NEWSWATCH: ‘Putin’s brain’ says he doesn’t have Putin’s ear. Do we know who does?

[“‘Putin’s brain’ says he doesn’t have Putin’s ear. Do we know who does? As fighting in Ukraine flares up again, one influential voice says that Putin has sidelined him. And Putin’s oligarch allies, smarting from Western sanctions, have reportedly lost influence as well.” – Fred Weir – Christian Science Monitor – January 27, 2015]

The Christian Science Monitor considers the question of who has access to Russian President Vladimir Putin and who influences his perspectives and decisionmaking.

Today’s Kremlin may be even more opaque, some experts say, since the collective Soviet Politiburo, which ran on consensus, used to provide at least some measure of predictability. Putin’s system more closely resembles czarism, where most important decisions are made between the ears of a single person, and most information about the inputs reaching him are sternly-guarded state secrets.

Sergei Markov, a political scientist and a past adviser to Putin, recently created a stir by claiming that the composition of Putin’s inner circle has shifted sharply over the past year, with the wealthy pro-Kremlin ‘oligarchs’ who formerly provided him with most of his economic advice being shunted aside and replaced by siloviki, or military-security types.

If true, that could have major implications for Western sanctions policy. The original strategy formulated in Washington following Russia’s annexation of Crimea envisaged forcing Putin to change his mind about Ukraine by inflicting economic pain on his wealthy cronies – people who, it was assumed, have the president’s ear. That may never have been the soundest approach, but it continues to inform the logic of Western sanctions.

Of interest is whether even the physical flow of personnel into Putin’s offices has changed, and has any bearing on how the Russian government will think and act.

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As fighting in Ukraine flares up again, one influential voice says that Putin has sidelined him. And Putin’s oligarch allies, smarting from Western sanctions, have reportedly lost influence as well”