Babich could replace Surkov as Putin Ukraine adviser, report says

Mikhail Babich, a
high-ranking Russian official with a KGB background, is a likely candidate to
replace Vladislav Surkov as Putin’s key adviser on Ukrainian affairs, the
kommersant.ru news site reported on May 31, citing anonymous sources. Citing a
source in the Presidential Administration, the report said that “Surkov has
practically removed himself” from the war in Donbas, having conflicts with
officials responsible for counterintelligence in the self-declared republics.

Babich currently serves
as the Russian president’s representative to the Volga Federal District. In
June 2016, he was nominated by a Russian Duma committee to become Russian
ambassador to Ukraine. The Ukrainian government rejected the nomination in
August 2016 after Ukrainian experts reported he is a professional saboteur with
FSB experience who would be active in organizing military operations with the
pro-Russian fighters in Donbas.

Besides Babich,
Putin could select someone from law enforcement, the report said. “That option
can be considered a sign that ‘everything is bad on the Ukrainian front’,” the
Kommersant article said. Sergey Glazyev, the Russian president’s economic
adviser who has also been active on Ukrainian issues, could also resign from
the presidential administration.

Zenon Zawada: The
evidence is mounting that Surkov’s tenure as the “Ukrainian curator” is coming
to an end. Babich’s appointment would mean that Putin will remain on his
current foreign policy course regarding Ukraine. Rather than mentioning a
possible appeaser, the report mentions only another hardline candidate as a
possibility, from the law enforcement field. So Putin will only remain on his
current course of low-level military aggression in Ukraine, or intensify it, as
we have been consistently
telling our clients. Compromise with the West
is not an option.