The Minutiae
It is in the minutiae that we find the flow of history.
It is in the minutiae that we find the flow of history.
Even here, where an election dispute is ongoing and protests are intensifying, we are inundated with the drama of Trump’s cabinet picks. Don’t get me wrong; I am not complaining. American policy has huge implications for the world, so the world pays attention. Moreover, it sparked this conversation.
It started with the press secretary. I was making coffee when Sasha walked in, waving his phone at me. He showed me a Russian article on Telegram announcing Trump’s new press secretary. It described her as a 27-year-old blonde girl. In response, I shrugged. I felt a twinge of disappointment that it wasn’t going to be Alex Jones, just for the entertainment value; otherwise, I don’t care who the press secretary is.
Sasha scowled at my indifference and said, “It’s important.”
“Why?” I asked. “She’s not making policy. She doesn’t have any real power.”
“You know Dimitri Peskov,” Sasha said. It wasn’t a question. If you follow Russian news at all you know Dimitri Peskov. “He’s a press secretary. He is everywhere, he speaks for Putin.”
~
A bit of background: Sasha is from a town in Siberia. He finished his required military service a few months before Putin announced the invasion of Ukraine. Once the war started, he packed a briefcase and left the country. He has been living in hostels and working online as a programmer ever since. Like many of the Russians I have met, he knows he will never be able to go home.
~
“But what power does Peskov have?” I asked. “He just repeats what he is told. Right?”
Sasha shook his head. “It’s not about the title. The position is just a thing he has to do. It’s about being close to Putin. Proximity gives him power and influence. He can do whatever he wants. No one can fuck with him.”
~
Peskov is powerful and rich. A career government man, he joined the foreign ministry, under the Soviet Union. From there, he worked his way up until, in 2012, he was named Deputy Chief of the Presidential Executive Office and Putin’s spokesperson.
On the international stage, Peskov has been accused of participating in the coverup of multiple assassinations and attempted assassinations. He is seen as being an engineer and driver of disinformation campaigns and he has been called a “pathological liar.”
Peskov started his career young; however, at 27, Trump’s Karoline Leavitt beat him to the position of Press Secretary by several years. That said, it is difficult to imagine her making the impact Peskov has or wielding as much authority. For Leavitt, her authority is derived from her title as Press Secretary, whereas Peskov’s power lies in his relationship with Putin. She is a parrot and Peskov is a player.
Another difference between the American Press Secretary and the Russian is longevity. It takes time to build a name, cultivate influence, and collect millions of unaccounted-for dollars. Like her predecessors, Leavitt’s time in the White House will probably be measured in days. As opposed to Peskov, who has been in the Kremlin for decades.
Despite all the differences in their positions, there is one major commonality. To be a successful mouthpiece for a pathological liar it probably helps to be one yourself.
~
“What about Putin’s other people? Do they at least have qualifications for their positions?” I asked. “A lot of Trump’s picks have little to no experience.”
“It’s kind-a the same. A bunch of them are Siloviki- ex-security, ex-KGB, but their qualifications come from their connections, not their work experience. Shoigu [the Defence Minister] didn’t serve in the military and Mishustin [the Prime Minister] did something with taxes.
When I was in the military, a few people spoke openly of Shoigu. They thought he was an idiot, they hated him.
In his military, there was a lot of bullshit. The military was like a pyramid. The divisions below me had to report their status to my division. They would bullshit their reports to not get in trouble. Sometimes we caught them, but not all the time.
My division would also bullshit our reports to those above us, we almost never got caught. I can only imagine the chain of bullshit continued all the way to Putin.
The only things I learned in the military were how to lie, cover things up, and threaten people.”
~
Shoigu was Putin’s Defence Minister. He served in this role from 2012 till May 2024, when he was reassigned to the Security Council.
Though Shoigu carries the title of General, he never served in the military. Thanks to his political connections with Yeltsin, he was made head of the Russian Rescue Corps. From there he became one of the leaders of the party that saw Putin into power, earning him a seat at the table.
As Defence Minister, Shoigu was initially popular; however, after the botched invasion of Ukraine, his reputation was ruined.
Russian Commander Igor Girkin called for Shoigu to be executed by firing squad. The Russia-installed governor, Kirill Stremousov said, “Many are saying that the Defence Minister – who allowed things to come to this – should simply shoot himself like a [real] officer.”
Things came to a head when Prigozhin, head of the Wagner group, made his infamous march on Moscow and demanded Shoigu’s dismissal. He accused Shoigu of lying to the people and the president and attempted to remove Shoigu by force. Though Prigozhin was stopped and he conveniently died in a plane crash a few months later, it was a bad look for Shoigu.
Andrei Belousov, a former economic adviser, has taken over Shoigu’s post as Defence Minister.
~
The roles of Russia’s Defence Minister and the US’s Secretary of Defence are similar in their managerial demands and power to shape their respective militaries. The US has historically chosen career military men to serve as Secretary of Defence. Whereas, Russia typically picks men with political backgrounds and no military experience.
Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick, is a divergence of all paths. Hegseth has military experience, but his career is in media. Even Shoigu had more experience when he first took the job. If Hegseth gets confirmed, hopefully, he does better than Shoigu. It would be unfortunate for his career to end with his fellow officers requesting he commit suicide or attempt to overthrow him.
~
“So neither experience nor competence is important to be in Putin’s cabinet?” I asked.
“No, loyalty is most important. Then their connections. Most of them are connected to Putin through school or work or they lived together. They are all interconnected.”
I was about to reply, but Sasha continued, building momentum and volume as he spoke.
“The only thing they are good at is stealing money. They are benefiting from the problems in Russia. Like the war. They all make millions of dollars off government-run industries. Then they send their kids to live in mansions in Europe. This, they are good at.
If they were good at their actual jobs, Russia wouldn’t suck so much. They don’t help society. Most of the people with an education and potential leave, it is a brain drain. The majority of people left are easier to control and manipulate.”
~
The most interconnected member of Putin’s circle is Nikolai Patrushev. Patrushev came up in the KGB with Putin. They worked together in St. Petersburg, back when it was Leningrad. When Putin ascended to the position of President, it was Patrushev who took his place at the head of the FSB.
In 2008, Patrushev followed Putin to the Kremlin, where he hollowed out a space for himself as the head of the Security Council. In this hybrid position, Petruchev acted as the Director of National Intelligence and Homeland Security.
There is a mystique around Patrushev, many analysts have theorized that he was responsible for getting Putin into the presidency, via the Moscow City bombings. Some also argue that he is the hand behind Putin, directing the Kremlin. Most agree he played a pivotal role in Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine. He also seems instrumental in shaping the Kremlin’s perception of “the West,” as Russia’s “eternal enemy.”
In May 2024, Patrushev was rebranded as a presidential aid and put in charge of shipbuilding. His position as head of the Security Council was given over to the disgraced Shoigu.
This reshuffle may or may not be a demotion. Patrushev is still in Putin’s inner circle and his son Dimitry was made Deputy Prime Minister. As Sasha said, the position is less important than proximity.
~
There is no American equivalent of Patrushev’s role; however, on paper, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) comes close. This position oversees all of the US intelligence organizations and is responsible for disseminating relevant intelligence to the president. Just as Patrushev influenced Putin’s worldview, the next DNI will have the opportunity to shape Trump’s.
Trump’s nomination for this position is Tulsi Gabbard. Unlike Patrushev, Tulsi has never worked in intelligence and she comes off much better in interviews. That said, these counterparts have more in common than the others. They share a worldview.
Patrushev and Gabbard’s worldview in a nutshell: the US is bad.
Their criticism of the US’s role in Ukraine, Syria, and Japan’s remilitarization is so similar it is uncanny. They blame the US for every revolution, conflict, and escalation. They seem to think no other people or country has autonomy, ambition, or impact.
They demand the US kowtow to Russia and China, to avoid nuclear war, while excusing Russia and China’s actions as “legitimate security concerns.”
Gabbard agrees with Patrushev in thinking free speech in the US is “not that different from what is happening in Russia.”
Here are lists of other Russian political dissidents who have been killed or imprisoned under the current regime. Not to mention the thousands of Russians who have been arrested for protesting the war, posting about the war, reciting poems about the war, or just calling the war a war.
~
If Gabbard is confirmed, it will be interesting to see if her views start to diverge from Patrushev’s. It seems like it would be awkward to keep insisting the US government is the problem when she is in the highest level of government. Then again Trump managed to walk that tightrope.
~
At this point, I was halfway through my second cup of coffee and wanted to procrastinate a little longer. I queued a few videos of Tulsi Gabbard talking about the war for Sasha to watch. Then I bit my tongue while Tulsi condemned the Ukrainians she claims to care so much about.
Sasha reacted to the videos with indifference, dismissing Tulsi as ignorant. Only on her video about Zelenskyy did he chime in. Tulsi claimed Ukraine was not a democracy because Zelenskyy canceled elections, persecuted Christians, and suppressed political opposition.
To these accusations, Sasha said, “They can’t have elections under martial law.” “The head of the Russian Orthodox Church worked for the KGB and now he works for Putin. Of course, you don’t want them in your country when you are at war with Russia.” And, “Those political parties are tied to Russia.”
Sasha’s claim that the head of the Russian Orthodox Church worked for the KGB derailed our conversation. I will save that story for another time or you can read about it yourself, in The Moscow Times.
Eventually, we got back to the original conversation. “Does she [Gabbard] sound like Russian propaganda?” I asked.
Sasha chewed on his cheek. “A little. For us, anti-Ukrainian propaganda is more about Nazis than democracy.”
“This woman may be the next Director of National Intelligence,” I said. “Is it not concerning that she is either lying or has zero geopolitical literacy?”
Sasha shrugged.
“You thought the 27-year-old press secretary was a big deal, but you don’t care if the Director of National Intelligence lies about Ukraine? Or that the Secretary of Defence is most known for being a show host? Or that none of these people have any relevant experience?”
He looked at me with wide eyes. “The Press Secretary is important. It’s crazy that she is only 27 years old. The rest is normal.”
~
Despite the overlap of titles or anything Gabbard says, the similarities between the US and Russian political systems are superficial at most. The US still has three distinct branches of government, free elections, and a functioning justice system. The US is nothing like the corrupt, crony-bloated, oppressive state of Russia.
The comparisons made here, between Russian figures and Trump’s nominees are amusing. It is a joke that the next potential American Secretary of Defence is less qualified than his corrupt failure of a Russian counterpart. It is funny that the US’s new DNI may be a person who shares the opinions of a paranoid anti-American, ex-KGB officer. If this isn’t funny to you, don’t worry- America is still exceptional: they have the youngest-ever Press Secretary.