KHODORKOVSKY COMMUNICATIONS CENTER

Oct 13, 2025

One of Putin’s closest allies didn’t quit for “personal reasons” or his alleged war opposition. $300M blown on elections in Moldova might have something to do with it.
As Deputy Chief of Staff of the Kremlin, Dmitry Kozak oversaw the post-Soviet space. An ethnic Ukrainian, he led Russia’s negotiations on Donbas for years. His departure coincided with the crushing defeat of pro-Kremlin forces in Moldova’s elections.
$300 million. That’s how much Putin poured into Moldova’s tiny elections. $300 million flushed down the drain as voters rejected the Kremlin’s message. https://www.politico.eu/article/moldova-election-russian-interference-maia-sandu/
Kozak officially resigned from his post on September 18th. The Moldovan elections were held on September 28th. He was out before the results rolled in on September 29 and Maia Sandu’s pro-EU party officially emerged victorious.
Now, it’s clear: he was fortunate to have jumped ship in time. The failure in Moldova isn’t on him anymore. Millions wasted? Not his fault either.
Greed merged with incompetence in a power struggle, and Kozak is now safely away from this disaster. The official explanation: he left “for health reasons.” Come on… At our age, everyone has health issues they’d rather not discuss. The real reasons are different—and they matter.
They matter because they indicate that Putin’s elite is beginning to believe the situation may not be as promising as Putin portrays it. Events in post-Soviet states affect both European security and global stability.

Follow to understand the implications of these developments.

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Putin’s ambitions are crumbling under the weight of reality: China is not the ally he hoped for. Here’s why:
No matter how hard Putin tries to please Xi, the partnership between China and Russia ends where the risks of sanctions begin. Without export licenses for dual-use items, Beijing no longer sells even machines with precision of 3–4 microns: https://www.newsweek.com/russia-denied-key-technology-china-10853160
Without these machines, Russia cannot produce turbines, construct engines, or repair aircraft. The sanctions evasion schemes that have sustained Russia are gradually being shut down.
At this pace, Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation, which brings together the largest aircraft manufacturers to develop, produce, sell, and service both civil and military aircraft, is unlikely to assemble more than a handful of narrow-body planes before 2030, failing to meet production targets.
https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/sanctions-are-spoiling-russias-plans-make-its-own-airplanes
Adding to the bleak outlook, Aeroflot is now gearing up to dismantle eight cargo aircraft just to maintain the operational status of its Western-built passenger fleet amid ongoing sanctions. https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/russias-aeroflot-to-dismantle-cargo-aircraft-for-spare-parts
Bloomberg reported in January of last year that Chinese banks are critically reviewing their Russian dealings: cutting ties with clients on the sanctions list, halting any services to the military sector — regardless of currency or location: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-16/china-banks-tighten-curbs-on-russia-after-us-sanctions-order
The first reports of delays in paid shipments began to arrive in the summer and fall of 2024; exporters were called in for “conversations” about compliance: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/29/china-firms-go-underground-on-russia-payments-as-banks-pull-back.html
Simply put, Chinese weren’t willing to risk their technologies and markets for Russia’s defense orders.
In fact, as early as March 2024, a number of Chinese banks stopped processing payments in yuan from Russia due to fears of secondary U.S. sanctions: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-17/us-sanctions-make-it-harder-for-russian-firms-to-get-paid-by-china
Not long before that the head of Putin’s government boasted that the countries had rid themselves of transactions in dollars and euros.
Putin has driven the Russian economy into a pit from which the country will take decades to climb out. Russia could have been at the forefront of innovation and technology; now, it can only buy what is still allowed from China.
While the West increases defense spending, China plays a double game: pretending to be a partner but unwilling to sacrifice its economic stability for Putin’s reckless ambitions. This is the strategic miscalculation of the Kremlin.
Putin’s reliance on China is a gamble with dire consequences.

I track how his regime is changing—follow for more analysis.

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Remember Paul Whelan? The American detained in Russia for 6 years and released last August in the major prisoner exchange. The FSB said it caught an American spy red-handed. The truth is far more awkward and embarrassing.
According to the FSB, US Marine Corps veteran Whelan was apprehended in 2018 when he was in the process of handing over a flash drive full of military cadet data. In truth, Whelan had been meeting young men from Russian military schools since the mid-2000s. He met them online, sent money, gave gifts, and visited in person. Some of his contacts were minors, one of them aged just 11.
He made multiple visits to Russia, often staying in hotel rooms with these young men and boys. This was the case during the trip when he was arrested in 2018. Dossier spoke to several young men who knew him. One recalled: ‘Of course we used to joke that he was some kind of American pedophile.’ But none of them described any criminal behaviour.
Another, a border guard Whelan once called ‘Dimochka’ on his personal website, said they met once in Moscow, drank beer, and went their separate ways. ‘That was it. No weird questions, nothing’. Speaking to Dossier center, Whelan admitted to meeting Russian servicemen, but denied giving them expensive gifts or sending large sums of money.
The truth of Whelan’s story was too embarrassing for the FSB, and for the institutions that trained these young men. So they rewrote it. Instead of an awkward middle-aged foreigner with a bizarre fixation, Whelan became a CIA officer caught in the act.
The case against him never had anything to do with national security. But it made for a useful cover story.
Read Центр «Досье» – право на справедливость – Dossier Center’s investigation in full: https://dossier.center/whelan/