The Man Behind The Men In Power In Russia

Vladislav Surkov and Vladimir Putin

Operating In The Shadows Of Power In Russia -- New York Times

FOR a moment this fall, as Russia's president and finance minister glared at each other like gladiators over a conference table, the most interesting face in the room belonged to a third man.

Vladislav Y. Surkov, the first deputy head of the presidential administration, was seated between them. As President Dmitri A. Medvedev prepared to fire the finance minister, Aleksei L. Kudrin, a man widely seen as indispensable, a smile flickered across Mr. Surkov's face — whether it indicated surprise, approval or pure aesthetic appreciation was not clear. It was replaced by a neutral expression, as if a curtain had fallen, and Mr. Surkov once again blended into a row of dark-suited apparatchiks.

But anyone paying attention had glimpsed the smile of a true surv [...]

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