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IZVEVSK, RUSSIA - SEPTEMBER 19 (RUSSIA OUT) Russian Council of Security's Secretary Nikolai Patrushev attends a signing ceremony while visiting the Kalashnikov Academy on September 19, 2019 in Izhevsk, Russia.  Putin is having a one-day visit to Izhevsk, 967 km. east of Moscow to hold the Military-Industrial Commission Meeting. (Photo by Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images)
Inside Vladimir Putin's Relationship With Nikolai Patrushev
By MATT REIGLE
History - Science
Vladimir Putin is without a doubt the most powerful man in Russia, but there are those under him who wield no small bit of power themselves. One of these people is Nikolai Patrushev, the current head of the Russian Security Council who is one of Putin’s closest confidants and advisors.
Patrushev served with Putin in the KGB during the 1970s and later continued his intelligence career in the KGB’s successor, the FSB. Aside from being responsible for the spread of conspiracy theories and disinformation, he has also fomented the idea that the invasion of Ukraine is just part of Russia’s self-defense against the West.
According to rumors that have surfaced from the social media site Telegram, Putin temporarily transferred power to Patrushev in May 2022 while the former underwent cancer surgery. One Telegram video states that Patrushev is an even more dangerous and insidious individual than Putin, and that Russia’s problems would only get worse if he takes charge.