Dmitry Kozak missing Putin quits his historical adviser

Dmitry Kozak missing: Putin quits his historical adviser

by Marco Imarisio

The president always has him with him since both were advisers to the mayor of St. Petersburg Anatoly Sobchak. But friendship did not save him. Because of his suggestive smile, he was known among diplomats as the Cheshire Cat

These are times when pigeons vanish into thin air. And if they had flown to the Kremlin, they might have ended badly. Afternoon of February 21st. Dmitry Kozak is one of the strongest men in the Russian power vertical. Vladimir Putin brought them all together in the Kremlin, at the Security Council summit, to announce their intention to recognize the two self-proclaimed republics of Donbass. the moment when the world understands that it no longer has to wonder if the Red Army will invade Ukraine, only when it will. That meeting went down in recent history because the president abruptly silenced and humiliated intelligence chief Sergei Naryshin, who asked for more time to avoid military intervention.

But just before that, there had been another victim. Kozak the deputy director of Putin’s staff. But the connection between the two goes beyond any position the former Special Corps soldier has held. The president always has him with him since both were advisers to the mayor of St. Petersburg Anatoly Sobchak and entrusted him with very delicate tasks. For this reason, he put him in charge of the special operation for five years, which at that time only included the management of relations with Ukraine. As he begins to speak, Kozak explains that the Kiev government has made no progress towards Russia. He makes a kind of mea culpa, saying that there has been a stalemate since 2015, although some progress could still be made through diplomatic channels. But something is wrong. From the picture you can hear a spasm, a loud thank you from Putin. That’s enough, nothing more needs to be added. Instead, Kozak continues while the President bangs his hand on the table with obvious impatience. This time the Spasiba still sounds imperious.

Since then, there has been no news from one of the most prominent and close personalities of the Russian President. A crab race, to the point of dematerialization. On February 24, Kozak is removed from all positions. Starting with the head of the negotiators with Kyiv. His name is also removed from the daily information agenda as if he no longer existed. On May 22, Ukrainian sources reported his arrest for collaboration, a fact that was repeated by some independent Russian media, but without official confirmation. In Moscow, experts give an almost self-evident explanation for his undeniable fall from grace. The President has lost patience with him after trusting in the success of the negotiations proposed to him. And for every failure, especially if it lasts eight years, you need someone to blame.

It doesn’t matter if a long-time friend from the St. Petersburg days, twice a minister, twice the leader of his presidential campaign, a representative man, among other things, the Supreme, can receive Matteo Salvini on one of his famous trips to Russia. And then Kozak, nicknamed Cheshire Cat in diplomatic circles for his suggestive smile, is serving a double sentence. Born and raised in Ukraine, where he ran his business, which also made him a target of the first round of international sanctions after the first war in Donbass. It was the direct link between the Kremlin and the oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, Putin’s personal friend who was captured by the Ukrainian army last April while trying, according to the official version, to escape house arrest, to which he had been coerced since May 2021. Once the figure the Kremlin had dubbed the architrave of possible regime change in Kyiv left the stage, even Kozak’s usefulness may have ended.

All the more so since his name has become the subject of counter-propaganda. Mitya, but do you really agree with the slaughter of your people? The interview with his first teacher, who calls him by the confidential nickname he was given as a child in Ukraine, is just one example. His friends, acquaintances, and third-degree relatives were given a say. Everyone asks him why. But wherever he is, Ukraine’s Kozak is far away now. And he certainly can’t afford to answer that.

June 7, 2022 (change June 7, 2022 | 07:29)