According to security analyst Andrei Soldatov, Patrushev's appointment to the
Security Council, indicates that its influence will grow. Sergei Goncharov, a
former KGB officer and Moscow City Duma member, believes that expansion of the
Security Council's functions should be expected “because it will become a more
serious grouping that will not only advise, but also influence the
situation."
Alexander Bortnikov who comes from St. Petersburg like Patrushev, Putin and
Medvedev is believed to be closer to Medvedev than the Kremlin's siloviki clan,
which includes Patrushev and Putin's longtime deputy chief of staff, Igor
Sechin, The Moscow Times says. Soldatov calls him “Medvedev's man, not
Sechin's," though, some Russian media have speculated that Bortnikov is
close to Sechin.
The FSB can be expected to focus more on corruption and economic crimes,
Bortnikov's areas of expertise, the paper cites Sergei Goncharov. Bortnikov was
appointed chief of the FSB's economic security department in 2004, taking a
post vacated by Yury Zaostrovtsev, who resigned amid media reports that his
father had run a security company that rendered services to Tri Kita bosses.
Goncharov considers Bortnikov was "a figure who suits everyone,"
including Medvedev, Putin and Patrushev. Soldatov noted that the appointment
was a setback for Putin's ally and former top drug enforcement officer Viktor
Cherkesov, who had lobbied the Kremlin for the FSB post but instead got a
position in an arms-procurement agency. The reshuffle suggests that a plan to
redivide control over law enforcement agencies has been shelved, The Moscow
Times concludes.
