SPIEGEL INTERVIEW
WITH KREMLIN BOSS VLADISLAV SURKOV
"The West Doesn't Have to Love Us"
Russian President Vladimir Putin's chief strategist, Vladislav Surkov, is said to be the second-most powerful man. The architect of "controlled democracy," Surkov spoke with SPIEGEL about Russian-style, top-down democracy, the Khodorkovsky verdict and fears of a Ukrainian-style revolution in Russia.
Jeremy Nicholl/ laif
SPIEGEL: Mr. Surkov, in a recent survey of the Russian elite, you were named the country's second-most powerful man -- behind President Vladimir Putin, but well ahead of your immediate superior in the Kremlin and ahead of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov. Do you feel honored by this?
Surkov: I don't attach too much importance to it. It's probably not entirely true.
SPIEGEL: But it does mean that people see you -- a member of the administration -- as having more power than the head of state. The arrest and conviction of oil billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky has been attributed to your influence along with that from other members of the Kremlin administration.
Surkov: Those are just rumors. For personal reasons, I find it difficult to take a position on this case. I was on Khodorkovsky's payroll myself for ten years. I'm biased because I respect him, which is one reason I prefer not to comment. Besides, the verdict is still under appeal.
SPIEGEL: The case has also been heavily criticized among some in the president's circle. Who really has the say in the Kremlin administration? The notorious St. Petersburg intelligence agents or the more moderate wing?
Surkov: Of course we have differing views, sometimes moving in diametrically opposed directions, and of course there are differences of opinions. But according to the constitution, the president of the Russian Federation sets the guidelines for actual policy. We are just a tool.
SPIEGEL: In a landmark statement, President Putin called the collapse of the Soviet Union the biggest geopolitical catastrophe of the twentieth century.
Surkov: There are various assessments of the events of 1991 in our society. Some see them as the hopeful emergence of democracy and civil society. Others see 1991 as a tragic year. Personally, however, I believe that renunciation of the Soviet Union was an expression of the free will of the Russian people. I still remember my own feelings at the time very well. I felt an enormous sense of relief, as if a huge leech had dropped from my back. But on the other hand, it is said that in our enthusiasm for democracy, we were blinded to the problems headed our way. Many were terribly disappointed at the way things turned out and are now saying Russia made the wrong decision. It's a dramatic conflict between opposing viewpoints.
SPIEGEL: What happened differently than expected?
Surkov: When the Soviet Union was dissolved, most of us didn't even have the feeling that the country was falling apart. We thought we would continue with our lives as in the past, but as good neighbors. Of course, we also believed that the West loved us and would help us, and that we'd be living like the Europeans in ten years. But everything turned out to be more complicated.
Interesting Interview resumes here:
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,361236,00.html
Who is Vladislav Surkov?
Vladislav Surkov is deputy head of the Russian presidential administration, and acts as Russian President Vladimir Putin's right-hand man. As a strategist of "controlled democracy," he controls both chambers of parliament as well as the pro-government parties and youth organizations. He also supervises the constitutional courts and Russia's provincial governors. Surkov, 40, worked as a senior executive for now-convicted oil billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky and was the deputy director of a partially state-owned television station before moving to the Kremlin in 1998, when Boris Yeltsin was still the Russian president.
Russian Presidential Administration Deputy Chief of Staff Vladislav Surkov in his Kremlin office.
