Let’s analyze one of the Russian information campaigns that went far beyond the competition for power among Russian elites.
Over the past month, a number of media outlets have reported that there is a consensus that Putin’s successor (and in Russian terms, this means heir) will be the eldest son of Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev.
Foreign media also wrote about this.
Including the Washington Post.
In parallel with this, another media track was developing – that Patrushev was one of the main architects and ideologues of the great war against Ukraine. He and Bortnikov allegedly convinced Putin to launch the invasion on February 24.
The Times, among others, wrote about this.
Only in parallel with this, another chain of events was developing: Putin’s potential heir was rapidly losing his chances of becoming the leader of Russia due to his drug addiction. All of this resulted in a spate of attacks on Russian publics, which are associated with both the opposition and the FSB.
As it turned out, in September, Patrushev Sr. took Dmytro Patrushev to China for rehabilitation under the guise of an official visit to China (China, because Europe and the civilized world are already closed to them), but his son broke down there at least twice and his addiction became known first to his Chinese comrades. And later, in Moscow, including to Putin personally.
That is, the “heir” operation failed, primarily because of the potential candidate’s addiction to hard drugs. But the media component was also very important. Without drawing attention to Dmitry Patrushev’s identity, it is likely that the Kremlin would have managed to pull off the entire operation before the details of his bohemian life became public.
It is impossible to know for sure who played against Patrushev Jr. replacing Putin, but it is clear that both internal Russian forces and external players were involved.
Well, we wish these spiders in the jar to destroy each other as soon as possible!
