ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Skip to main content

Kremlin image-maker turned critic Gleb Pavlovsky dies at 71

Former Vladimir Putin adviser Gleb Pavlovsky in a news room of the Dozhd (Rain) TV channel in Moscow, Russia, on Oct. 27, 2021. (Denis Kaminev / AP) Former Vladimir Putin adviser Gleb Pavlovsky in a news room of the Dozhd (Rain) TV channel in Moscow, Russia, on Oct. 27, 2021. (Denis Kaminev / AP)
Share
MOSCOW -

Gleb Pavlovsky, a Soviet-era dissident who served as a Kremlin political consultant helping burnish President Vladimir Putin's image, has died, his family said Monday. He was 71.

Pavlovsky worked as a top adviser for the Kremlin for 15 years and was widely seen as one of the key architects of Russia's post-Soviet political system.

Pavlovsky's death was reported by his family on his messaging app channel. The announcement said he died Sunday at a Moscow hospice following a grave illness. Funeral arrangements weren't immediately announced.

Pavlovsky was born in the Black Sea port of Odesa and became engaged in dissident activities as a university student.

He was arrested in 1982 and later that year was sentenced to three years of internal exile. During his trial, Pavlovsky pleaded guilty to the charges and testified against some of his colleagues, a move that some members of the dissident movement have never forgiven.

After serving his sentence, Pavlovsky returned to Moscow in 1985 and became an active member of the pro-democracy camp spawned by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms.

After the 1991 Soviet collapse, he began working as a political consultant and in 1996 he helped stage a successful re-election campaign for Russia's first president, Boris Yeltsin.

When Yeltsin stepped down to anoint Putin as his preferred successor, Pavlovsky was involved in securing Putin's first election in March 2000. He continued to consult the Kremlin until falling out of favor and losing the job of an adviser to the presidential office in 2011.

Following his dismissal, Pavlovsky became sharply critical of the Kremlin, denouncing the authorities' efforts to tighten control over Russia's political scene, including a relentless crackdown on the opposition and independent media. He strongly condemned Putin's decision to send troops into Ukraine.

08:37ET 27-02-23

CTVNews.ca ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Top Hezbollah commander among 12 killed in Israeli strike on Beirut

Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander and several members of the group's elite Radwan unit in an airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday, the Israeli military and a security source in Lebanon said, sharply escalating the year-long conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed group.

Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.

An Ontario man says it is 'unfair' to pay a $1,500 insurance surcharge because his four-year-old SUV is at a higher risk of being stolen.

The province's public security minister said he was "shocked" Thursday amid reports that a body believed to be that of a 14-year-old boy was found this week near a Hells Angels hideout near Quebec City.

Local Spotlight

They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.

David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.

Edmontonians can count themselves lucky to ever see one tiger salamander, let alone the thousands one local woman says recently descended on her childhood home.