The Washington Post: Find out who is closest to Putin and who might succeed him

When Russian President Vladimir Putin held the last meeting of the National Security Council before the war on Ukraine was launched, a Kremlin hawk seemed to dominate the room.

Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the National Security Council, told the president that the United States is behind the tensions in eastern Ukraine and is coordinating the collapse of Russia, according to a report in the Washington Post.

The report's author, Catherine Belton (the correspondent of this American newspaper from Russia), says that Patrushev - whose position is equivalent to the US National Security Adviser - was at that meeting expressing a point of view dating back to the Cold War, which prompted Putin to launch war on Ukraine.

Since Putin issued the decision to start the war on February 24 - which the correspondent believes has stunned many of the country's elite - Patrushev has become a hard-line military figure for Russia.

At the time, the Russian media broadcast - and speaking to the reporter - a statement by Patrushev, in which he said, "Our task is to defend the territorial integrity of our country and defend its sovereignty."

The newspaper report also indicated that Patrushev was among the few security advisers who knew of Putin's war decision before the invasion began.

Who is Patrushev, what is his relationship with the president, and what is his influence on the Kremlin's policies, especially regarding the war?

Who is Patrushev?

In her report, the correspondent notes that Patrushev is a close ally of the president since their days of service together in the KGB in Saint Petersburg, and has served Putin since his appointment in 1998 as head of the FSB, which is The agency that replaced the KGB, and began the latter's rapid rise to the presidency of the country.

For Mark Galeotti, professor emeritus at the London School of Studies, Patrushev was often "the devil on Putin's shoulder whispering poison in his ear".

It also quoted a close associate of both figures, whose name was not mentioned for security reasons, as saying that Patrushev is a security man who built his view of the world through the events of the Cold War and has not changed much since the fall of the Soviet Union, especially with regard to his hostility to the United States.

"His understanding of all things is as if the Soviet Union still exists, and he sees himself accordingly," he says.

Jealous!

According to the report, Patrushev, who is one year older than Putin, first served alongside the president in the 1970s when they joined the KPG's counterintelligence department in what was then Leningrad, which is now Saint Petersburg.

And the Washington Post reporter quotes a person close to these two figures as saying that Patrushev was jealous when Putin suddenly jumped to become head of the Federal Security Service, because "Putin was little (at the time) as he was a lieutenant colonel, while (Patrushev) had the rank of colonel." .

This view was shared by a former senior KGB officer who worked with Putin. "Patrushev was older and higher in rank. But Putin took over because he was closer to (then-President Boris) Yeltsin," he said.

The report indicates that Patrushev was later appointed head of the Federal Security Service to succeed Putin when he chose Yeltsin as prime minister.

A person close to Putin and Patrushev is quoted as saying that the latter has since sought to ensure that Putin stays in power and controls him at the same time.

Does Patrushev seek to succeed Putin?

While Putin appeared angry and on the defensive and faltered during the first three months of the war on Ukraine and nearly disappeared from view, Patrushev took the stage to justify the "enigma" and advance the war's goals.

The local newspapers gave him a series of interviews, during which he predicted the collapse of Europe under the weight of the food and refugee crises, as well as the disintegration of Ukraine into several countries.

He called for the revival of "historical traditions" in the Russian education system to create a generation of "true patriots", among other political and economic matters.

The correspondent notes that the sudden appearance of Patrushev after more than two decades of working behind the scenes confirmed his status and strong role in the Kremlin.

Questions have also been raised about whether he is seeking to groom himself to succeed Putin, especially in light of speculation about the president's health and Moscow's backsliding from seeking to control Kyiv.

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said - in a statement to the Washington Post - that the suggestion that Patrushev's role had changed was an "invention" and that the latter "has always been active in line with his broad scope of authority."

The report of the American newspaper also quoted National Security Council spokesman Yevgeny Anushin, denying that Patrushev is seeking any higher position, adding that he is "a patriot. And a loyal state actor for many years to the Russian Federation and Putin."

On the other hand, Andrei Kolesnikov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, sees Patrushev's lengthy interviews and recent travels as evidence that he is "the one who is allowed to explain Putin's ideas" and adds that this is "not allowed to all and not known to all."

The Washington Post concludes that even Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, when he speaks, it is not clear whether he is speaking on behalf of Putin or not.

Diplomats often try to guess it.

But Kolesnikov asserts that the only Patrushev authorized to do so, "he knows what Putin wants."