Publicist and former head of the Moscow KGB directorate Yevgeny Savostyanov, whom Russia’s Justice Ministry added to the “foreign agents” register at the end of November, said in an interview with Novaya Gazeta Europe that he sees the designation as part of political repression. In his view, the law was designed from the outset to suppress dissent and make citizens completely dependent on the state.
Savostyanov, who served as deputy head of Boris Yeltsin’s presidential administration from 1996 to 1999, linked the tightening of this practice to Vladimir Putin’s course toward lifelong one-man rule. He said that as the internet and social media expanded, the authorities began looking for additional ways to pressure critics, including as part of preparations for a future confrontation with the West.
“The foreign agent status was invented to make people absolutely dependent on the state, to deprive them of the ability to express an alternative opinion,” Savostyanov said.
He also argued that Russia’s break with the West was driven not only by ideology, but by the Kremlin’s need to justify abandoning political turnover. In his account, after 2013 Moscow became increasingly dependent on China, which by then already surpassed Russia economically. In that context, Savostyanov described Putin as a man reduced to the role of Beijing’s junior partner.
He separately recalled the events of 2014: the annexation of Crimea, the Kremlin’s attempts to avoid a complete rupture with Europe, and talks around the Power of Siberia pipeline. According to him, Beijing made clear that any help would come only on terms favorable to China, and Moscow’s hopes for a quick economic fallback did not materialize.
Speaking about Putin’s future, Savostyanov suggested that he may remain in power for a long time because his entourage fears both him and one another. At the same time, the interviewee said that only Xi Jinping could theoretically exert serious influence, and that Beijing’s position in the coming years will be shaped by the benefits China derives from the war in Ukraine.