Russian invasion of Ukraine
Sources say Putin's decision to invade Ukraine in February 2022 was influenced by a small group of war hawks around him, including Nikolai Patrushev, Yury Kovalchuk and Alexander Bortnikov. Bortnikov's FSB convinced Putin that most Ukrainians would welcome Russian troops as liberators. Konstantine Skorkin, a Russia expert at the Carnegie Center, told New Voice of Ukraine in an interview that Bortnikov and Patrushev were formed by the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union and "believe that a bloc confrontation with the West is a reasonable and correct world order. And in order to return to a predictable and manageable confrontation, it is necessary to divide the zones of influence through war, even with the risk of a clash with NATO. According to Patrushev and Bortnikov, Ukraine should be in the Russian zone of influence".
On 20 March 2022, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) alleged that Bortnikov was a favorite to replace Vladimir Putin among a group of Russian elites plotting to assassinate Putin in a bid to stabilize the economy and reestablish ties with the West following sanctions imposed on Russia for the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
On 25 March 2022, The Moscow Times noted that Bortnikov had disappeared from public view since around 11 March 2022, along with other senior siloviki including Sergey Shoigu, Igor Kostyukov and Viktor Zolotov. In response state TV programs subsequently broadcast a purported 24 March security council meeting including brief appearances by many of the missing men, including Bortnikov, but it appeared to simply be an edited version of the earlier 11 March security council meeting.
Shortly after the 2023 Wagner Group mutiny, Belarus president Lukashenko praised Bortnikov (together with Yunus-bek Yevkurov) for mediating the end of the rebellion.
In August 2024, Bortnikov was made head of the "counterterrorism operation" in Kursk, Belgorod, and Bryansk oblasts amidst the August 2024 Kursk Oblast incursion. Russia's state borders are controlled by the FSB Border Service, and conscripts from the FSB Border Service unsuccessfully defended the Russia–Ukraine border in the Kursk Oblast. Bortnikov called the Ukrainian offensive "a terrorist attack" and accused Ukraine of attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure "with the support of the collective West."
In August of 2026 CIA Director John Ratcliffe flew to Moscow to meet SVR foreign intelligence chief Sergey Naryshkin and FSB director Alexander Bortnikov. Ratcliffe offered a bleak assessment of Russia's outlook for victory and conditions in Russia Some United States officials reported the trip was a warning about any attempted incursions into Baltic States. The Trump administration denied these claims and sources reported that Ratcliffe sought to jump start a diplomatic solution calling, Bortnikov, "a constructive player who could help restart diplomatic efforts."
