Translated material
The main body
Who and for what is responsible for the presidential administration and what areas of life is managed by the Putin Central Committee
Photo: Lipilin.ru
Although the presidential administration is an institution not mentioned in the Constitution, today it is a much more important body than the government. This is already seen by the fact that more people work on the old square on more salaries than in the White House on the Krasnopresnenskaya embankment.
On the one hand, it is formally a single apparatus of Vladimir Putin, who, according to a high -ranking interlocutor NT in the Kremlin, only “brings the head of state shells”. On the other hand, in practice, the highest officials of the Kremlin administration either independently manage whole areas in the country's life, or duplicate the functions of many ministries, thereby ensuring the notorious system of retractures and counterweights.
For this, they have considerable funds - formally, about 10 billion rubles are annually laid on their activities in the budget. And informally, the management of the administration also disposes of funds from sponsors for election campaigns close to the Kremlin of parties, movements and other unspoken tasks.
NT sorted out who and for what was responsible in the Kremlin according to the results of the personnel permutations of 2016-2017 and the subsequent “sharing” of authority. It is on this distribution that the positions of officials during the presidential elections, and therefore their role in the election of Vladimir Putin for the fourth term, are directly dependent.
The head of the administration
When in August last year the post of head of the Kremlin administration was left by a real political heavyweight, the long -standing associate of Putin Sergey Ivanov, his successor Anton Vaino, few took seriously. In a conversation with NT correspondent, one of the officials even predicted the weakening of the role of the presidential administration under the new boss. Vaino worked in the protocol for a long time, and observers together wrote it into young technocrats without any ambitions and interest in politics.
But 14 months later, moods changed dramatically. Now many say that this is the most active head of the Kremlin administration since the departure from this post in 2008 by Sergey Sobyanin. It is especially noticeable against the backdrop of the low interest in work in the last years of his predecessor Ivanov: after the death of his son in 2014, he, according to NT interlocutors, was long -standing for a long time. Vaino launched a violent activity. As a confirmation of this thought, the interlocutors cite several arguments.
Firstly, Vaino delves into the affairs of many departments of the Kremlin administration, and does not give entire directions to the mercy of deputies. “Ivanov could conduct planning with Kremlin officials in 10 minutes,” recalls a person regularly participating in the Kremlin meetings. “Wino does this for an hour and a half, he literally dug up on each issue.”
Photo: ru.wikipedia.org
Another characteristic case is told by the head of one of the companies, to which the domestic political unit of the Presidential Administration regularly orders research. While the administration was led by Ivanov, all the results went to the table for the maximum of his first deputy for domestic politics Vyacheslav Volodin. With the change of superiors, these reports began to go not only the curator of domestic policy (instead of Volodin, Sergey Kiriyenko became): they began to be requested for the report by Vaino. “Suddenly they began to find fault with us, scold, demanded everything to redo. We did not immediately realize what happened, and then it turned out: the work is now going on the Wino table, and the requirements have risen sharply, ”says the interlocutor NT.
Secondly, the new head of the presidential administration is actively involved in many important personnel issues. Thus, it is generally accepted that he influenced the decision on the appointment of the Secretary of the General Council of United Russia (in fact - the operational head of the party in power) Andrei Turchak. The publication of RBC, with reference to its sources, even claimed that it was the head of the presidential administration that made the idea to appoint the former Governor of the Pskov Region by the Secretary General.
NT interlocutors note that nevertheless, the keyword in this matter was behind Putin himself: Andrei Turchak is the son of a long -standing friend. However, Vaino really actively participated in the process of changing the leadership of United Russia, and it can be considered one of the main beneficiaries. Turchak cannot be considered a man of the former curator of the domestic policy of Volodin, or the current curator Kiriyenko. He is the Presidential man, but he does not care about the current cases of United Russia. So Vaino will be able to influence the Party of Power through him, the interlocutor NT, close to United Russia, is sure.
Vaino has a very influential ally among the “old” environment of Vladimir Putin - this is the head of Rostec Sergey Chemezov , several interlocutors of NT say. The father of the current head of the presidential administration, Eduard Vaino, is the vice president of AvtoVAZ, more than 30% of which belong to Rostec. Chemezov is a very strong ally, no one is trying not to quarrel with him, in this regard, the Vaino group and Chemezov can be considered one of the most powerful, the former employee of the Kremlin administration notes.
Many say that Weino is the most active head of the Kremlin administration since the departure from this post in 2008 by Sergei Sobyanin
Information block
Until the fall of 2016, the curaticity over the media was clearly distributed between the first two deputies of the head of the presidential administration: Alexei Gromov was responsible for television and newspapers, and Vyacheslav Volodin was responsible for the Internet. However, with the departure of Volodin and the purpose of Kiriyenko, this scheme has not been preserved. “Gromov, as they say, was fussing. While one was leaving and the other came, he managed to convince the president that he should now be responsible for all the media without exception. What is characteristic, Kiriyenko did not fight for Internet media-he is not not interesting for him, ”says the interlocutor close to the Kremlin.
The fact that Gromov now controls both Internet media is confirmed by the facts and data of NT sources. So, Gromov was able to lobby for the appointment of his man in a holding with the largest Internet media-RBC. The close to Gromov Alexei Abakumov this summer became the director of the development of the holding. Gromov was already trying to influence the policy of RBC - he called the authorities with “requests”, says a source close to the leadership of RBC. However, while many “requests” are able to ignore, the interlocutor assures. However, who exactly oversees the market of Internet media is obvious.
Gromov’s television oversees denser. Weekly, the main editors of the central channels go to him weekly to him. These events are discussed in detail, for example, the president’s plans and how the channels will cover events with his participation, eyewitnesses say. Other topics are also pronounced, including international ones. It is not difficult to notice the result of these discussions if we study the issues of Sunday information and analytical programs: reports of correspondents and even their heroes often coincide with each other. So it was, for example, after the autumn single day of voting, when journalists, as if on command, focused on the Kaliningrad region and its new leader Anton Alikhanov in final reports, although formally he was only one of many elected governors.
Gromov also oversees the activities of the press services of law enforcement agencies, NT sources say. The administration as such does not deal with the problems of military and special services, this is the privilege of the departments and the Security Council itself (formally part of the presidential administration, but in fact it is an independent collective governing body of the state). But Gromov holds meetings for those responsible for the press at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the General Prosecutor's Office, the Investigative Committee and some other departments, it is decided there what topics and how the press services will work out. At the same time, it is decided with which media these topics can be “illuminated”.
Gromov had a rather tense relationship with Kovalchuki, so control over the entire media market - in question
However, it cannot be said that Gromov can independently control all media processes, the interlocutors in the market note. An important role here is played by an influential group of Kovalchuk. Their “National Media Group” controls, among other things, the blocking of the “Channel One” shares, as well as the “Fifth Canal” and REN TV. Gromov recently had a rather tense relationship with Kovalchuki, say two interlocutors close to the Kremlin. So, according to them, control over the entire media market is in question.
Domestic policy
The Kremlin’s domestic political block (it includes the largest domestic policy department and public project management) with Kiriyenko’s advent of actually turned into a headquarters in preparation for the presidential election. Officials of this block are preparing the strategy of Putin’s election campaign.
Another fundamental duty is youth policy. It is on her that Vladimir Putin is going to emphasize in her election campaign, the media reported earlier. Directly is responsible for the youth - Deputy Head of the Department of Internal Policy Timur Prokopenko. He oversees all youth movements, the work of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs, the organization of youth camps and the World Youth Festival, which was visited by the president. Prokopenko is the only high -ranking official from the Volodin team, whom Sergei Kiriyenko did not dismiss. Young people are a too specific topic, it is difficult to find someone new on it, the former Kremlin official explains on the terms of anonymity.
But at the same time, many, not related to the elections, the top -political block with the arrival of Kiriyenko gave to his colleagues. In addition to control over the Internet media and United Russia, Kremlin officials lost the State Duma, headed by the predecessor of Kiriyenko-Vyacheslav Volodin. As a Kremlin curator of domestic policy, Volodin tried to tightly control the lower ward, but as soon as he had to lead it, he did everything to limit the influence of colleagues from the Kremlin. The media reported that the State Duma apparatus tried not to let representatives of the Kremlin even at meetings of the Council of the Lower Chamber. In addition, an official responsible for the supervision of the parliament has not yet appeared in the administration of domestic policy, although such a post has existed since the management of management. All this is the result of Volodin's agreements with the country's leadership, say people close to the speaker.
At all public events on domestic politics, Kiriyenko accompanies the president, and he invariably publicly addresses him
Kiriyenko does not affect the appointment of governors. When this year the country's leadership decided the question of changing the head of his native Nizhny Novgorod region for him, they did not consider his associates. The region was headed by a native of Igor Sechin from the Ministry of Industry and Trade Gleb Nikitin. The domestic political unit only organizes training for future governors (a video even appeared in the press in which candidates in the heads of regions have to jump from the cliff).
The abandonment of a number of powers does not necessarily speak of Kiriyenko’s weakness, assure the Kremlin official surrounded. At all public events in domestic politics, he accompanies the president, and he invariably publicly addresses him, emphasizing his proximity. So it was at a meeting with youth during the World Youth Festival, so it was at the Taurida forum, and at a meeting with ONF activists.
In addition to Putin’s election campaign, Kiriyenko has another area of responsibility - he still overtakes densely with Rosata, which headed before the fall of last year, notes a source close to the Kremlin. This topic is interested in him more politics, so he was left by the chairman of the supervisory board of this corporation, says the interlocutor NT.
Ecology and corruption
There is a person in the Kremlin who takes a formally low position, but at the same time sits in the office, the first deputy head of the administration, due to status. As NT previously reported, this is Sergey Ivanov, who, after leaving the post of head of the administration, special representative of the President on Ecology. In addition to the high office, he was left membership in the most important country of the country - the Security Council. Also, Ivanov has the right to flight on the sides intended for the first persons (they are served by a special flight squad "Russia"). Finally, he can give the media interviews and express himself publicly on international issues, which in the Kremlin is the privilege of the press secretary of the head of state Dmitry Peskov.
In the spring of this year, Ivanov had health problems, said NT by a person who was surrounded by the ex-head of the presidential administration. According to him, he even lost consciousness during one of the important events.
In the spring of this year, Ivanov had health problems, said NT by a person who was surrounded by the ex-head of the presidential administration. According to him, he even lost consciousness during one of the important events
By autumn, Ivanov recovered and took part in the next round of division of powers. Now, in addition to formal status, he has been able to control one of the important processes. His longtime associate Andrei Chobotov headed the Corruption Office, which checks the anti -corruption declarations of officials and, respectively, has a lot of levers of pressure on the elite.
However, due to the complexity of the Kremlin structure, many players remain on the corruption field. First of all, this is the profile assistant to the head of state (the next step after the head of the department in the hierarchy), the old acquaintance of Putin Evgeny School. It was his man who was considered the former chief of the anti -corruption department Oleg Blory, now transferred to the post of First Deputy Minister of Justice. Thus, the question of Ivanov’s position remains open and will be clear only following the results of the presidential elections, all NT interlocutors note. However, the same applies to the positions of Shkolov.
Sergey Ivanov. Photo: gov-news.ru
Understudy
There are several people in the structure of the presidential administration who formally and informally duplicate the functions of important ministries. Such a system has always existed, but finally entrenched with the return of Vladimir Putin from the government to the Kremlin, where he took with him many former ministers.
Photo: ru.wikipedia.org
The most typical example is the assistant to the president of transport Igor Levitin, who became the actual understudy of the Minister of Transport Maxim Sokolov. In some cases, it is considered a more important person than the head of the relevant department. “All people in the industry know that if you want to solve a serious problem, then you have to go to Levitin,” the source in this market says. According to a person who is at transport meetings, it is Levitin who interacts with a group of Rotenbergs influential for the industry and the country as a whole.
Publicly, Levitin’s positions were especially intensified right now. Due to the scandal around the “VIM-Avia”, the head of state harshly criticized the Minister of Transport, and at the same time supervising the branch of Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich. The latter Putin even hinted that he could deprive him of the curaticity over the industry.
But it is not completely clear to whom in the end this scandal will be more reflected, the NT source in the Kremlin claims. According to him, a serious responsibility for what happened lies with the Federal Air Transport Agency, and it is headed by a person close to Levitin - Alexander Neudko.
A similar system operates in education, where Minister Olga Vasilieva and presidential aid Andrei Fursenko, who is familiar with the president in St. Petersburg, work. This is important because not all educational community took Vasiliev, and in which case they can go to solve their questions to Fursenko, the interlocutor says in the leadership of one of the capital's universities.
There is a similar scheme in the field of telecommunications. There is a young Minister of Communications Nikolai Nikiforov, and there is a profile assistant who previously held the post of minister, Igor Schegolev. NT interlocutors surrounded by Schegolev like to make fun of the minister and tell what they have to solve many important issues for the department.
Another important understudy is the Presidential Assistant in Economics Andrei Belousov. In this area, the presidential system is especially important, so he specifically placed people with different views to important positions: in the government, “conditional liberals”, the first deputy prime minister Igor Shuvalov and Minister of Economics and Minister of Economics, Maxim Oreshkin, are responsible for the industry, and in the Kremlin the “statesman” of Belousov.
Surrounded by Schegovlev, they like to make fun of Minister Nikiforov and tell what they have to solve many important issues for the department
Photo: ru.wikipedia.org
An equally complicated system is with the leadership of international politics. In addition to the strong minister Sergei Lavrov, a subordinate, unlike most ministers, not the prime minister, but Putin also has a specialized assistant Yuri Ushakov. At the same time, to resolve issues with Ukraine, Abkhazia and Southern Ossetia, there is a separate and independent politician - assistant to the head of state Vladislav Surkov. Также международной проблематикой активно интересуется пресс-секретарь Путина, бывший дипломат Дмитрий Песков, которому СМИ часто прочат желание сменить либо Лаврова, либо Ушакова. В окружении Пескова министерские амбиции начальника опровергают, но признают, что он хотел бы сменить сферу деятельности. По словам одного из собеседников, Песков может уйти с поста пресс-секретаря еще до выборов.
Собеседники NT в целом ожидают, что после выборов Владимир Путин захочет продолжить обновление элиты и попрощается со многими чиновниками. Пока же им остается доказывать президенту свою необходимость в рамках избирательной кампании.