• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Nikolai Platonovich Patrushev

Nikolai Platonovich Patrushev (Nikolai Patrushev) is the Secretary of the Russian Federation Security Council and is reported to be a longtime close associate of Putin and is among his most trusted representatives.

Under the leadership of Patrushev, the FSB became one of the main punitive bodies of the Putin regime. FSB, led by Patrushev, launched an attack on human rights and freedoms in the Russian Federation. FSB officers helped Putin to concentrate power, destroy political competition in the country, free media, independent parties, and public associations. They continue to carry out political persecution of dissidents, opposition and civil activists.

Sources say the decision to invade Ukraine was made by Putin and a small group of war hawks around him, including Patrushev and Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu. According to Putin-regime expert Catherine Belton, it was "Patrushev who's always been the leading ideologue of using capitalism as a tool to undermine the West to buy off and corrupt officials and so on. And he's certainly very much painted the West as a hostile enemy of Russia and something which is kind of debauched and decrepit, and it's time to attack [Ukraine in 2022]."

In 18 June 2020 he wrote that" The values of our multiethnic and multireligious society should be protected from the aggressive promotion of values of the neoliberal trend which in many respects contradict the very essence of our perception of the world and are being actively imposed by our geopolitical opponents in the fight for influence on the development of civilization and their dominance in the world."

The Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Nikolay Patrushev, gave a lengthy interview to Argumenty i Fakty ("AiF") newspaper, in which he formulated several things that are important for understanding where Russia will go next. "The United States behaves like all crumbling empires - amid growing internal problems, but its actions in the world are becoming more aggressive and unpredictable in order to divert attention from internal turmoil.

"The authorities of the United States and Western states in general are aware that their ability to influence the global situation and maintain their hegemony is decreasing every year. Internal problems in the West are rapidly accumulating and are already close to critical mass. This was especially evident in the United States last year with the storming of the Capitol and the internally inspired racial protests that escalated into real street fighting."

Russia frequently outpaces many advanced armies of the world in developing new weapons, Secretary of Russia’s Security Council Nikolay Patrushev said in an interview with the government’s Rossiyskaya Gazeta daily on 02 June 2022. "In developing new weapon systems, we frequently outpace many advanced armies of the world that have far greater spending potential," the security chief said on the occasion of the Russian Security Council’s 30th anniversary.

Moscow considers the development of strategic partnership with Beijing an absolute priority for itself, and this course is not subject to external influence, Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev said on 19 September 2022 at the Russian-Chinese consultations on strategic stability with a member of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee Yang Jiechi. "The policy of developing a strategic partnership with China is an absolute priority of Russia's foreign policy, enjoys broad support of the peoples of the two countries, is based on deep mutual trust, and therefore is not subject to external influence," he stressed.

In an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda, Nikolai Patrushev spoke about the "demonization" of people who began their career in the special services when they came to the highest echelons of power. “The appearance on Staraya Square, in the Kremlin and in the regions of people who have gone through the school of leadership in the structures of national security is a vital necessity to infuse“ fresh blood ”into the administrative corps of Russia, the desire to use the potential of responsible and organized people who, in spite of everything, have retained "spirit of public service". I know many of them well. These are modern-minded, educated people. Not weak-willed idealists, but tough pragmatists who understand the logic of the development of international and domestic political events, of emerging contradictions and threats.

At the same time, they are well aware of the impossibility of returning to the old, the need to develop the country on the basis of a reasonable combination of liberal and traditional values, ”said Nikolai Patrushev.

Nikolay Patrushev was born July 11, 1951 in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). His father, Platon Ignatievich Patrushev (d. 1995), served in the navy during the war, from the end of 1944 he accompanied the northern sea convoys of the allies, he retired as a captain of the 1st rank. Mother, Antonina Nikolaevna, a chemist by education; she was a nurse during the Soviet-Finnish war and the Leningrad blockade, after the war she worked in a construction organization. Grandfather, Ignatius Patrushev, was from the village of Podomo, Vilegodsky district, Arkhangelsk region, where he was buried.

In 1974 he graduated from the instrument-making department of the Leningrad Shipbuilding Institute (now St. Petersburg State Marine Technical University) with a degree in mechanical engineering, in 1975 - the Higher Courses of the State Security Committee (KGB) of the USSR in Minsk (Belarus). Later he studied at the one-year advanced training courses at the Higher School of the KGB of the USSR. F. E. Dzerzhinsky in Moscow (now the Academy of the FSB of Russia).

At school, he studied in the same class with the future chairman of the supreme council of the United Russia party, Boris Gryzlov.

After graduation, he worked as an engineer at one of the departments of the Leningrad Shipbuilding Institute.

Since 1974, he served in the state security bodies of the USSR, then the Russian Federation. He worked in the counterintelligence divisions of the KGB of the USSR in the Leningrad Region, held the positions of junior detective, detective, head of the city department, deputy head of the district department, head of the anti-smuggling and corruption service.

He was elected a deputy of the Council of People's Deputies of the Petrogradsky District of Leningrad. He was a member of the CPSU until August 1991. In 1990 he was transferred to the Karelian ASSR. In 1992–1994 served as Minister of Security of the Republic of Karelia.

Since 1994, he served in the central office of the Federal Counterintelligence Service of the Russian Federation (FSK; since 1995 - the Federal Security Service, FSB of the Russian Federation) in Moscow. From 1994 to 1998, he held the positions of head of the organizational and inspection department of the department for organizational and personnel work, head of the internal security department of the FSB of Russia.

In 1998, he worked in the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin. From May 31 to August 11, 1998 - Head of the Main Control Department of the President of the Russian Federation (replaced Vladimir Putin in this post). From August 11 to October 5, 1998 - Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation - Head of the Main Control Directorate of the President of the Russian Federation (at that time the administration was headed by Valentin Yumashev).

In 1998–2008 - in the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation. From October 1998 to April 1999, he held the position of Deputy Director of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation - Head of the Economic Security Department. Patrushev in 1998 was appointed head of the Main Control Directorate (GKU) of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation, replacing Vladimir Putin. April 19, 1999 was appointed First Deputy Director of the FSB under Vladimir Putin.

From August 9 to August 17, 1999, he temporarily acted as director of the FSB of Russia.

In the period from August 17, 1999 to May 12, 2008 - Director of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (replaced Vladimir Putin in this post). In 2001–2003 headed the Operational Headquarters for the management of counter-terrorist operations in the North Caucasus region, in 2003 he transferred powers to the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation Boris Gryzlov.

In 2006-2008 as the head of the FSB, he headed the National Anti-Terrorism Committee, which coordinates the activities of federal and regional executive authorities, local governments to counter terrorism.

November 15, 1998 was appointed a permanent member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation. In April 2003, Patrushev's powers were significantly expanded due to the fact that the Federal Border Service and the Federal Agency for Government Communications and Information were transferred to the FSB. After that, almost all the structures of the former KGB (with the exception of the Foreign Intelligence Service and the Federal Security Service) were under the direct supervision of Patrushev, and most of the police departments were under his indirect control.

By 2007, nearing the end of the halcyon Putin Era, the once seemingly monolithic siloviki had divided into two warring camps struggling over power and assets. In one camp is the Cherkesov Clan, FSB-2; in the other, the clan headed by the FSB chief Nikolai Patrushev and his Kremlin allies led by the Presidential Administration deputy and Rosneft chief Igor Sechin.

From May 12, 2008 to present - Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation (was reappointed on May 22, 2012 and June 22, 2018). Changed at this post and. about. Security Council Secretary Valentin Sobolev.

Since February 3, 2015, he has been a member of the Military-Industrial Commission of the Russian Federation. Chairman of the Scientific Council under the Security Council of the Russian Federation (since January 21, 2011).

Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the All-Russian Volleyball Federation. In 2004–2009 headed the federation.

He was the chairman of the Council of Heads of Security Agencies and Intelligence Services of the CIS Member States (1999–2008), a member of the Maritime Board under the Government of the Russian Federation (2003–2005), the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for the Development of Physical Culture and Sports, High Performance Sports, the preparation and holding of the XXII Winter Olympic Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games 2014 in Sochi (2007-2008), the Commission under the President of the Russian Federation for Monitoring the Achievement of Targets for the Social and Economic Development of the Russian Federation (2012-2018).

• The amount of declared income for 2013 amounted to 34 million 457 thousand rubles, spouses - 259 thousand rubles.
• The amount of declared income for 2014 amounted to 39 million 835 thousand rubles, spouses - 279 thousand rubles.
• The amount of declared income for 2015 amounted to 33 million 727 thousand rubles, spouses - 284 thousand rubles.
• The amount of declared income for 2016 amounted to 33 million 548 thousand rubles, spouses - 310 thousand rubles.
• The amount of declared income for 2017 amounted to 33 million 584 thousand rubles, spouses - 323 thousand rubles.
• The amount of declared income for 2018 amounted to 33 million 738 thousand rubles, spouses - 337 thousand rubles.
• The amount of declared income for 2019 amounted to 33 million 409 thousand rubles, spouses - 343 thousand rubles.
• The amount of declared income for 2020 amounted to 34 million 613 thousand rubles, spouses - 361 thousand rubles.
• The amount of declared income for 2021 amounted to 36 million 72 thousand rubles, spouses - 374 thousand rubles.

General of the Army (2001). Hero of Russia (2000). Awarded with orders "For Merit to the Fatherland" I (2006), II, III (2009) and IV (2004) degrees; Alexander Nevsky, Courage, Honor (2011), "For Military Merit", "For Naval Merit" (2002). Marked with gratitude from the President of the Russian Federation (2013), Honorary Diploma of the Government of the Russian Federation (2001).

He has foreign orders - Bogdan Khmelnitsky III degree (2001, Ukraine), Honor (2001, Belarus), Combat Cross I degree (2003, Armenia).

Laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation in the field of science and technology, the Prize of the Government of the Russian Federation in the field of science and technology, the State Prize of the Russian Federation. Marshal of the Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov in 2009 ("for the development of a training manual on the Basics of Special Training for Federal Security Service Employees Seconded to the Zone of Counter-Terrorist Operations in the North Caucasus, Making a Significant Contribution to Strengthening the State's Defense Capability").

Honorary Citizen of the Republic of Karelia (2006). Has the Order "Commonwealth" (2003, Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of States - Members of the CIS), St. Blessed Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy (2005, Russian Orthodox Church).

The eldest son, Dmitry Patrushev (b. 1977), graduated from the State University of Management (1999), since 2010 he has been the chairman of the board of the Russian Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank). Since May 18, 2018, he has been the Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation.

As a general rule, the main person responsible for the security of the country should not have shortcomings, and Patrushev, as a general rule, fully complies with this condition. But, like any “responsible”, he has a weakness for loud phrases like “the FSB prevented 70 acts of sabotage and terrorist attacks” without specifying the period for which these same terrorist attacks were prevented. Or: “The FSB has its own recipe for fighting black cash,” as it turned out, “cash equipment can become the main barrier to the flow of unrecorded cash…” - a truly shocking statement.

Those who had a chance to communicate with Patrushev in his younger years, he was remembered as a very energetic, purposeful person, with good brains, literate and very efficient. At the same time, he was not a “blinkered serviceman”, he had a fairly wide range of hobbies (books, music, hunting). He went in for sports, as it should be for an employee of the power structure.

According to some colleagues from the FSB, Patrushev is the kind of person "who does not need to be explained who is who in the regions, he certainly knows who to imprison and for what to imprison."