Destined to be at Odds

Slava Surkov has been showing up frequently in the past few days.  First, for the fifth anniversary of Nashi, where he reportedly said:

If we all go on vacation, the consequences won’t wait. We see what’s happening in Kyrgyzstan — that means we’re needed and have to be at our posts. … Those who chose for themselves the political fight will never be able to relax again….

Well, okay then…

Alexei Chadaev

In light of the rumours of a reshuffle going on in the Presidential Administration, I want to address the issue of Alexei Chadaev.  At 31 years of age, Chadaev has accomplished quite a lot.  He is a graduate of the State Academy of Slavic Culture, and a member of the Public Chamber.  The most interesting thing about Alexei, however, is his book entitled, Putin.  His Ideology. Chadaev was praised quite highly for this at the time, including from one of my favourite people Vladislav Surkov.

What confuses me is what FT has to say about Chadaev:

Alexei Chadaev, a conservative political commentator, is expected shortly to be named as a speechwriter working alongside the Kremlin’s first deputy chief of staff, Vladislav Surkov, who oversees management of the Kremlin’s domestic political machine. Mr Chadaev is known for a public criticism of Mr Surkov’s ideology in January. Yet to be confirmed, his appointment has been widely reported by Moscow papers with close links to the Kremlin and people in the Kremlin have confirmed that background checks are being carried out.

I suppose Chadaev could be considered “conservative”, but in Russia my definition of conservative is someone along the lines of Eduard Limonov, the leader of the National Bolsheviks.  However, Chadaev was (I have been unable find out if he still is) involved with Nashi.  Often compared to the Hitler Youth by opponents, Nashi is also quite conservative.  Since FT reports that there was some kind of falling out between Surkov, and Chadaev, I assume that Chadaev is no longer involved with Nashi.

Chadaev is also involved with a website called liberty.ru, which seems to be connected in some way to Gleb Pavlovsky, who is usually referred to as “a Kremlin connected analyst”.  None of this information makes Chadaev seem like a good candidate for anything within the Administration, especially if he is supposed to be working with Surkov.