Never since the start of the war in Ukraine, he had granted the slightest interview. He had never delivered the slightest public comment on this conflict which ravages the heart of Europe for more than three years now. Yet Vladislav Sourkov, the man who “made” Vladimir Putin, the one who inspired Giuliano Da Empoli his magnificent work to Giuliano Da The Mage du Kremlin (Gallimard), has a lot to tell us about Russia and the man who directs it.
“In a way, interviewing this Shadow strategist is to enter the head of Putin,” says Charles Haquet, editor -in -chief of the L’Express Monde Service, who carried out this interview. Indeed, Vladislav Sourkov advised the Russian president for 20 years and shaped a political system which he himself called “poutinism”.
Some will no doubt wonder why L’Express offers this platform to the man who played, according to several sources, a key role in the annexation of Crimea and separatist regions. The answer is given to us by the MEP Raphaël Glucksmann, who knows the character well : If Western leaders had read Sourkov, they would have understood faster than their appeasement policy would not take them anywhere.
So what do we learn about Vladimir Putin, Russia today and the future of Europe? Discover behind the scenes of this exclusive interview in this new video format, to find on our site, and all our social networks.