{"id":7342,"date":"2026-06-26T21:22:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T21:22:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/?p=7342"},"modified":"2026-07-03T13:51:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T13:51:12","slug":"longtime-putin-confidant-sergey-ivanov-dies-at-73","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/26\/longtime-putin-confidant-sergey-ivanov-dies-at-73\/","title":{"rendered":"Longtime Putin confidant Sergey Ivanov dies at 73"},"content":{"rendered":"

The former Russian Defense Minister was once widely seen as a potential contender to succeed the current president<\/strong><\/p>\n

Former Russian Defense Minister and longtime confidant of President Vladimir Putin, Sergey Ivanov, has died at the age of 73, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced on Friday.<\/p>\n

Ivanov began his career in the late 1970s as a KGB officer in Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, where he first met Putin. He later recalled that they shared an office during their time in the Soviet security service.<\/p>\n

Fluent in English, he spent a decade in the KGB\u2019s foreign intelligence branch, undertaking assignments in the UK, Finland, and Kenya, according to Russian media. Years later, Ivanov told reporters that he had also learned Swedish during his stint as a KGB operative.<\/p>\n

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ivanov joined the newly created Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) before moving to the Federal Security Service (FSB). There, he rose to become deputy director under Putin, who headed the agency in the late 1990s.<\/p>\n

During that period, Russia was hit by a series of major terrorist attacks carried out by Chechen Islamist militants \u2013 events that preceded the Second Chechen War. Amid the conflict, Ivanov was appointed secretary of Russia\u2019s Security Council.<\/p>\n

He served as defense minister from 2001 to 2007, overseeing the early stages of a sweeping military reform aimed at building a more professional armed force by expanding contract service and reducing reliance on conscription.<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"Sergey
\u200b\u2018Russia impossible to isolate\u2019: Senior official dismisses \u2018phony\u2019 Western sanctions<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Ahead of Russia\u2019s 2008 presidential election, Ivanov was widely seen as one of the leading contenders to succeed Putin at the end of the president\u2019s second term, alongside Dmitry Medvedev. Ivanov, however, repeatedly dismissed speculation about presidential ambitions.<\/p>\n

After Putin endorsed Medvedev\u2019s candidacy, Ivanov backed the nomination. Following Medvedev\u2019s election victory, Putin became prime minister, with Ivanov serving as deputy prime minister.<\/p>\n

When Putin returned to the presidency in 2012, Ivanov was appointed head of the presidential administration, a position he held until 2016.<\/p>\n

For the last decade, Ivanov served as Putin\u2019s special representative for environmental protection and ecology before stepping down in February.<\/p>\n

Outside politics, Ivanov was an avid basketball fan with a passion for ballet and classic rock, particularly The Beatles and Pink Floyd, as he said in interviews with Russian media.<\/p>\n

No details of Ivanov\u2019s funeral have been announced, although Russian media have suggested he may be laid to rest in his native St. Petersburg.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The former Russian Defense Minister was once widely seen as a potential contender to succeed the current president Former Russian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7342"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7342"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7346,"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7342\/revisions\/7346"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}