According to him, in the Kremlin gripped by insecurity and paranoia, this decree revealed what could become one of the most serious weaknesses of the aging dictator.
The decree allows the head of the Russian Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, to continue in office for another year. He, like V. Putin, is 73 years old. A. Bastrykin belongs to the circle of aging comrades that the Kremlin’s master has surrounded himself with, thus distancing himself from new perspectives and younger officials who better understand the modern world.
According to Russian law, state officials must retire at the age of 70. To allow an official of this age to continue in office, a special presidential decree is required annually.
The article’s author notes that recently V. Putin has had to issue such decrees frequently because he clings to the aging circle of “siloviki” – politically influential security officials whose loyalty to him is more important than their health or even competence.
“The Investigative Committee is one of the most fearsome institutions in present-day Russia. It investigates numerous cases that end with the imprisonment and intimidation of V. Putin’s critics,” the article states.
Therefore, it is extremely important for V. Putin that a person he trusts leads this institution. A. Bastrykin was his classmate at Leningrad State University in the 1980s and knows that he holds a high position due to the president’s favor. Therefore, he will do everything to maintain this favor.
M. Galeotti notes that the other main internal security service that V. Putin relies on – the Federal Security Service (FSB) – is headed by 74-year-old Alexander Bortnikov.
According to available data, A. Bortnikov is not only elderly but also ill. Because of this, he often has to participate in meetings remotely and cannot work at the FSB headquarters in central Moscow for the entire workweek.
It is reported that he has requested to retire, but V. Putin does not agree.
The heads of other security agencies are also not young. The head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergey Naryshkin, is 71 years old. It is known that he hopes for a position in the Federation Council, which would allow him to comfortably partially withdraw from active duties.
“The head of the National Guard, Viktor Zolotov, is 72. The Chief of the General Staff and the architect of Putin’s brutal war in Ukraine, General Valery Gerasimov, is 70; it is likely he will remain in office until the end of the campaign. The Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who has also been asking for permission to retire for many years, is 76,” the article’s author added.
According to the historian, this reflects V. Putin’s distrust. Over 26 years of direct or indirect rule of Russia, he has increasingly distanced himself not only from his country’s population but also from the elite.
“He really does not know the younger generation of officials, except for his personal aides and bodyguards, so he does not necessarily trust them,” M. Galeotti believes.
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V. Putin tried to give some of them political positions, but only Alexey Dyumin managed to transition from a “living shield” to a politician.
However, V. Putin seems to have decided that he cannot do without him. Although A. Dyumin was deputy defense minister and later governor of the Tula region, he now works again in the Kremlin as a presidential aide.
Behind the scenes, talented potential successors are impatiently waiting their turn. The 64-year-old deputy of A. Bortnikov, General Sergey Korolyov, is described as ruthless, talented, and ambitious.
But V. Putin has known A. Bortnikov since their joint service in the KGB in the 1980s, and does not know S. Korolyov. Moreover, the latter has influential opponents. Therefore, V. Putin has been postponing leadership changes, which were planned for 2022, for several years.
V. Gerasimov is also widely criticized for poor leadership of the war. The main candidate to replace him is currently considered to be the Ground Forces commander, Colonel General Andrey Mordvichev.
“Strict, competent, and respected by soldiers, the only 50-year-old Mordvichev not only received the title of Hero of the Russian Federation but was also awarded the Order ‘For Military Merit’ – a typical recognition for a ‘combat general’,” writes M. Galeotti.
According to the historian, by clinging to aging comrades and fearing to transfer power to a younger generation of unknown security officials, V. Putin paradoxically increases tension.
Those in their sixties, fearing losing the chance to reach the pinnacle of power, begin to feel hostility towards him, while at the same time trying to suppress the ambitions of the younger fifties below them.
“This also means that Putin has surrounded himself with other Soviet-era veterans – people whose advice echoes his preconceived notions, and whose experience increasingly does not match the times. These are people imbued with imperial attitudes rooted in the Cold War era, when Moscow was the capital of a global superpower,” the historian noted.
By comparison, the 48-year-old Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s team includes a 39-year-old defense minister, a 43-year-old army commander, a 52-year-old security service head, and a 51-year-old foreign minister.
“In times of rapid geopolitical changes, drones, and cyber warfare, when internet memes and short catchy phrases can be as impactful as traditional diplomacy, Putin’s determination to cling to the seventy-year-old ‘siloviki’ may become one of his greatest weaknesses,” M. Galeotti believes.
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