Page 48 - RusRPTJul24

Sergei Shoigu, the appointments also continue the creeping trend of relatives and close associates of Putin and of other powerful officials or members of the business elite taking positions at various levels of the government. Earlier this year, Dmitry Patrushev, the son of former Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev, was promoted to Deputy Prime Minister, while Boris Kovalchuk, the son of Yury Kovalchuk, a financier, media mogul, and close Putin associate, was appointed to head the Accounts Chamber. Putin’s alleged daughters, Katerina Tikhonova and Maria Vorontsova, attended this year’s St. Petersburg Economic Forum. Putin’s former bodyguard Alexei Dyumin was recently promoted to head the State Council (an important deliberative body), given a role in supervising defense procurements as a presidential aide, and made a member of the supervisory board of Rostec (a state defense conglomerate).
Russian businessman and former donor Boris Zimin on his disillusionment with Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (5-min read) In early May, Russian businessman and philanthropist Boris Zimin granted an interview to Deutsche Welle, where he discussed his decision to withdraw funding from Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK). Since the FBK’s inception, Zimin has been one of the few major donors to openly reveal his identity. Zimin’s remarks in the interview, which DW released in full just three days ago, reveal a strikingly critical perspective on the FBK’s actions following Navalny’s passing. Meduza shares some of his comments.
Russia’s Investigative Committee examined over 70,000 destroyed civilian infrastructure facilities in liberated settlements - according to department specialists, the amount of damage surpassed 229bn rubles ($2.55bn), the press service of the Investigative Committee told TASS. "In total, investigators examined more than 70,000 destroyed facilities of civilian infrastructure. Employees of the Forensic Center of the Russian Investigative Committee determined that the total amount of damage exceeds 229bn rubles," the statement said.
Russian proxy in Ukraine claims occupied territories may be incorporated into new Russian federal district. Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014 and subsequently expanded its unlawful seizure of the Ukrainian oblasts of Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia after the full-scale war in 2022.
Vladimir Putin appointed his aide and former bodyguard, Alexei Dyumin—until recently the governor of the Tula Region—to the position of State Council Secretariat. Dyumin takes over the position from Igor Levitin, who had been State Council Secretary since 2012.
The State Council, in its current incarnation, was created in 2000 as an advisory body chaired by the President and consisting of, among others, regional leaders, the Prime Minister, presidential plenipotentiaries, the deputy head of the Presidential Administration Sergei Kirienko, and a range of other
48 RUSSIA Country Report July 2024 www.intellinews.com