From: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty By Mike Eckel
- Dmitry Kozak, a close ally of Vladimir Putin, has resigned from his role in the Kremlin, according to spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
- Kozak, who reportedly opposed the Ukraine war, had been a key figure in the Kremlin since Putin’s early political career in the 1990s.
- His departure is rare among senior officials and signals that any dissent regarding the Ukraine is not welcome in the Putin administration.
Dmitry Kozak — a longtime confidant and close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin who reportedly opposed the Ukraine war in its early days — has resigned from the government, the Kremlin said.
Kozak, 66, who served as deputy head of the Kremlin’s powerful Presidential Administration, opted to leave on his accord, spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on September 18.
The announcement followed days of speculation about Kozak, who is one of Putin’s longest serving aides, dating back to the Russian leader’s early days in politics in the St. Petersburg mayor’s office in the 1990s. Departures of senior administration or cabinet officials under Putin are rare.
Several Russian news reports said Kozak had been offered a position as the top official for the northwest federal district of Russia, but had declined it. Peskov made no mention of that.
Gravel-voiced and often well-coiffed, the Ukrainian-born Kozak rode Putin’s coattails into the Kremlin when Putin became president in 2000, and served in multiple high-level roles over the years, including as deputy prime minister for nearly 12 years.
He served as the Kremlin’s point man organizing the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, which Kremlin saw as a sign of Russia’s rightful return to the world stage. After Moscow seized Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in March 2014, and later annexed it, he was sanctioned by the United States and other Western governments.
Voice of Ukraine 