Nikolai Platonovich Patrushev is a Russian politician, security officer and intelligence officer who has served as the secretary of the Security Council of Russia since 2008.
22 Facts About Nikolai Patrushev
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Nikolai Patrushev previously served as the director of the Federal Security Service from 1999 to 2008.
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Nikolai Patrushev played a key role in the decisions to annex Crimea in 2014 and invade Ukraine in 2022.
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Nikolai Patrushev is considered as very hawkish towards the West and the US and has promoted various conspiracy theories.
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Nikolai Patrushev is seen by some observers as one of the likeliest candidates for succeeding Putin.
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Nikolai Patrushev graduated from Leningrad Shipbuilding Institute in 1974, and initially he worked as an engineer in the Institute's shipbuilding design bureau, but very soon afterwards, in 1975, he was recruited by the KGB.
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Nikolai Patrushev attended intelligence and security courses at the KGB School in Minsk, and later at the Higher School of the KGB in Moscow.
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Nikolai Patrushev has known Vladimir Putin since the 1970s, when the two men worked together in the Leningrad KGB.
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In June 1995, Nikolai Patrushev became deputy chief of the FSB's Organization and Inspection Department.
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Since May 2008, Nikolai Patrushev has been Secretary of the Security Council of Russia, a consultative body of the President that works out his decisions on national security affairs.
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Nikolai Patrushev considers the 2014 Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine to have been started by the United States.
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In June 2019, Nikolai Patrushev said that Iran "has always been and remains our ally and partner".
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Nikolai Patrushev was a leading figure behind Russia's updated national security strategy, published in May 2021.
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On 29 March 2023, Nikolai Patrushev arrived in New Delhi and met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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In May 2023 Nikolai Patrushev was interviewed by Izvestia, during which he revealed thoughts which troubled many, for example that the US seeks to displace Russia because the former fears a volcanic eruption in Yellowstone.
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In early November 2021, CIA Director William Burns and US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan met in Moscow with Nikolai Patrushev and informed him that they knew about Russia's invasion plans.
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On 26 April 2022, after two months of war, Nikolai Patrushev predicted that Ukraine would collapse and be broken into several states because of what he cast as a US attempt to use Kyiv to undermine Russia.
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On 17 August 2022, Nikolai Patrushev met with Narendra Modi's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval to discuss measures to strengthen the strategic partnership across sectors including defense ties and energy security.
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In October 2022, Nikolai Patrushev accused the United States and its allies of wanting to "fight to the last Ukrainian".
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In February 2023, during a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Moscow, Nikolai Patrushev claimed that "the bloody events in Ukraine staged by the West" are just one example of the West's attempts to maintain its global dominance.
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Nikolai Patrushev believes in various conspiracy theories and often gives interviews to state-controlled media in Russia.
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Nikolai Patrushev's eldest son, Dmitry, is a banker, Minister of Agriculture of Russia since 18 May 2018.