President Putin Executive Office and Foreign Policy Making Process

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1 President Putin Executive Office and Foreign Policy Making Process by Alexander Kornilov The Foreign policy of Russian President Putin which has raised so many questions for political and military leaders and diplomats in 2014, has prompted the attention of experts and those wishing to understand the characteristics of the people standing behind the President. Think tanks and decision-makers often consult each other about the administration of the Kremlin, its aides, advisers and other officials who are close to the President. Key questions include, to what extent those who surround the President are able to meet international challenges and to formulate strategies in a period of turbulence? Although the real foreign policymaking process remains off limits for many outsiders, it can be discussed in terms of the organizational behavior and skills of the VIPs in the President s administration. The Presidential Executive Office The status of the Russian Federation s President is defined in chapter four of the Constitution. According to the Basic Law, the President shall define the basic foreign policy guidelines of the state and he shall be the Commanderin-Chief of the Armed Forces. The Presidential Executive Office (PEO) as a part of Presidential administration was established in the 1990s in order to assist the head of state in formulating and implementing domestic and foreign policies. The Executive Office (EO) today is located in Moscow and has offices in a number of buildings inside the Kremlin and in the vicinity of Staraya Square and Ilyinka Street. The Office prepares drafts of decrees, orders, instructions, Presidential speeches and other documents, including the President s annual address to the Federal Assembly. It also coordinates the President s work with political parties, non-governmental and non-profit organizations, unions, foreign governments and their representatives, Russian and foreign politicians, public figures and international organizations. Within the Executive Office all information on socioeconomic, political and legal trends both domestic and international are analyzed and then given to the President for consideration and decisions. President Putin oversees the general functioning of his EO, but its day-to-day activities are managed by its Chief of Staff, Colonel General (Ret.) Sergei Ivanov. 1 If we look at structure 1 About Presidential Executive Office/ President of Russia// Available at: kremlin.ru/administration/about ; Major Staff of the Executive Office/ President of Russia// Available at: Wise Men Center for Strategic Studies (BILGESAM) 1 Mecidiyeköy Yolu Caddesi, No:10, Şişli -İSTANBUL bilgesam@bilgesam.org Phone: Fax: All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied, transmitted without the written permission of BILGESAM.

2 of the Office we can see experienced international relations and security officials. General Ivanov is along with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu the closest associate of President Putin. Both graduated from Leningrad, now Saint-Petersburg, State University and served in the Soviet-time KGB intelligence. Putin graduated as lawyer and Ivanov as a philologist. Putin was an intelligence officer with years of service in Eastern Germany (GDR) whilst Ivanov who is fluent in English and Swedish, had three long missions abroad in Scandinavia and Africa. It is interesting to note that Ivanov was Head of Analysis, Forecasting and Strategic Planning in the Russian counter-intelligence FSB between , at a time when Putin was Director of the Service. Putin took Ivanov with him when he was appointed as a successor by President Yeltsin of Russia in December Sergei Ivanov served as Secretary of Russia s Security Council and prepared the National Security Concept of Russia in 2000, going on to serve as Defense Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Russia. In 2011 Ivanov was appointed to his present post. 2 In other words, Chief of the Executive Office shares an intelligence undertaking and security mindset with the President. Some officials with diplomatic backgrounds also fall under Ivanov in the EO. His first Deputy is Alexei Gromov, a historian of Southern and Western Slavs and a career diplomat. From 1982 to 1996, Gromov served in the Soviet and Russian Ministry for Foreign Affairs and was with the consular and diplomatic missions in the Slovakia, not to mention his service in MFA Central Office in Moscow. 3 He speaks fluent Czech, Slovak and English but unlike Ivanov does not come out very often in public to give interviews. Possibly the most interesting member for the Turkish reader/ politician is Dmitry Peskov, Deputy Chief and Press Secretary to Putin. He is 47 years old and young in comparison to Putin 62, Ivanov 62, and Gromov 55. Peskov graduated from the well-known oriental institution of higher education, Asia and Africa Institute of the Moscow State University with a degree in Oriental History and Translation. From 1989 to 2000 Peskov served as diplomat with the Russian Embassy in Ankara. A successful diplomatic career was due not only to his personal talents but also that of his family. Peskov s father served as a diplomat in the Arab countries 2 Ivanov Sergei. Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office/ 3 Gromov Alexei. First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office/ Major Staff of the Executive Office/ President of Russia// Available at: during the period of Soviet Union. Russian journalists also discovered that in November 1999, President Yeltsin visited Istanbul to take part in an ordinary OSCE session wherein Peskov with his fluent Turkish and English acted as Yeltsin s interpreter after which he was invited to join the President s Executive Office. 4 Peskov is the one tasked with reacting and to responding to complex and sensitive questions from the Russian and foreign media and public. The art of communication requires a very close relationship with the boss. Putin and Peskov work closely together to prepare the basis for public relations and behavior towards the press. Another Deputy Chief of Staff who has diplomatic experience is Anton Vaino. With an Estonian surname and a graduate from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), he has served at the Russian Embassy in Tokyo, Japan. In the EO, Vaino held different posts at the Presidential Protocol Directorate. 5 The EO structure cannot function without a pool of aides and advisers to the President. Among those having international relations skills the person who accompanies President Putin in all his foreign visits and negotiations with foreign leaders be they in Moscow or beyond Russia is Ambassador Yuri Ushakov. Ambassador Yuri Ushakov is a little older than the President. Born in 1947 and a graduate of the MGIMO, Ushakov served in Denmark, in the USSR Foreign Ministry s Scandinavian Department. He was Director of the European Cooperation Department (ECD) at the Russian Foreign Ministry responsible for cooperation with the OSCE, the EU, NATO, the NACC, the WEU, the Council of Europe, and regional European organizations. In , Ushakov served as Russia s Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna, Austria. From December 1998 to June 2008 he was Russian Ambassador to the United States and Permanent Observer of the Russian Federation at the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington, DC. 6 This impressive list of diplomatic nominations shows that Ambassador Ushakov who speaks English and Danish is probably the most experienced amongst all officials serving in the Presidential team. The ambassador resigned from his post in Washington in 4 Peskov Dmitry. Deputy Chief of the Presidential Executive Office, Presidential Press Secretary/ Major Staff of the Executive Office/ President of Russia// Available at: 5 Vaino Anton. Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office/ Major Staff of the Executive Office/ President of Russia// Available at: 6 Ushakov Yury. Aide to the President of the Russian Federation/ 2

3 the same year Putin became Russian Prime Minister. Putin invited Ushakov to become Deputy Chief of the Government Staff in Presidential Aide Igor Shchegolev also deserves to be mentioned amongst the PEO advisers. Fluent in English, German and French, Shchegolev is considered to be a media authority. He worked as the editor of the European Department at the TASS/ITAR-TASS news agency and its correspondent in Paris. After returning to Russia Shchegolev was editorin-chief of the European Department at the ITAR-TASS and deputy director of the ITAR-TASS news service. He also headed the Presidential Press Service and the Presidential Protocol Department in the formative years of Putin s presidency. Under Premier Putin, Shchegolev was appointed as Telecommunications and Mass Communications Minister. 7 Vladimir Ostrovenko has served as Chief of Presidential Protocol with some diplomatic nominations abroad. Graduated from the MGIMO and fluent in English and German, Ostrovenko held various positions at the central headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Russian Embassy in Germany from He got acquainted with Putin in 2008 after he was appointed Director of the Protocol Department of the Russian Government [8]. It is reasonable to assume that previous diplomatic experience and work in Germany with whom Putin always wanted to maintain good relations, have assisted Ostrovenko in getting a position at the EO. Important Subdivisions in the Presidential Administration The list of subdivisions in the EO numbers more than twenty. However, only a few of them strictly relate to foreign and security policy making. The Presidential Foreign Policy Directorate assists President Putin in setting the country s main foreign policy outlines. It helps to draw up general foreign policy strategy and supports the President in exercising his powers to direct the country s foreign policy. It provides information, analytical and organizational support for the foreign policy and international relations activities of the President and PEO and is responsible for the content of foreign policy events in which the President takes part. It organizes cooperation between the President, the Chief of the PEO, the state bodies and officials of foreign countries, foreign political and public figures, and international and foreign organizations. 8 7 Shchegolev Igor. Aide to the President of the Russian Federation/ 8 Ostrovenko Vladimir. Chief of the Presidential Protocol/ Major Staff of the Executive Office/ President of Russia// Available at: Chief of this Directorate is Alexander Manzhosin. His father Leonid Manzhosin served as a Soviet Consul General in Istanbul. Manzhosin graduated from the MGIMO in 1980 and worked in Soviet/Russian Foreign Ministry as a diplomat on Turkey. He worked in the USSR as the Commercial Representation in Ankara, attaché and Third Secretary in Cyprus as well as in the MFA headquarters in Moscow. Fluent in Turkish and English, Manzhosin became Chief of the Directorate in The Presidential Experts Directorate (PED) provides expert and analytical support to the President in the exercise of his constitutional powers. It prepares expert evaluations, analytical reports and other expert and analytical materials required by the President and the Chief of Staff of the PEO. It is responsible for expert and analysis work on financing the activities of the President and the PEO. Vladimir Simonenko who is Chief of the Directorate does not belong to a team of diplomats or security officers. He made career as an official on economic issues. 10 The Presidential Directorate for Interregional Relations and Cultural Contacts with Foreign Countries (PDIRCCFC) provides support for the President s activities in developing the foreign relations of the Russian Federation. The Directorate s main objectives are to develop and implement projects in the field of interregional and cultural ties with foreign countries aimed at providing assistance to the President in implementing foreign policy; to provide information and analytical support for the President of the Russian Federation and the Chief of Staff of the PEO on issues of interregional and cultural relations with foreign countries in the area of its competence. Chief of this Directorate Vladimir Chernov is a specialist on international economic relations. He graduated from Moscow Institute of Finance (MIF) and London School of Economics (LSE). Chernov worked for some years in the Soviet era economic and financial institutions in the UK and Finland as well as in academic institutes in Moscow. Chernov was likely to have been nominated to his present post because he served as Chief of Secretariat of Sergei Ivanov from state.kremlin.ru/persons/306 9 Subdivisions. President of Russia// Available at: kremlin.ru/administration/division 10 Manzhosin Aleksandr Leonidovich/ Profil. 18 aprelya 2004; Manzhosin Aleksandr Leonidovich// Available at: 11 Subdivisions. President of Russia// Available at: kremlin.ru/administration/division; Naznacheny glava expertnogo upravleniya I glavniy kadrovick Kreml ya/ Novosti Rossii. 13 sent- 3

4 The Presidential Directorate for Social and Economic Cooperation with the Commonwealth of Independent States Member Countries, the Republic of Abkhazia, and the Republic of South Ossetia is headed by Oleg Govorun. Govorun cannot be named as an expert on international relations, world politics or security, but he is an educated specialist in chemistry and regional and domestic politics. 12 This Directorate supports the President s work in the area of social and economic cooperation with the CIS countries, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. It drafts cooperation policy with these countries with the aim of effectively developing economic and social ties with them and carrying out joint social and economic programs and projects; drafts within the scope of its powers expert evaluations, analysis reports and other material needed by the President and the Chief of Staff of the PEO. of decision-making should be addressed. In a 2014 interview with ITAR-TASS Putin admitted: when it comes to decision-making there are certain rules. First, we need to get information from different sources. This is natural. But as a result I strive to make conclusion on the basis of my personal opinion about a person. 13 It is well known that the President attaches great importance to direct talk and communication. Perception of the President often differs from that in official documents or the text of experts. In turn, this means that whoever surrounds the head of state, it is he who decides and who is responsible for the decisions. Conclusion While analyzing the above-mentioned departments and persons we come to conclusion that highly qualified officials continue to work in the EO of Russian President. Those relating to the foreign and security policy making process in Moscow have an impressive background and many years experience in the field. Some of them have established very close or very good working relations with President Putin. Others were drafted on the recommendation of politicians close to Putin. The departments or subdivisions of the EO have been formed and composed according to the Presidential list of foreign policy priorities. At least two important officials have served in Turkey and represent so-called Orientalists in the administration. However, due to the hidden essence of any decision-making process we are not able to deliberate about possible contradictions and even conflicts between key officials in the PEO on the most critical issues of Russian foreign policy. The EO is an important department but not the only one in the Presidential administration. Equally important is the Russian Security Council that is composed of very influential politicians, diplomats and military alike and is responsible for national security policy formulation process. Slightly less important are the Presidential Councils and Presidential Commissions. They analyze and recommend decisions to Putin in the field of military technology, cooperation with foreign states, development of Russian military industries and the advancement of the Russian language all around the world. Concluding the analysis, Putin s style yabtya 2013/ Available at: newkadry.html 12 Chernov Vladimir Aleksandrovich/ Kommersant spravochnik// Available at: 13 Vladimir Putin: my sil ney potomu chto my pravy/ TASS. Pervyii litsa. Avtor: Andrei Vandenko// Available at: 4

5 About BILGESAM About Author Established in 2008, the Wise Men Center for Strategic Studies (BILGESAM) is one of the leading think tanks in Turkey. As a non-profit, non-partisan organization BILGESAM operates under the guidance of a group of well-respected academics from different disciplines, retired military generals and diplomats; and aims to contribute regional and global peace and prosperity. Closely following the domestic and international developments, BILGESAM conducts research on Turkey s domestic problems, foreign policy and security strategies, and the developments in the neighbouring regions to provide the Turkish decision-makers with practical policy recommendations and policy options. Alexander Kornilov is Professor of international relations and head of regional studies department at Lobachevsky State University of Nizhni Novgorod. He has published numerous articles on international relations and foreign policies of Middle Eastern and Transcaucasian countries. 5