Vladislav Surkov, the Kremlin's 'gray cardinal,' is at the top of the U.S. sanctions list. Is he pulling Putin's strings?

Is This the Mastermind Behind

 Russia’s Crimea Grab?

by Anna Nemtsova & Eli Lake

When, as a response to the Kremlin’s takeover of the Crimea, the White House issued its first list of Russian officials subject to visa restrictions and asset freezes, many in the Moscow elite wondered why Vladislav Surkov made it to the very top of the roster. Or, rather, why now?

For years Surkov was a shadow towering behind the presidents of Russia, including and especially Vladimir Putin. He was the ideologue, the strategist, theéminence grise. Russians, who are well-versed in the romance of “The Three Musketeers,” liked to call him “the gray cardinal,” after one of the masters of intrigue in the treacherous court of Louis XIII.

But even the mightiest courtiers fall out of favor, and since Putin’s reelection in 2012, Surkov’s influence had seemed to be waning – until the crisis in Ukraine. Over the last several months, according to U.S. officials who spoke to The Daily Beast on condition of anonymity, the White House has come to believe that Surkov is Putin’s key advisor on the Russian propaganda campaign against Kiev and the referendum in Crimea that lead to annexation on Tuesday.

Surkov, famous for his cynical sense of humor, joked about his position as number one on the White House hit parade: “I am the first, always and everywhere,” he wrote on his Twitter account. Surkov denied he had any property in the United States besides the socks that he forgot in a Chicago hotel.

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