Vladimir Putin's ex-advisor who said he's 'maniacally obsessed' with Ukraine dies from 'serious illness'

Gleb Pavlovsky, a longtime adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin who later became one of his most renowned critics, has died at 71-years-old, as reported by local media.

Vladimir Putin ex-advisor and critic dies from 'serious illness'

Pavlovsky’s death was reported by his family on Monday 27 February on social media. The announcement said he died Sunday 26 February at a Moscow hospice after a prolonged 'serious illness'. They have not yet announced funeral arrangements.

His friend, Simon Kordonsky, head of the local self-government department at Moscow's Higher School of Economics, informed the Russian-language business daily newspaper Vedomosti of Pavlovsky's death. Kordonsky did not disclose exactly what illness he had.

Pavlovsky was an important political scientist who worked in the Russian government for 15 years, serving as Putin's political adviser and 'political technologist' from 1996 to 2011.

In 1995, he co-founded and headed the Foundation for Effective Politics, which played a vital role in developing Putin's presidential campaign in 2000.

In 2011, Pavlovsky was fired from his position as the Kremlin’s spin doctor. He was apparently sacked for endorsing then-President Dmitry Medvedev's re-election rather than Putin. Following this, he became critical of Putin's presidency and the Kremlin.

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Vladimir Putin was 'maniacally obsessed' with Ukraine

Putin’s former advisor was particularly critical of the Russian President’s decision to invade Ukraine last February. The day after the invasion, Pavlovsky told the Financial Times:

He’s even more isolated than Stalin. In the last years of his life, Stalin didn’t come to the Kremlin and lived in his dacha, but the politburo came to see him and they talked and drank. Putin doesn’t have that. He’s as isolated as he can be. And in that situation rational issues become irrational.

He continued:

Putin’s used to being lucky. That’s very dangerous for a gambler, because he starts believing fate is on his side. When you play Russian roulette, you feel that God is on your side until the shot rings out.

In April 2022, Pavlovsky told RFE/RL's Georgian Service that Putin made a serious misjudgement, and his decision made 'no political sense'. He said:

This is all Putin's own personal decision. Nobody other than Putin would have made it… Nobody, including myself, realized just how maniacally obsessed he must have been with Ukraine. We underestimated the extent of decay of the Russian government.

He continued that Putin 'stepped into a trap in Ukraine' and would find it hard to declare 'victory'.Pavlovsky also believed it was no longer 'unthinkable and impossible' that the conflict could 'spill into conventional warfare between Russia and the West, with NATO'.

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Sources used:

Newsweek: 'Putin's Former Adviser Who Denounced Ukraine War Dies of 'Serious Illness''

AP News: 'Kremlin image-maker turned critic Gleb Pavlovsky dies at 71'

The Moscow Times: 'Ex-Kremlin Adviser Gleb Pavlovsky Dies at 71'

Financial Times: 'Vladimir Putin, Russia’s resentful leader, takes the world to war'