Putin had cancer surgery: who is Nikolai Patrushev, the “Kremlin hawk” who could replace the Russian president?

Vladimir Putin should have surgery for cancer, according to New York Post Who referred to a video clip from the Telegram channel “General SVR”. According to this information, The Kremlin strongman can temporarily give up his place to Nikolai Patrushev if convalescence should force him to step away from power.

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As the American media confirm, these allegations have not been independently verified, and Moscow categorically denies that Putin is ill. But who is this man who will take the Kremlin’s head in Putin’s place?

Former KGB Agent

Like Vladimir Putin, Nikolai Patrushev, 70, was a professional KGB agent, first with the Soviet KGB as early as 1974, and then with the Russian FSB, according to Moscow Times. As a staunch ally of Putin, he now serves as the secretary of the Russian Security Council, an influential body that reports directly to the Russian president and advises on Russia’s military and security issues.

“Kremlin Falcon”

After meeting Putin during their career in the KGB, Patrushev was appointed head of this service, the FSB, and then became a member of Putin’s Security Council in 2008. In 2017, Politico He described the former spy as a “Kremlin hawk” known for his “fiery nationalism, conspiratorial worldview, and vast experience in espionage.”

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It is reported that Nikolai Patrushev was part of Putin’s group of advisers during Russia’s annexation of Crimea into Ukraine in 2014, and is a staunch supporter of the Russian president in the invasion of Ukraine.

“Ukraine disintegrated into several states”

In an interview with the Russian newspaper Rossiyskaya GazetaNikolai Patrushev accused America and Europe of supporting neo-Nazi ideology in Ukraine. He also supported the Kremlin’s position that Ukrainians and Russians are one people.

“Using their Kyiv vassals, the Americans, in an attempt to suppress Russia, decided to create an antithesis to our country, and cynically chose Ukraine for this, essentially trying to divide one people,” he privately declared according to New York Post. People close to Putin also mentioned the hypothesis of Ukraine’s disintegration. “The result of the policies of the West and the Kyiv regime can only be the disintegration of Ukraine into several states.”