Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Sergei Ivanov held a meeting of the Rostelecom Board of Directors. Office of the Russian President.
Mark Galeotti, In Moscow's Shadows: Ivanov: rustication with respect, from a good friend but a poor patron
OpenDemocracy have just run ‘Putin’s incredible shrining circle,’ a short commentary of mine on the meaning and context of Sergei Ivanov’s departure as head of the powerful Presidential Administration. Ivanov was one of the few people to which Putin still seemed to listen and who was willing and able to push his own ideas. Often, sadly, they were hawkish and conspiratorial ones, to be true. It will be interesting to see if his successor, Anton Vaino, is willing or able to stop so much nonsense reaching Putin’s desk, something that inevitably coloured policy and exacerbated his already-inflated belief in a hostile world trying to do Russia and him personally down. The trouble is that the machine is now used to operating that way: will Vaino find it easier to go with the flow, or indeed not have the muscle to do anything about it? We’ll see.
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WNU Editor: A couple of things are wrong in this commentary. One .... Sergei Ivanov does not need to be in a position of "getting bribes" .... he is extremely well-off already. Two .... just like in the U.S. .... you serve at the pleasure of the President, and if he wants someone else in your chair .... you are replaced. Three .... Sergei Ivanov will still keep his seat at the National Security .... that means that President Putin still values his opinions and understanding of the issues. Four .... Sergei Ivanov's friends, allies, and those who he placed within government are still holding their positions in the Kremlin and elsewhere .... if there was a falling out between Putin and Ivanov, these individuals would be out on the street by now.
There is obviously more to this story than what the press and pundits are saying. I will be saying more in the coming days.
4 comments:
Maybe Putin want to set some of the loyalist in a position more protected from public or mass-media attentions.
Preparing the time after him?
Young Communist. That is not how Russian political leaders think. The only Russian leader who gave away power willingly was Yeltsin .... and that was because he regarded taking care of his health to be more important that holding onto power.
The impression that I get is that while hawkish on some issues internationally, economically Ivanov is a liberal. Is this move a sign of a shift away from the (neo) liberal economic model? Are the nationalists/statists gaining traction?
So the open Internet sources say anyway....
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