 "Will Alexei Dyumin be Putin’s successor? Meet the man who saved the Russian president from a bear attack")
As Russia’s Vladimir Putin secured a record fifth term in March, it seemed clear that he would be a president for life. The 71-year-old is expected to be in office for another six years. But the big question about Russia’s political future remains. Who will succeed the strongman? Now weeks after he began his new term earlier this month, we might have an answer.
Putin appointed Alexei Dyumin, his former bodyguard, as secretary of the advisory state council on Wednesday. The move has fuelled speculation about Dyumin’s presidential potential.
“Russia’s elite is abuzz with the appointment of Dyumin as secretary of the state council,” Sergei Markov, a former Kremlin adviser and Putin supporter, said on Telegram, according to Reuters. “This is seen as confirmation that Dyumin is the future president of Russia, Putin’s choice,” he added and went on to claim that this was something that had long been rumoured.
Who is Dyumin? What do we know about Dyumin’s current role?
The rise of Dyumin
The 51-year-old Dyumin was born in Kursk in western Russia. He has been part of Putin’s entourage and has been seen as someone with a promising future. While he is known in political circles, the military, and the intelligence services, he is not a household name among Russians.
It was in 1995 when Dyumin joined the federal gaurds service, which is in charge of the security of Russia’s president and other top officials. By the 2000s, served as one of Putin’s bodyguards and claimed to present morning briefings to the president, according to a report in The Telegraph.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“I was part of a group of officers which ensured the security of the president everywhere – in Russia and abroad,” Dyumin told the Kommersant newspaper in 2016. “Every morning began with a report to the president on operational reports. You must have information on the regions, on emergency situations. Sometimes I had to give instructions to a minister, set a task for the head of a region.”
Dyumin reportedly played ice hockey with Putin. He also recalled how as one of Putin’s bodyguards, he once used his pistol to scare off a bear from one of the president’s mountain residences while the Russian leader was resting. He is a recipient of the country’s highest “Hero of Russia” state award.
By 2014, he was the deputy head of the GRU military intelligence service when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine and is thought to be involved. He later served as a deputy defence minister and then as governor of Tula, a region which plays a big role in Russia’s military-industrial complex, according to a report in Reuters.
Also read: Russia election: Why Putin will never announce a successor
According to Mark Galeotti, a long-time Kremlin watcher, Dyumin is the only bodyguard and spooks who was made regional governor. “He was actually quite a good governor in Tula, and unlike most other ex-spooks he was able to deal with the technocrats quite well. He built a good working relationship with Sergei Sobyanin, the mayor of Moscow, for example,” Galeotti was quoted as saying by The Telegraph.
Earlier this month, Dyumin was recalled from Tula to the presidential administration in Moscow and was made an advisor on military-industrial matters.
The sanctions against Dyumin
The US treasury department sanctioned Dyumin in 2018, saying he had headed Special Operations Forces which “played a key role in Russia’s purported annexation of Crimea”
He also appears on a British sanctions list which says he launched a drone training school in 2022 for operatives undertaking missions in Ukraine, reports Reuters. “Accordingly, there are reasonable grounds to suspect that Dyumin has been involved and continues to be involved with destabilising Ukraine or undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty or independence of Ukraine,” the UK treasury said.
The role in the state council
The state council, grouping the heads of Russia’s regions, is an advisory body helmed by Putin. Its role was formalised in 2020 and was enshrined in the constitution for the first time. Political analysts saw this as paving the way for it eventually to become a more powerful force.
A decree signed by the president appointing Dyumin to the state council was published on the Kremlin’s website on Wednesday. It gave no further details of his new role, reports Reuters. It is unclear how much power the former bodyguard will wield as secretary.
“It’s the kind of appointment that might prove significant in retrospect,” Gaelotti told The Telegraph.
The other names doing the rounds
But this is Russia and nothing is set in stone. Fortunes are quick to change.
There was a time when Dmitry Medvedev , who was the president between 2008 and 2012 and then served as prime minister until 2020, was assured as Putin’s successor. He served as the deputy chairman of the security council in 2020.
He hailed from Putin’s hometown St Petersburg like many in the Kremlin’s inner circle. But in 2017, corruption allegations emerged against him; he was accused of embezzling $1.2 billion to fund his mansions, yachts and a voracious online shopping habit. In 2020, he was demoted to the security council.
After Russia invaded Ukraine, Medvedev grabbed headlines with his anti-West rhetoric, which was seen as many as an attempt to reinvent himself. “I hate them. They are bastards and degenerates. They want us, Russia, to die. And while I’m still alive, I will do everything to make them disappear," he wrote on Telegram in August 2022.
However, analysts saw this as an effort to suggest he was ready to take up the president’s post if available.
The other name that has been cropping up is that of Nikolai Patrushev, one of Putin’s closest allies. Earlier this month, he was replaced as the head of the security council by Shoigu and appointed as Kremlin aide.
He has been a friend of Putin’s since the 1970s when they worked in the KGB. He also replaced the president as the head of its successor organisation, the Federal Security Service (FSB), from 1999 to 2008. He then served as secretary of the Russian Security Council for 14 years, reports the BBC.
Two years ago, former MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove believed Patrushev was the most likely heir if the president fell in. However, he would not be a long-time successor, according to a report in ABC News.
But now he finds himself in an odd position. It is not clear that his new role constitutes a demotion, reports the BBC.
Interestingly, Patrushev’s son, Dmitry was promoted to deputy prime minister in the reshuffle. Some see him as a possible successor to Putin.
Now 46, Dmitry was appointed agriculture minister in 2018. He graduated from the FSB academy and headed the state-owned Russian Agriculture Bank.
After his latest term started, Putin reappointed Mikhail Mishustin as prime minister. According to Article 92.3 of the Russian constitution, in all cases where the president is incapable of carrying out his duties, “they shall be temporarily fulfilled” by the prime minister, says a report in The Politico. That puts Mishustin in the lead position if something were to happen to Putin.
However, for now, the Russian leader is not ready to hand over the reins. All these men are closer to the centre of power but the road to the top is long and treacherous.
With inputs from agencies
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
