RT by @mikenov: A second photo of former #BND chief August #Hanning and Nikolai #Patrushev—Putin’s longtime security confidant who succeeded him as FSB head in 1999 and later served as Secretary of the Security Council—from the same 2019 event makes their proximity look even less accidental. – At the Valaam Monastery visit linked to the Arctic Council gathering under #Russia’s Security Council, Hanning is again positioned directly beside Patrushev in a place of honor—this time in an outdoor group photo in front of the monastery doors, among participants in matching blue jackets. – The earlier interior photo (the one I posted yesterday, and again in the following tweet, with Hanning circled n

A second photo of former  #BND chief August  #Hanning and Nikolai  #Patrushev—Putin’s longtime security confidant who succeeded him as FSB head in 1999 and later served as Secretary of the Security Council—from the same 2019 event makes their proximity look even less accidental.
– At the Valaam Monastery visit linked to the Arctic Council gathering under  #Russia’s Security Council, Hanning is again positioned directly beside Patrushev in a place of honor—this time in an outdoor group photo in front of the monastery doors, among participants in matching blue jackets.
– The earlier interior photo (the one I posted yesterday, and again in the following tweet, with Hanning circled next to Patrushev amid the gold of the iconostasis) already showed striking access.
– This second image from the same trip reinforces that it was not a random snapshot: the retired Western intelligence chief was repeatedly placed next to one of  #Putin’s longest-serving security confidants.
– Patrushev succeeded Putin as  #FSB head in 1999 and remained central through the 2014 Crimea annexation and the 2022 full-scale invasion of  #Ukraine.
– After leaving FSB in 2008, Patrushev served as the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation from 2008 to May 2024.

— @Shtuni Oct 18, 2026