But Putin is not working alone.
He is surrounded by a bevy of equally ruthless lieutenants just as eager to deceive the West with bombs and rhetoric. These henchmen – and occasional women – are not just sly, but extremely well compensated thanks to their close proximity to Putin’s kleptocratic machine. Long-serving and dedicated, the Russian leader owes this creepy crew a perverse debt of gratitude for helping him achieve his terrifying goals. Here’s a look at the top seven characters in Putin’s war orbit. Nikolai PatrushevREUTERS

The heir

Nikolai Patrushev, the head of Russia’s Security Council, is Putin’s closest adviser, Putin’s longtime personal friend, and a Kremlin hawk who could easily take the reins of Mother Russia — at least temporarily — if Putin were to weaken. Patrushev is highly influential in the Kremlin bureaucracy and is one of the main architects of the Putin Doctrine — which seeks to return former Soviet-era states (such as Ukraine) to Russian control. Patrushev is Putin’s evil twin, with both twins, in this case, being evil. Their relationship dates back to 1975, when they worked together in the KGB. Like his boss, Patrushev – who served as a spy for 50 years – has likely authorized targeted killings of many Russian “enemies”. Among his victims is former FSB officer and vocal Putin critic Alexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned in Britain in 2006, along with Chechen separatist leaders who were hunted down and killed as part of an anti-terrorist program in the late 1990s. At 71, Patrushev, like Putin, is a dedicated athlete who regularly plays volleyball and swims nearly three miles a week. He does not abuse alcohol, which is unusual for Russian men, preferring the occasional glass of wine to hard liquor. He is a workaholic and is never late for meetings. It is possible that Patrushev helped hatch the plan for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine’s Crimea in 2014 and Putin’s attack on the rest of Ukraine last February. Patrushev is also a rabid anti-American propagandist who recently accused Washington of running a biological weapons program in Ukraine. Even more curiously, he has suggested that the US plans to drop a nuclear weapon on Ukrainian soil and then blame it on Russia. Dmitry PeskovSputnik/Sergey Guneev/Kremlin via REUTERS

The talking head

Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s press secretary, sums up the Russian proverb “You can put pressure on his eyes and he’ll say it’s the dew of God.” This saying describes people who are so shameless in their ability to lie, that they remain aloof even when directly challenged. Peskov has served as Putin’s spokesman since 2008. His job, essentially, is to create an alternate reality in which Russia’s geopolitical activities are seen as benign—if not entirely righteous—while covering up the atrocities committed by Putin and the Kremlin. Peskov, 54, excels at the job, judging by the fact that most Russians appear to support Putin’s “special operation” in Ukraine – launched, Putin said, to “de-Nazify and demilitarize ” the nation. Peskov was even able to trick the Biden security team into believing that Russia might not launch its troops against Ukraine, causing Washington to hesitate until Putin’s forces encircled and attacked the nation on February 24. Like others in Putin’s world, Peskov managed to become a multi-millionaire by repeating his boss’s lies. He has a $10 million real estate empire, travels on private jets and yachts, drives luxury vehicles and, of course, sports designer watches. His third wife and two grown children from a couple of previous marriages are “bathed in gold,” as another Russian proverb goes, and own multimillion-dollar homes around the world. Peskov’s 24-year-old daughter Elizaveta Peskova studied business and marketing in Paris and interned at Louis Vuitton and the European Parliament. There are rumors that Peskov may be divorcing his current wife, a 47-year-old former Olympic ice dancer Tatiana Navka. Peskov married Navka in 2015 after apparently wooing her with his “elegant and tenacity” as well as his “full-on” dance style. Maria Zakharova on YouTube

The sassy spokeswoman

Maria Zakharova is the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry and one of the most colorful figures in Putin’s circle. At 46, she is the first female spokeswoman in the history of Russia’s Foreign Ministry and has held the position since 2015. Half warrior, half seductress, Zakharova is known for her combative communication style and the magic wands she likes to wield. Western officials, often loaded with sexual undertones. Every day, Zakharova’s updates are filled with Putin’s lies — such as portraying Ukraine as being overrun by Nazis and in need of immediate liberation by Russian forces. In the evening, she floods social media with suggestive selfies wearing bright red lipstick and posing provocatively in strapless dresses. In early July, Zakharova posted a sexy video of herself caressing two strawberries with her mouth and tongue to the tune of the patriotic Russian song “Kalinka,” performed by the Red Army Choir. But the main targets of Putin’s propaganda minister are the Biden administration, US democracy and Western values ​​in general. Last month, Zakharova posted on her Telegram channel a strange photo of two transgender officials in the Biden administration, Dr. Energy. In the photo, which was taken at the French ambassador’s Bastille Day party, Rachel Levine wore a ‘masculine’ style admiral outfit, while Sam Brinton wore a more ‘feminine’ blue floral print dress with a plunging neckline and blazer. and blue, strappy heels. “Answer this question honestly: are these the values ​​you would like to pass on to your children? Or will we fight for our people?” Zakharova wrote, mocking Western liberalism and democracy. Margarita SimonyanREUTERS

The Media-Maven

Margarita Simonyan, 42, is Putin’s propaganda queen. Officially, she is the Editor-in-Chief of RT, the global Russian network of television channels, websites and social media accounts broadcasting to non-Russian-speaking audiences in English, Spanish, French, Arabic, German and Russian. In fact, Simonyan is not a journalist. RT is Putin’s pet project: a Russian state news agency created with the primary goal of publishing pro-Kremlin content to influence foreign, and especially Western, audiences about Russia and Putin. Putin created RT in 2005 as Russia Today. But in late 2013, Putin issued an executive presidential order to “restructure” the network and rebrand it as “RT” — obscuring RT’s connection to Russia. in Russia, graduated from high school with a Gold Medal for top academic performance, completed vocational training in radio broadcasting, and later earned a university degree in journalism. Putin goes by the name Simonyan and likely personally endorsed her candidacy for this high-profile role, which she took on at the age of 25 in 2005. He’s also rather friendly with her: In 2019, during a ceremony at the Kremlin, in which Simonyan was awarded the state prize for her patriotic reporting, Putin used the Russian word “ty” – which is a sign of familiarity – instead of “vy”, which is a more formal version of the English “you”. Simonyan also has a yellow telephone in her office with a direct secure line to the Kremlin. RT’s content ranges from “animated genitalia”, a vagina and a dancing penis – and their friends “laughing breasts” and an “overly impatient hand” – to Simonyan’s threats of nuclear war if he is denied victory in Russia in Ukraine. Arkady RotenbergEPA

Hockey bro

Arkady Rotenberg, 70, a billionaire Russian businessman, has been friends with Putin since the 1960s, when he and his brother, Boris, met a young Putin in their native St. Petersburg while attending a sambo training center – the Russian martial art and combat sport favored by the Soviet military. As chairman of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation’s executive board, Rothenberg regularly plays hockey with Putin and was once his partner in judo, a sport Putin says transformed him from a young hooligan to a politician. Awarded by Putin with billions of dollars in oil and gas contracts, Rotenberg owns a $38 million yacht, a luxury hotel in Rome, a large estate in Surrey, England, and several villas in Italy and France. Vladimir PotaninREUTERS

The super oligarch

Vladimir Potanin, 61, is another friend of Putin’s, a hockey partner and the richest man in Russia, worth $25 billion. Potanin was one of the “big seven” Russian oligarchs who helped re-elect Putin’s predecessor Boris Yeltsin to the Russian presidency in 1996. Yeltsin, who became the first Russian president after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, presided over one of the darkest, most turbulent and chaotic periods of Russian history. While the West foolishly waited for Russia to turn into a Jeffersonian republic, Russian leaders plotted to defraud the country’s major natural resource companies. Potanin’s relationship with Putin dates back to 2000, when Yeltsin chose Putin as the next President of Russia, while Potanin was…