dyumin and Yampolskaya.
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