Hardware wolf, competitor Lavrov

The hero of the investigation of Navalny, Sergei Prikhodko, heads the government apparatus. Who is he?

The founder of the Corruption Foundation, politician Alexei Navalny on February 8, published another investigation in which he talked about how billionaire Oleg Deripaska is resting on a yacht with Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Prikhodko and “Girls from escort agencies”, accusing Prikhodko of corruption. Prikhodko is one of the most non -public Russian officials of the highest level; At the same time, it was he who for many years was responsible for the presidential administration for Russian foreign policy - and now he heads the government apparatus. The Special Corps of Medusa Taisiya Bekbulatova tells about the career of Prikhodko - and about his possible future.

Very cute diplomat

Career Sergei Prikhodko, who graduated in 1980 by MGIMO and speaks Czech, French and English, began in socialist Czechoslovakia - a diplomat at the Embassy of the USSR. Arriving there by an ordinary referent, by 1991 he was already the first secretary of the Embassy of the USSR, and then Russia. Returning to Moscow, Prikhodko continued to engage in diplomacy: he worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in particular, he led the Baltic Department. In this position, the official, for example, sought the adoption of an agreement on visa -free transit passage for Russians to the Kaliningrad region through Lithuania and stated that Russia would not give offense in Latvia. By 1997, Prikhodko grown to the acting deputy director of the Second European Foreign Ministry.

However, in the spring of that year in his career there was a sharp turn: in April, Prikhodko was appointed assistant to President Boris Yeltsin on international issues. The press secretary of the head of state Sergei Yastrzhembsky, who knew Prikhodko, helped at work in Czechoslovakia, he himself once worked in the journal “Problems of Peace and Socialism”, published in Prague. Journalists wrote that Prikhodko with Yastrzhembsky - Magicians, that is, married to sisters.

Former Presidential Assistant Boris Yeltsin, Georgy Satarov, who was responsible for contacts with the Russian parliament and political organizations, confirms that Prikhodko brought Yastrzhembsky to the Presidential Administration. “This is true. He was at first the assistant to the president, and the official was effective, ”he recalls, stipping that“ then they did not hold ineffective in the Kremlin. ” According to him, Prikhodko “had the obligation to help the president in this [foreign policy] circle of problems, and he did it quite successfully-Russia was not a rogue country, and that was good. I can say for sure that he did not give advice to conquer Crimea. ”

Prikhodko immediately began to accompany the president on foreign trips and during the receptions of foreign guests - in particular, he helped solve problems with Ukraine and Belarus. The work included boring papers, and a blessing from the pope, and the dinners of the herring and a salad of white mushrooms. Satarov notes that "it was the time when the president’s assistant was a significant figure." “I will not say who was“ most important ”in comparison with the MID, but that, say, the assistants influenced more on some final decisions is undoubtedly,” he says. In communication, Prikhodko, he said, was "a very nice person, he was not deprived of a sense of humor."

Already in July 1997, Deputy Head of AP Alexander Livshits noted that "Sergei Prikhodko, a new assistant in international affairs, leaves a very good impression." After some time, in May 1998, during the next personnel shafts of their posts, deputy head of AP Victoria Mitina and two assistant presidents lost their posts. The place of Mitina was taken by the head of the State Control Department of the President Vladimir Putin. Prikhodko, along with two other assistants, retained his post. As the Yastrzhembsky, the personnel "the process has reached its logical end." As it turned out, this remark was premature.

Confidence in tomorrow

In September 1998, Yastrzhembsky himself was also fired. “The dismissal was the last point in the struggle of the head of the presidential administration Valentin Yumashev for the monopoly on the information that the president receives. Now Boris Yeltsin will be even worse to imagine what is happening in the country, ”wrote Natalya Timakova, journalist of Kommersant (and future spokesman Dmitry Medvedev) in her material. -“I will not be able to manage the situation if Sergei remains,” so Yumashev explained the main reason for the resignation of the spokesman yesterday. Perhaps a more true explanation of the dismissal of Yastrzhembsky can hardly be found. Indeed, in order to do his favorite thing-“resolving”, Yumashev must manage a single person-Yeltsin. And it is easiest to control it when he does not imagine what is happening in the country. ” Instead of Yastrzhembsky, the man, whom he once brought to the Kremlin, became the deputy head of the AP-Sergey Prikhodko. “Yumashev personally asked him not to go after the press secretary and stay in the administration,” Timakova said. However, at the end of the year, Yumashev also left the post, losing to his former secretary of the Security Council Nikolai Bordyuzh.

In a new position, Prikhodko continued to oversee foreign policy. His hardware weight continued to grow: for example, the official was one of the few whohad access to the full text of the 1999 President, preparing in a secrecy. Since February 1999, he also became the head of the President of the Russian Federation on foreign policy, went to Boris Yeltsin in the Gorki-9 residence-to report on the preparation of meetings at the highest level. In the middle of the year, to the question of the "Kommersant" "What is a symbol of life success for you?" He replied: “The work that I like. And also the well -being of my children. Their calm and confidence in the future. ” Prikhodko had two daughters by that time.

In July 1999, rumors began about his resignation-allegedly through Prikhodko, a good friend of the settled Yastrzhembsky, Yuri Luzhkov received “because of the Kremlin wall, information that should not actually receive”. Rumors, however, had no consequences, like others - that Prikhodko could be replaced by AP Alexander Voloshin at the head of AP: as a result, after Vladimir Putin became president, both officials continued to work in the administration at previous posts.

In May of that year, Putin received from Yeltsin “The Last Regali of the Head of State-the Presidential IL-96” and flew to Tashkent on it. There was also Sergey Prikhodko on this plane. A story is connected with this visit, which then entered the book “Tales of the Kremlin Digger” - it was written by the journalist of Kommersant Elena Tregubova. She said: “I, as usual, went to Prikhodko for comment. However, the answer, which I heard, was quite non -standard for a senior government official: “You know, Lena, as a woman I would love to talk with you. And among journalists I have much more interesting interlocutors than Berezovsky’s correspondents.” At this moment, I noticed that next to Prikhodko was just one of such more interesting interlocutors - an interfax officer agency. I restrained myself with a monstrous effort of will to prevent Poddko’s slap in the face. It is inconvenient,-I think,-the residence of the president after all. Albeit Uzbek. Without saying a word to him, I turned around and left. ”

After that, Tregubova, as she admits in the book, wrote a material in which she hinted that Poddko was waiting for an ambulance. “In the Kremlin team, recently, it has been more persistently talking about the need to replace Prikhodko with a“ more dynamic and vivid politician. ” “You see, Vladimir Vladimirovich has its own non -standard approaches to international contacts. This is not Yeltsin, who hardly went beyond Moscow once every six months. And Prikhodko, acting in the traditions of our Foreign Ministry with their outdated approaches, simply does not keep up with Putin,” staged in a conversation with a correspondent of Kommersant one of the informed Kremlinsky Kremlin. inhabitants. Most likely, in Tashkent, Putin decided to arrange a jestrgetsky brush to his new assistant, ”she wrote , hinting that Yastrzhembsky, who had recently returned to the AP, could move Prikhodko from the place of the main foreign policy. In the book, she claims that Prikhodko then began to persistently care for her; There is no confirmation of this.

The wishes of the three -sidedly did not come true. Prikhodko retained the post and even received for Putin in December 2001 the Award “Man of the Year-2001” in “Metropol” from the Russian Biographical Institute (RBI). As in the days of Yeltsin, it was the presidential administration that determined the country's foreign policy at that time - with the coming to the power of Vladimir Putin, this trend only intensified. The Foreign Ministry played a secondary role in international relations. “As a rule, ordinary people talk about diplomats poorly, and colleagues are diplomatically. It is pleasant that in you a diplomat not only did not kill a person, but even in no way reduced his normal human signs, ”said Alexei Volin, deputy head of the government of the government in 2002, congratulating him on his birthday. “Russian diplomacy with a human face Prikhodko, in my opinion, looks pretty pretty, and also very impressive and weighty.”

In October 2003, the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko made a sensational statement, calling the name of an “anonymous source in the Kremlin”, which counteracts Russian-Belarusian integration. They, according to him, was the deputy head of AP Sergey Prikhodko, and the “director” was his leader Alexander Voloshin. In response, the Russian side invited the Ambassador of Belarus to the Foreign Ministry and made him an idea in connection with the unfriendly statements of the Belarusian president. On his career, the loud statement of Lukashenko did not affect Lukashenko. The more dangerous for him was belonging to the “Voloshinites” - the so -called group around the head of the AP was called, contrasting it with gaining weight to the “security forces”. However, everything worked out here: Prikhodko continued to work in the administration and, with Dmitry Medvedev, who replaced Voloshin, except since 2004 he again became an assistant to the president (the number of deputy heads of the AP was sharply reduced), and also lost some powers. But a few months later, Vladimir Putin appointed Prikhodko as the secretary of the commission on the issues of military-technical cooperation of the Russian Federation with foreign states, which he himself headed.

At the same time, the distribution of roles in the foreign policy block of AP, by and large, remained the same: the strategic line under the leadership of the president, as before, determined Prikhodko, and the new head of the foreign policy department, his former subordinate and classmate Alexander Manzhosin, should now conduct the current work.

In 2005, Putin entrusted Sergei Prikhodko to prepare Russia for the presidency in the G8, the "Big Eight", scheduled for 2006. It would be logical if this was done by Andrei Illarionov, an adviser on economic issues, but he behaved after the arrest of businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky disloyal and allowed himself sharp statements - and eventually lost the status of a representative of the president for relations with the "Big Seven". Prikhodko never suffered with illness. “Sergey Eduardovich is, first of all, a real professional, internationalist, in any case, the only famous internationalist in the presidential administration. It is absolutely necessary in his position, because his professionalism is not a guarantee of complete success, but a reliable guarantee from excessive mistakes and serious and excessive problems, ” said Vladimir Lukin, Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, wanting to maintain“ internal flexibility and fundamentality ”in 2005.

Opponent Lavrov

In November 2005, Sergei Sobyanin became the head of the presidential administration. “Having finally believed that one of the chapters of the administration is now true Mr. Sobyanin, Mr. Prikhodko bent four fingers on his right hand at once. - Valentin Yumashev, Nikolai Bordyuzha, Dmitry Medvedev ... Now, then, Sergei Sobyanin? What area? Tyumen? Well, it means that a decent person, ”Mr. Prikhodko concluded completely in the situation,” said Andrei Kolesnikov in Kommersant. Prikhodko retained his post with Sobyanin. And then under Sergei Naryshkin. And under Sergey Ivanov.

It was believed that the Presidential Assistant for Foreign Policy, Prikhodko, did not have the simplest relations with the Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. “They have a little species competition with laurel. Prikhodko is not a very successful Soviet-Russian diplomat who made a dizzying career in the Kremlin. Lavrov made a dizzying career in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and in the scale of the Lavra Foreign Ministry is much more successful. In the scale of real life, Prikhodko is closer to the bodies of three presidents, ”said the interlocutor of Medusa, familiar with the deputy prime minister. He notes that there were always "mutual jokes, when there were phakaps - one tried to dump on the other, and vice versa." At the same time, he adds that if you do not take into account the “struggle for access to the body” of the president, then “they have always been more likely allies - like immigrants from the Foreign Ministry in the face of competition from the SVR.” “That is, the studs were inserted, but I would not exaggerate enmity,” he says. According to him, the most friendly relations at work with Prikhodko developed with the press secretary of Dmitry Medvedev Natalya Timakova and the head of the Protocol Medvedev Marina Entaltseva.

The interlocutor of Medusa, who participated in foreign trips together with Sergey Prikhodko, says that he always had a “magic remedy for a hangover” in the room. “That is, if they [members of the delegation] arrived in the hotel in the morning, they went to Prikhodko, and after 30 minutes they went out sober. He saw himself, ”he assures, adding that the“ Mids ”of this generation has a common love for strong drinks. “Drinking a lot is an old Mids tradition,” adds another Medusa interlocutor.

In October 2017, Prikhodko, who had already worked in the government at that time, told Lavrov that he would buy him a stun gun to get rid of annoying journalists. However, one of the correspondents who illuminated international relations assured Medusa that it was a joke, but in reality Poddko “Superdekvy, Emoji corresponds, always polite.” “I have never heard a mat from him,” the journalist adds. “One on one could come to his office.”

The main kitchen

Prikhodko survived the next turn of his career in 2012, when former president Dmitry Medvedev took him with him to the government - to the post of first deputy head of the apparatus Vladislav Surkov. At this work, Prikhodko was engaged in familiar affairs: he was transferred to control over all the foreign economic activity of the government.

In 2013, Surkov left his post. Among his possible replacements were called large officials-the envoy in the Central Federal District of Alexander Beglov, the deputy head of the presidential administration Anton Vaino and Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich. However, Prikhodko was chosen - it was noted that he was a figure that arranges not only Medvedev, but also President Putin. Prikhodko eventually received a double, like Surkov, the position of the head of the apparatus and Deputy Prime Minister. As Natalya Timakova said, "the Prime Minister has no doubt that Prikhodko can fully fulfill his duties." This means a wide range of powers : from the organization of billing activities and the preparation of draft government decisions to more familiar issues of statelit in the field of international relations.

“Prikhodko is a very experienced and flexible apparatus. It can work with any boss on any agenda, ”says Alexander Gabuev, the head of the Russia in the Asia-Pacific region of the Moscow Center, in the Asia-Pacific region. - He began his career in the Kremlin under Yeltsin, then worked for two terms with Putin. In 2008-2012, he worked loyally with Medvedev. At this time, Putin found himself Yuri Ushakova, who was taken from the White House to the Kremlin. Since Medvedev had few people, and heavyweight had to be taken to the apparatus in the government, they took Poddko. ”

“Prikhodko is an old neat hardware wolf. Caution, ”the interlocutor of Medusa, close to the government, characterizes his interlocutor, adding that he is“ coherent ”and listens to someone else's opinion. Он утверждает, что у Приходько больший аппаратный вес, чем у других вице-премьеров: «К его слову прислушиваются, и он неформально главнее. Вся кухня у него, все через него проходит». По словам одного из собеседников «Медузы», зачастую вице-премьеры заносят документы на подпись Медведеву только после визы Приходько, поскольку это сильно ускоряет процедуру их принятия.

Два собеседника «Медузы» осторожно предполагают, что должности и полномочия Приходько дают широкие возможности для лоббизма . В частности, будучи помощником президента, Приходько утверждал «списки делегаций бизнеса на госвизиты и подписываемые при первых лицах соглашения, то есть имел возможность регулировать доступ к первому лицу через зарубежную повестку», — отмечает один из них.

Другой добавляет, что постановлениями правительства регулируется, в частности, уровень воды в Байкале — а это входит в сферу интересов компании Олега Дерипаски En+, которой принадлежит Иркутская ГЭС; ее деятельность вызывает колебания уровня воды в озере. Организации по защите природы не раз отмечали , что колебания «негативно влияют на Байкал и на запас рыбы в нем». Собеседники оговариваются, что доказательств нарушений со стороны Приходько не существует.

Перейдя на работу в правительство, Приходько впервые привлек внимание Алексея Навального: политик в своем расследовании о кооперативе «Сосны» заявил, что чиновник владеет участками земли, которые не мог приобрести на свою зарплату. На это глава антикоррупционного управления Кремля Олег Плохой ответил , что Приходько покупал земли в 2005-2006 годах, когда они стоили совсем других денег, а финансировал за счет своих доходов, доходов жены и кредита.

Приходько, несмотря на высокий пост, — один из самых малозаметных российских чиновников. Ярких моментов в его карьере было немного — настолько, что одной из самых известных его цитат является реакция на знаменитую фотографию червяка в салате, сделанную на кремлевском приеме бывшим губернатором Тверской области Дмитрием Зелениным. «К счастью, я занимаюсь вопросами внешней политики, но должен был бы, наверное, порекомендовать своим коллегам-юристам ввести в формулировки по оценке деятельности губернаторов такую статью, как „увольнение по слабоумию“. А о безответственности и глупости говорить даже не буду», — заявил тогда Приходько.

Внимание СМИ он привлекал редко. В 2011 году сообщалось , что на Тверской улице в Москве в аварию на встречной полосе попал автомобиль BMW 7-й серии с номерами администрации президента. По данным интернет-сообщества «Синие ведерки», машиной с таким номером пользовался помощник президента Сергей Приходько, и «этот автомобиль не раз видели нарушающим правила дорожного движения». В 2015-м СМИ писали , что жена вице-премьера Приходько заработала больше всех среди супруг чиновников Кремля и кабмина за 2014 год — 119 миллионов рублей (сам Приходько задекларировал 10,1 миллиона рублей). По данным Forbes, Наталья Приходько владеет 90% закрытого яхт-клуба «Фарватер», расположенного в Мытищах. Сам Приходько заявлял «Ведомостям» в 2009-м, что яхт-клуб является «некоммерческой организацией», он был приобретен для того, чтобы его семья и друзья отдыхали и занимались спортом. (При этом, как указывала газета, сайт «Фарватера» называл яхт-клуб коммерческой фирмой, которая, среди прочего, занималась «внешнеэкономической деятельностью».)

Про жизнь Приходько вне работы известно мало. Рассказывают, что не так давно вице-премьера часто можно было встретить по воскресеньям в «Джон Донне» на Никитском бульваре, где он смотрел футбол. «В кабинете у него висели портреты дочек на море на самом видном месте. Бейджики с форумов он коллекционировал. Из спорта я его видел только на плавании, — рассказывает один из собеседников „Медузы“, общавшийся с Приходько по работе. — Лично я его навсегда запомню в золотых кедах — на Гавайях, 2011 год, саммит АТЭС. Он неглупый человек — в плане того, что понимал, что постсоветское пространство от нас уходит. В целом — ну как и все, звезд с неба не хватал. Но часы дорогие и кеды золотые».

Собеседник «Медузы», близкий к правительству, утверждает, что как минимум последний год Приходько планировал оставить пост, поскольку «устал». На смену себе он «растит» преемника — первого заместителя главы аппарата Максима Акимова. Собеседник предполагает, что Приходько планировал контролировать его и после своей отставки.

Приходько понадобилось более суток, чтобы отреагировать на расследование Алексея Навального. Он назвал основателя Фонда борьбы с коррупцией «политическим неудачником», который попытался «устроить провокацию», смешав в одну кучу «друга» Приходько Дерипаску и американских политиков, а также сообщил, что «по большому счету на такое надо было бы ответить по-мужски, но останемся в рамках правового поля».

По словам другого близкого к правительству источника, история с Олегом Дерипаской и Настей Рыбкой стала одной из самых обсуждаемых в кулуарах Белого дома. Коллеги Приходько, по его сведениям, говорят, что «даже если [Рыбка] все придумала, то замять последствия такой выходки быстро не удастся: теперь имя Сергея Эдуардовича будет долго упоминаться только в этом контексте».

Taisiya Bekbulatova