Who is Nikolai Patrushev? The ex-KGB chief who will run Russia when Putin goes for surgery
Patrushev, a KGB security officer in the city of Leningrad, rose to become the chief of the local KGB's anti-smuggling and anti-corruption team. Patrushev remained in the security services when the Soviet Union fell apart. From 1992 until 1994, he served as the Republic of Karelia's Minister of Security. He then became the chief of the FSK's Directorate of Internal Security in Moscow.
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FollowIn the midst of reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin is having medical treatment, ex-KGB officer and close adviser to the Kremlin leader Nikolai Patrushev is anticipated to take over the country and the continuing Ukraine war. Patrushev is considered to be a close confidante of Putin's. He is the Security Council's hardline leader and a former KGB counterintelligence officer.
Nikolai Patrushev, born in 1951, comes from a military family. His parents escaped the Nazi siege but lost everything in terms of assets. Later, the family relocated to Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg). Patrushev, the son of a Soviet Navy commander and a Communist Party of the Soviet Union member, is reported to have been severely influenced by Russia's imperial past during the Soviet era.
Patrushev, a KGB security officer in the city of Leningrad, rose to become the chief of the local KGB's anti-smuggling and anti-corruption team. Patrushev remained in the security services when the Soviet Union fell apart. From 1992 until 1994, he served as the Republic of Karelia's Minister of Security. He then became the chief of the FSK's Directorate of Internal Security in Moscow.
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Patrushev's career has taken him from deputy chief of the FSB's Organization and Inspection Department in 1995 to Director of the FSB in 1999. Notably, he took up the position from his then-close buddy Vladimir Putin. Patrushev has been the Secretary of Russia's Security Council since 2008, after serving as the Director of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) from 1999 to 2008. The FSB is often considered to be the principal successor organisation to the Soviet KGB.
According to a British media source, Putin regards Patrushev as "the only really trusted person and friend in the system of power," which is why he was given the country's reins instead of 56-year-old Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
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