Who is the man Russian President Vladimir Putin entrusts with the reconstruction of the annexed Ukrainian territories?
Moscow – Many people surrounded Wladimir Putin. How many of them he really trusts is unknown. But one man appears to be playing a key role for the Russian president: Marat Khusnullin. The construction bureaucrat from Tatarstan has maneuvered himself into a leading role as overseer of Russia’s “restoration” of the annexed Ukrainian territories, a prestigious position in the Kremlin regime – and is therefore in the circle of Vladimir Putin’s trusted subordinates.
Last month, in early September, Vladimir Putin inaugurated a new section of the “Vostok” highway connecting Moscow and Kazan. “It’s cleared…” the president said with a smile. Khusnullin, who as deputy prime minister is responsible for the Russian government’s construction projects, also took part in the ceremony. He hastily and obsequiously noted that the highway would have been impossible without Putin and praised the president for “all the comprehensive solutions” needed “to build such a beautiful road!”, reports Meduzaa Russian-language online magazine based in Latvia.
Marat Khusnullin is said to be planning a holiday parade on election day
A source close to the presidential administration shared Meduza that Putin’s expressway appearance was staged as an election campaign event. In fact, the ceremony took place just days before a gubernatorial election in the Nizhny Novgorod region, where the new section of highway was being built. United Russia candidate Gleb Nikitin later won the vote comfortably. But the Kremlin already has a larger campaign in mind, says the source, who calls Marat Khusnullin a “key figure” in Putin’s re-election next spring.
The government will reportedly rely on Khusnullin to act as one of the leading “event suppliers” ahead of polling day. Loud Meduza The Kremlin has a plan to turn next year’s election into a “holiday parade” to celebrate the many “successes of Putin’s Russia.” Some of these celebrations will mark the opening of new infrastructure facilities, including new stretches of highway.
Khusnullin became “one of Putin’s favorite subordinates,” he said Meduza. For example, when the president made a brisk nighttime visit to occupied Mariupol in March 2023, it was Khusnullin who accompanied Putin on a ride through the city and bragged that Russia “restored” a city that had been bombed and shelled in many places.
Marat Khusnullin’s rapid career rise
A source close to the Kremlin shared Meduza that Putin first noticed Khusnullin when he headed the Ministry of Construction in Tatarstan. Before this job, Khusnullin worked for local construction companies and was also a deputy in the State Council of Tatarstan. Two decades ago, Putin frequently visited Kazan. When Putin came to town, Khusnullin took him on tours to construction sites across the city. “He always knew how to present himself to his superiors and emphasize his role in the common cause,” recalls a long-time acquaintance who worked with Khusnullin in Tatarstan.
Observers attribute Khusnullin’s rapid career rise to these encounters in Kazan. Until 2010, he led construction work in Moscow as one of the city’s deputy mayors and met with Putin even more frequently as one of those responsible for the renovation work on the Luzhniki Olympic complex in the run-up to the 2018 FIFA World Cup. He was also instrumental in its creation Moscow’s Zaryadye Landscape Park and the renovation of buildings throughout the city. Khusnullin was also involved in the expansion of the Moscow Metro between 2012 and 2019, when the metro added an additional 47 stations.
Dozens of businessmen from Tatarstan followed Khusnullin Moscow, where they found leading positions in the city’s construction sector. During an investigation in September 2018 by journalists from the Novaya Gazeta 46 of these people were identified. For example, Khusnullin’s former deputy in the Tatar Ministry of Construction, Mars Gazizullin, later headed the Moscow city civil engineering company Mosinzhproekt, which oversaw the expansion of the subway.
Marat Khusnullin: “Subordination” and “Cult of Personality”
Khusnullin always values shared successes and puts his superiors first. “That means it was the mayor when he worked in the city hall, not Mr. Khusnullin. The top figure came first. He was simply the good executor of the leadership’s will. Irreplaceable perhaps, but only one operator,” says the online magazine’s anonymous source Meduza.
This tactic paid off. In 2020, Khusnullin reached the federal level and became deputy prime minister with the task of overseeing construction projects. He immediately announced plans to build a road network between regions of Russia and renovate housing throughout the country. “Construction is movement. It’s energy,” he said in 2021.
Sources who know Khusnullin say he lacks “particular political views.” “He understands the Soviet-era planned economy, but he also agrees with the free market,” the people said Meduza. He takes Khusnullin’s love of “practical leadership” and “subordination” very seriously: he understands who is at the top and who is below him. There is a real “cult of personality” in his team.
Khusnullin: Russia’s curator of “restoration” infrastructure projects
How Meduza reported in the fall of 2022, Putin lost in the first months of Russia’s all-out invasion Ukraine almost any interest in civil and domestic affairs. Even construction projects fell off the president’s agenda. While other members of the government tried to maintain a distance from the war, Khusnullin plunged into it headfirst, traveling regularly to the “new territories” and becoming Russia’s de facto curator of “restoration” infrastructure projects in occupied Ukraine. This, of course, caught Putin’s attention again, says a source with ties to the Kremlin.
Today, Khusnullin and the Ministry of Construction he controls play a key role in awarding Russian construction contracts in the occupied territories. The total cost of this work is unknown, but Russian authorities have estimated that “infrastructure restoration” will require at least 1.5 trillion rubles (approximately 15 billion euros).
Putin is getting “tired of military issues”
Putin has praised Khusnullin several times. Since the front lines in Ukraine war are frozen in many places, the president is “gradually getting tired of military issues” and is regaining his interest in domestic affairs, sources close to the Kremlin say loudly Meduza. “It has become important [dem Westen] to prove that the economy is holding up and everything is going as before,” the sources explained. “Construction, roads and bridges – that’s what he gets. It brings back memories of the good old days.”
A source with ties to the Russian government says Khusnullin “knows what he’s doing,” but that doesn’t mean he has any specific professional ambitions. “He just knows how to grow,” says Meduzas Source. “The president knows better where and who is needed. If they say he should take over as Prime Minister, he will do it. He will be happy to do it. But it would be wrong to say that he is working towards becoming prime minister.” (Sonja Thomaser)
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