Russia Faces ‘100 Years Of Solitude’ (Or More), Putin Aide Says

Vladislav Surkov file photo

(Article ©2018 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – April 10, 2018 – also appeared at rferl.org/a/putin-adviser-surkov-says-russia-abandoning-hopes-integrating-with-west-loneliness-isolation-/29155700.html) A veteran adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin says that Russia has abandoned its centuries-long hopes of integrating with the West and is bracing for a new era of geopolitical isolation. In an article for Russia In Global Affairs magazine released on […]

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U.S., Russia Envoys Differ On Peace And Peacekeepers In Eastern Ukraine

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

(Article ©2017 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – November 14, 2017 – also appeared at rferl.org/a/volker-surkov-meeting-ukraine-u-s-russia/28853193.html) After talks on the conflict in eastern Ukraine, U.S. and Russian envoys say their countries have “different concepts for how to make peace” but will continue to work to achieve that goal. “Both sides agreed to reflect on the discussions … and […]

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Surkov’s ‘Crisis of Hypocrisy’ Not Just in the West but in Russia Too, Inozemtsev Says

Vladislav Surkov file photo

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, November 8, 2017) In an essay posted on the RT portal yesterday, Vladislav Surkov argues that the West is suffering from “a crisis of hypocrisy” in which people are no longer prepared to accept the shibboleths of the past and are demanding a clearing away of the existing political and social system […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Kremlin aide reportedly says Ukraine Malorossiya idea ‘useful'” – RIA Novosti

Vladislav Surkov file photo

(RIA Novosti – July 19, 2017) Vladimir Putin’s aide Vladislav Surkov has offered reserved praise for an idea put forward by a key Russia-backed rebel to set up a new state in Ukraine. According to a pro-Kremlin pundit, Surkov called Alexander Zakharchenko’s proposed country of Malorossiya “imaginary”, but said discussions around it were “useful”. “All this hype over the imaginary […]

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Russia Pushing for An Endgame in Ukraine

Vladislav Surkov file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Matthew Bodner – January 21, 2016) The appearance of one of President Vladimir Putin’s most enigmatic associates, Vladislav Surkov, at a meeting with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland last Friday has sparked speculation that Moscow and Washington are approaching an endgame in Ukraine after two years of conflict. “That is was Surkov, and […]

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Peskov: Surkov, Nuland hold expert dialogue on settlement in Ukraine

Dmitry Peskov file photo adapted from image at kremlin.ru/wikimedia commons

(Interfax – January 20, 2016) The negotiations held between Russian Presidential Aide Vladislav Surkov and Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State, in Kaliningrad with regard to the settlement in Ukraine were an expert exchange of opinions between Moscow and Washington, which is not a member of the ‘Normandy […]

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NEWSWATCH Vladimir Suchan: “Nuland-Surkov Talks”

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

(Vladimir Suchan – Facebook post – January 17, 2016) Alexander Chalenko, who belongs to the ex-Ukrainian circle of Surkov’s and the Kremlin’s PR horns, published an article… Posted by Vladimir Suchan on Saturday, January 16, 2016

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SBU head insists Surkov was in Kyiv on Feb 20-21, 2014

Maidan Square in Kiev, Ukraine

KYIV. April 15 (Interfax) – Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) chief Valentyn Nalyvaichenko claims that Russian presidential aide Vladislav Surkov was in Kyiv on February 20-21, 2014. “We are convinced that there is a need to investigate both crimes committed by Ukrainian officials and the role of Russian high-ranking officials in the events in Kyiv’s Maidan. I can confirm that we […]

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Putin Aide Linked to Maidan Killings

Vladislav Surkov file photo

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, February 20, 2015) In the classic film about Watergate, “All the President’s Men,” Deep Throat warns that in unmasking a conspiracy, it is important not to go too fast but rather to build from the outer rings into the center. Otherwise, the conspirators will feel protected, and the possibility that anything will […]

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Surkov Return May Signal Softer Kremlin Line

Vladislav Surkov file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Oleg Sukhov – September 24, 2013) The appointment of former “gray cardinal” Vladislav Surkov to a post in President Vladimir Putin’s administration has prompted a flurry of speculation among Kremlin watchers with some saying it signals a return to a more flexible policy in political affairs and others insisting it is just a sinecure for […]

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Surkov: God summons Putin to save Russia from ‘hostile takeover’

Vladislav Surkov file photo

(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 27, 2013) Vladislav Surkov who stepped down from the vice-premier’s position in May said his attitude to President Vladimir Putin and the Russian opposition did not change after he quit politics. “My resignation changed nothing in the divine dimension. There is no reason to think differently,” Surkov said in an interview with the magazine Russkiy Pioner. […]

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Former Kremlin Insider Surkov Says No Regrets About Quitting Politics

Vladislav Surkov file photo

(RIA Novosti – July 27, 2013) Vladislav Surkov, who left his posts as deputy prime minister and government chief of staff in early May, has no regrets and was not sacked but resigned, he has said in an interview. “I went of my own volition. That’s what it said in the presidential decree and that’s how it was,” he told […]

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Target: Surkov

Vladislav Surkov file photo

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Brian Whitmore – May 23, 2013) When photos of Vladislav Surkov hanging out and fishing with the powerful Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov appeared online recently, it raised some eyebrows but was viewed mainly as an odd curiosity. Kadyrov said Surkov, whose resignation as deputy prime minister and government chief of staff was made public on May […]

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Three Motives and One Reason

File Photo of Vladislav Surkov with Mike McFaul

(Institute of Modern Russia – imrussia.org – Tatiana Stanovaya – May 23, 2013) The Russian media have already said goodbye to Vladislav Surkov and talked about the end of his era once. This was in December 2011, as mass protest rallies heated up in the country. Recently, Surkov left the government again, but this time, he left for nowhere. Political […]

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Surkov Replaced by Trusty Technocrat

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – May 24, 2013) Sergei Prikhodko, a foreign policy advisor to Russia’s leaders for more than 15 years, has been appointed a deputy prime minister and government chief of staff. He assumes the role of head organizer for a government that has been battered by accusations of poor work in recent months. Experts […]

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Putin spokesman praises ex-deputy PM Surkov’s legacy, defends ‘pro-state’ cinema

Vladislav Surkov file photo

(Interfax – Sochi, May 22, 2013) Dmitriy Peskov, press secretary to the Russian president, has described reports that the Kremlin was taking film-making under its control as fiction but stressed that films produced with state money should have matching content. “A number of mass media outlets, including the (business) newspaper Vedomosti, have said that all of Surkov’s (Vladislav Surkov, once […]

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Surkov Ridicules Government’s New Website

Vladislav Surkov file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimews.com – May 21, 2013) Former deputy prime minister Vladislav Surkov has ridiculed the English version of the government’s new official website presented by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Monday. Surkov posted in his Twitter blog a screenshot of the new site’s introductory page with comments pointing to obvious grammatical errors as well as awkward translation into […]

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The man behind the curtain: Do people miss Surkov? Or do they miss the illusions he created?

Vladislav Surkov file photo

(Moscow News – Anna Arutunyan – Anna Arutunyan is a correspondent and editor at themoscownews.com – May 20, 2013) It’s been two weeks since Vladislav Surkov left the government amid a swirl of subterfuge and guesswork. The man himself was soon off fishing with Ramzan Kadyrov in Chechnya, but the questions of why he left and what will happen now […]

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Investigative Committee, Surkov Trade Barbs Over Skolkovo

Skolkovo File Photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – May 8, 2013) An investigation into the embezzlement of budget funds from state-owned innovation hub Skolkovo has led to a public spat between the agency conducting the investigation and the Cabinet of Ministers, whose head, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, created the institution in 2010. On Tuesday, pro-Kremlin newspaper Izvestia published a damning […]

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Distribution of duties of former Russian deputy premier explained

File Photo of Vladislav Surkov with Mike McFaul

(Interfax – May 8, 2013) The duties of Vladislav Surkov, who on 8 May was reported to have resigned as deputy prime minister and chief of staff of the government, will be carried out by another deputy prime minister and two first deputy heads of the government staff, Interfax news agency reported on 8 May. “Until the appointment of a […]

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Intrigue and Gossip Overwhelm Moscow after Surkov’s Downfall

Vladislav Surkov file photo

(Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 10, Issue 88 – Pavel Felgenhauer – Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – Eurasia Daily Monitor – May 9, 2013) Moscow is in the midst of the traditional long May holiday season: The city streets are largely deserted and traffic is light. Still those of the political class who stayed in town were shocked and agitated by […]

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Five Facts About Vladislav Surkov

File Photo of Vladislav Surkov with Mike McFaul

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Bratersky – May 10, 2013) Vladislav Surkov, the one-time gray cardinal of the Kremlin, played a leading role in shaping the current Russian political landscape during President Vladimir Putin’s first two terms in office. While Surkov has taken some credit for his behind-the-scenes wizardry, he remains very much a man in the shadows ­ […]

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Russia’s Gray Cardinal Slips Away Into The Shadows

Vladislav Surkov file photo

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Tom Balmforth – May 9, 2013) MOSCOW — Vladislav Surkov was known as the Kremlin’s gray cardinal — feared in the corridors of power and despised by the opposition. But the Russian deputy prime minister’s surprise resignation on May 8 has them worried. Surkov’s departure, observers say, signals the rising power of hard-line factions, the “siloviki,” […]

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Surkov says may write political comedy

File Photo of Vladislav Surkov with Mike McFaul

(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 8, 2014) Vladislav Surkov says he plans to write a political comedy based on real events. “I have some plans. I have a plot for a political comedy based on real events,” Surkov said in an interview with the magazine Russky Pioner, for which he writes columns, responding to a question as to whether he will […]

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Russian Political System ‘Steady’, Not ‘Broken’ By Protests – Deputy PM

File Photo of Moscow Winter Protest

(RIA Novosti – London, May 1, 2013) The political system in Russia is steady and capable of transformation, it is changing in parallel with changes in society, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vladislav Surkov believes. “The system is not broken, this is someone’s invention. The system of which I have to honour to be a co-author exists, and it survived the […]

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Surkov Says Kremlin Beat the Opposition

File Photo of Vladislav Surkov with Mike McFaul

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – May 2, 2013) Deputy Prime Minister Vladislav Surkov told students in London that the political system that he helped create had beat the opposition and suggested that he had been one Russia’s top businessmen when he worked for jailed tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Surkov also insisted that Russia was open for foreign investment and expressed longing […]

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Russian Deputy PM Denies Stagnation, Defends Putin’s Third Term

File Photo of Vladimir Putin Sitting at Desk

(RIA Novosti – London, May 1, 2013) Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vladislav Surkov does not agree with those who believe that Russia is undergoing a period of stagnation. “I cannot see any stagnation; life in Russian is very boisterous and dynamic, very volatile. We have many problems, we have many troubles. Frankly speaking, I would have been glad: it would […]

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Fifty Shades of Gray: If Your Game Doesn’t Have a Safeword, Someone Could Get Hurt

File Photo of Vladislav Surkov with Mike McFaul

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – March 4, 2013) Anna Arutunyan is the politics editor of The Moscow News In Russia, there were a thousand shades of gray before Vladislav Surkov, the so-called “gray cardinal” behind Vladimir Putin’s first 12 years in power, was replaced in late 2011. Now, one year into Putin’s third term as president, there […]

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The war between the president’s men

Putin Descending a Staircase file photo

(Dmitri Travin – opendemocracy.net – November 6, 2012 – Dmitri Travin is Research Director at the European University in St. Petersburg’s Centre of Modernization Studies) The Russian regime may present a united front to the world, but behind the scenes the cracks are beginning to show. In the week when Putin fired a senior government member, Dmitri Travin looks at […]

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