Leak from Russia: A source from the Cheka-OGPU on the real #2 in Russia:

"At the moment, the real #2 in the country, Putin's most trusted person, the person who largely determines the present and future of Russia, is Mikhail Kovalchuk. He currently controls most of the mainstream media and his media empire continues to grow. There are talks that Usmanov and a number of other oligarchs may soon transfer the management of their media assets to Kovalchuk's structures.

The current Defense Minister, Andrei Belousov, is considered to be Kovalchuk's man.

One of Kovalchuk's undisclosed goals is to put Shoigu in jail. It was at Kovalchuk's suggestion that the security forces put Shoigu in a real noose. Almost weekly, cases are being filed related to embezzlement in the Moscow Region and the Defense Ministry, which Shoigu was in charge of. Of course, it is a big question whether Putin will allow Shoigu to go to jail, but Kovalchuk is going about it with persistence and purpose.
          
Rosatom is under Kovalchuk's control. At his suggestion, the security forces are now conducting a total inspection of this structure and its subsidiaries. For example, there are now questions about the mega-deal to buy the Budenovskoye uranium deposit in Kazakhstan from Vasily Anisimov (Usmanov's partner, once an oligarch close to Putin, now living in Switzerland). Not only was this deal a failure for Rosatom, but it was also accompanied by some incredible theft and "skimming."
 
Rosatom was actively involved in the creation of the "shadow fleet" and in the roundabout ways of transporting oil products by tankers. Thefts here also amount to billions of dollars.

The expenditure of funds for the construction of the Akkuyu NPP in Turkey is also being checked. In terms of the amount of stolen funds, the nuclear power plant can only compete with the thefts during the construction of the Vostochny cosmodrome.  

Roscosmos is also now under control of Kovalchuk, who blames Rogozin for all the failures and also sees the latter in prison. The security forces are working in this direction, and Rogozin has decided to sit out of the Federation Council.

Kovalchuk also got the United Shipbuilding Corporation, and Gazprombank is under his control.

The list goes on and on. There are rumors that Rosneft may soon be taken over by him, as Sechin has practically stepped aside from managing the company after his son's death.
 
Kovalchuk also has his sights set on Rostec, whose position has recently weakened. At least the Sukhoi Superjet project is being restarted under Kovalchuk's control.
The Kurchatov Institute, run by Kovalchuk, has now turned into a kind of mega-empire, with dozens of institutes and enterprises being herded in.  
Kovalchuk controls the Accounts Chamber and the Presidential Control Office.

To this we can add that Kovalchuk has completely taken over Putin's mind; his new ideology is, in fact, Kovalchuk's ideology. Kovalchuk also determines Putin's environment. It's no secret that he doesn't like Arkady Rotenberg very much. And, voila, on Putin's last birthday, for the first time, Arkady Rotenberg did not get the opportunity to congratulate his childhood friend in person. All avenues to Putin are now cut off for Rotenberg.  

Recently, Kovalchuk has been assigned a personal plane from the Rossiya airline, he travels accompanied by FSO officers, and top officials line up to see him for five minutes. Sobyanin looks right into his mouth."