On February 27, after a long illness, at the age of 71, Gleb Pavlovsky, political strategist, political scientist and founder of the Effective Policy Fund, died. In the Soviet years he was a dissident, then became a political strategist and participated in Boris Yeltsin’s presidential campaign in 1996, in the 2000s he imagined Vladimir Putin’s electoral campaign and collaborated with the presidential administration for many many years, and after 2011 he went into opposition in the Kremlin. RTVI collected reactions to Pavlovsky’s death.
Dmitry Kolezev*, journalist
Vova Zhabrikov / TASS
Confirmed the death of Gleb Pavlovsky. Many obituaries will be written today, milestones in his biography will be recalled: in Soviet times, a dissident, philosopher, political prisoner; in 1990s Russia, a political strategist, one of Putin’s consultants and the man who helped bring Putin to power. Then – departure for the opposition (even before the Crimea, in 2011) and many years of calm, but methodical criticism of the system that Pavlovsky himself once helped to build.
When I started working full-time in political journalism in the early 2000s, Pavlovsky’s star was very high – the main Kremlin consultant, a powerful and influential person. But the Kremlin was different then, there was still room for intellectuals and even rebels at its side, and the course seemed, on the whole, democratic.
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Personally, I first met Pavlovsky much later, at forums or conferences in Moscow, when he had already stopped working with the Kremlin and had become a critic of the system. But, of course, I knew him casually, many of my colleagues knew him much better. But in recent years I was able to work with him as an author – having come to Republic *, I suggested that Pavlovsky write several columns for us.
Alexander Morozov, political scientist
I met Pavlovsky in 1986. He returned at the end of 1985 from his exile in Komi, and a little later I served a year of forced labor through the commission of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In order not to get into further trouble, I needed a work certificate. Lena Marinicheva, who at the time worked at Club and Amateur Art magazine, helped people, and I came to her office for a certificate stating that I was “a freelance correspondent for the magazine.” And that’s where Gleb Pavlovsky found himself writing. Lena said to me: “it’s Gleb, he has the same problems”. We quickly took our certificates – and ran away
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The other day we discussed “experts” – who predicted ***** and who didn’t. Gleb Pavlovsky said quite clearly and consistently in November-December 2021 that ***** would happen, that the system of the Russian Federation (as he called it) was approaching the inevitability of war. On December 18, with public warnings from the US administration already sounding but getting mixed responses, Mikhail Fishman* spoke with Pavlovsky about what the Kremlin’s preparations meant and what the Department of Security’s statements meant. State. And Pavlovsky’s response was unequivocal and reasoned.
Gleb Olegovich Pavlovsky is dead. A brilliant and extraordinary person with a developed intuition and a natural talent in public relations. A brilliant analyst, a man of a surprisingly clear mind and at the same time a good organizer – a combination of unique properties for an intellectual, which many disliked and envied.
He was not an angel at all, he was professionally cynical, which does not mean a lack of views and convictions, knew how to appreciate people and friends, knew how to admit his mistakes and even his own betrayal (which he spoke about openly about to Vyacheslav Igrunov in his memoirs).
We weren’t friends, but we had a warm human relationship. Many will probably be surprised, but even working at the FEP in 2004-2005, I didn’t know him personally at that time (although most people still try to befriend their boss personally), for me it was only a temporary job analysis.
We met personally much later, when I was already one of the most prominent independent political commentators and had a number of books to my credit. He respected me, perhaps precisely because I never needed anything from him and never sought favors from anyone.
Now in Russian political analysis there are no figures of this magnitude. He knew how to present and sell analytics, but he didn’t turn show business into some kind of analytics. He never made pious wishes. Being professionally sober and honest is a great skill.
Blessed memory and deep reverence. Read Pavlovsky’s books, there are a lot of interesting things there. For example, about acquaintance with Putin and the first personal impressions of him at that time – they explain a lot later. That’s what he left us.
Gleb Olegovich was so small in the hospital. Like a child. A serious illness turns anyone into a child. They talked, but it was difficult for him, he quickly got tired. It only came to life again when I began to remember our meetings at the Phalanster (they used to gossip there in a close circle after hours, among the bookshelves), and so I remained a man of the book to the end.
And when he saw the berries, he was also delighted – he asked for berries, brought him raspberries.
Suddenly, and a very common Russian story – he avoided doctors, finally went to a routine examination, and suddenly everything fell at once …
He was not an easy person, he had many different things, but how he was able to think in complex and beautiful ways.
Thank you, GO Pavlovsky, for a lot of interesting texts, his and Mr. Gefter. Books, articles, interviews. For Russian Journal and Gefter.ru. For friendship with SG Kordonsky and other wonderful people. I don’t know if this will expiate many years of assistance to the Kremlin. A very Russian way – many sins and many attempts to correct them. I think the texts always win out, they contribute to the understanding of our catastrophe – both as a lens and as part of the catastrophe itself (the illusions and seduction that led to it).
Boris Kupriyanov, founder of Falanster Bookstore
Gleb Olegovich Pavlovsky is dead. The person is very complex. The person is very important to me. A very Russian person both in character and in destiny. He didn’t have much to say. Or maybe he didn’t want to. Worried about the last published book – “Weak”. I really wanted to read it. Until you read it.
He once gave me, I don’t know what he deserved, a red flag, which (one of) hung in the White House during the events of 1993. A very important gift for me.
Petr Kozlov, journalist
With the death of Pavlovsky, a considerable amount of knowledge disappeared, how Putin’s personalist dictatorial regime was born; the ideology of Putinism was taking shape; “sovereign democracy” was born and how Medvedev’s 2nd term party lost. If the latter had not taken place, there would have been no invasion. I would like to hope that Pavlovsky left manuscripts that will one day be published and made public.
The late Gleb Pavlovsky was, together with Surkov, the chief political strategist of the Kremlin and Putin for 10 years during the era of the flourishing of political technologies. And when Russia quickly emerged from the crisis of the 90s and entered an era of prosperity and wealth. Pavlovsky, with the wisdom of an Odessa serpent, helped Putin and his Chekists to manage Russia. As chief polytechnician.
Valery Shubinsky, poet, literary critic
My first online publication was in a magazine created by Pavlovsky. I think his name was “Pushkin”. It was 1998. Then it was exotic – an online publication.
Politically, God is his judge. At least he repented.
Ivan Kurilla, historian
Once, during perestroika, I read a thin magazine “Century of the XX and the World”, the most radical mass publication of that time. Pavlovsky was not its editor, but he played one of the main roles in it. That’s how I learned his name.
(I read the story of his ambiguous dissent at the same time and decided that was not for me to judge).
During the years of early Putinism, the GOP assembled a team from the Effective Policy Foundation, which spanned the construction of authoritarianism with complex discursive constructs. There were many brilliant people in the team who created significant projects in the political Internet, consulting and media (I will only remember Gefter and the Russian Journal) – many of them have long been in opposition. FEP gave someone a “start in life”. Pavlovsky himself later hosted a nauseating TV show. It was this period that he was reminded of throughout the last decade, when Gleb Olegovich was no longer allowed to enter the Kremlin (if anyone remembers this, it was one of the signs of a change of era), and he turned into a critic of the Putin system. It should be noted that Pavlovsky did not try to justify himself (or I missed this point) for his contribution to Putinism, silently enduring criticism (correct me if I didn’t notice).
We ran into Gleb Pavlovsky two or three times at certain events. There is a book on the shelf. Two years ago, at the request of the editor, he wrote a presentation recommendation for the cover of my battle for the past.
The Ministry of Justice managed to include his name in the latest list of “foreign agents” (Pavlovsky was not included in the register of “foreign agents” – note RTVI). It seems that he was included in some of the (Ukrainian?) sanctions lists even earlier.
Pavlovsky managed to become a significant participant in several eras and died during the subsequent demolition.
Russia’s intellectual political landscape has become impoverished.
* registered by the Ministry of Justice of Russia in the register of foreign agents
