“At first glance, Igor Sechin looks as if he is at the peak of his influence,” the report report says, charting his path to control over Russia’s largest oil companies. However, the report claims that his power will wane because his “self-assertive ruling method” has created “a coalition of elites to form against him.”
Chairman of the State Duma, Vychaslav Volodin, will also lose influence, the report said. His merging parliamentary parties into a single-ruling pro-Putin coalition reduces “the significance of the parliament as a platform representing the entire society,” the report added.
Owner of gas pipeline construction company Stroygazmontazh, Arkady Rotenberg is the third slated to exit the inner circle because of his limited ability to implement certain projects after being heavily targeted by Western sanctions.
Those predicted to remain in Putin’s inner circle include Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Rostec CEO Sergey Chemezov, and Moscow’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin.