London, April 13 : The man who ‘invented Putinism’ has been detained in Russia and is under house arrest, say reports in Moscow, Daily Mail reported.
If confirmed, the move against Vladislav Surkov appears to show Vladimir Putin is turning on his inner circle, and also deep splits among his closest henchmen.
Unconfirmed accounts say Putin’s ‘ideologist’ is being held in a wide-ranging criminal probe that has also seen the arrest of 150 FSB agents.
The case evidently involves the alleged embezzlement of $5 billion by the secret services to create an undercover and intelligence network in Ukraine, Daily Mail reported.
The shadowy Surkov, seen as crucial to Putin’s long-running electoral success, was the man who encouraged him to believe Ukraine is not a real country.
The 57-year-old is a former Kremlin insider, more recently a Putin point man in Ukraine.
Before Putin sent troops into Ukraine, Surkov called for Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltic states to be annexed.
The detention of senior FSB figure Col-General Sergei Beseda, 68, now held in grim Lefortovo jail, is seen as a linked case.
Putin is said to be furious at intelligence failings in Ukraine after huge investment over many years to ensure Russian support in key places.
Russian outlet Buninskaya Alleya reported: ‘More and more sources report that Vladislav Surkov is under house arrest.
‘Investigative measures have been carried out allegedly in the case of embezzlement in the Donbas since 2014.
‘It was Surkov who was the representative of the Russian President in Ukraine.’
Telegram channel Druid reported: ‘According to our sources, Vladislav Surkov is under house arrest’, Daily Mail reported.
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