The dictator takes decisions on his own, Nevzlin said.

Russian dictator Putin sometimes consults with a group of his associates when making decisions. Most often, decisions are made individually, a similar trend has been observed since 2012.

Leonid Nevzlin, a Russian-Israeli businessman, one of the former heads of the Yukos oil company, spoke about this in an interview with Dmitry Gordon.

According to Nevzlin, Putin's inner circle includes about 10 people: businessmen, heads of state corporations, high-ranking officials, and security officials. First of all, we are talking about a businessman and the main shareholder of Bank Rossiya, Yuri Kovalchuk, Nevzlin said.

Also Putin's associates are the following persons:

• head of Rosneft Igor Sechin;
• head of Rostec Sergey Chemezov;
• businessmen Arkady Rotenberg and Gennady Timchenko (the last two are "more like so-called friends and partners");
• FSB director Alexander Bortnikov;
• Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev;
• Kremlin officials: First Deputy Heads of the Presidential Administration Sergey Kiriyenko and Alexey Gromov and Deputy Head Dmitry Kozak.

According to the businessman, the head of Putin's administration, Anton Vaino, has no influence.

"Vaino is an assistant. Kiriyenko has real influence. Because, firstly, he is Kovalchuk's man. Secondly, he himself understands and knows what needs to be done to please both Kovalchuk and, so to speak, this boss," Nevzlin said.

He argues that after the start of a full-scale war against Ukraine, the influence of the security forces and special services on Putin has increased.