Former Russian Defense Minister and Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Ivanov, once considered a possible successor to the Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, has died at the age of 73.
According to Reuters, Ivanov’s death was first announced on Friday by the VTB United League basketball organization, where he served as an honorary president, before being confirmed by the Kremlin. No cause of death was given.
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“Vladimir Putin expressed his deepest condolences to the family and friends of Sergei Ivanov on his passing,” the Kremlin said in a brief statement.
A career built in the KGB’s shadow
Ivanov was born in Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, where he studied languages before being recruited into the Soviet KGB – the same institution that shaped Putin’s early career.
The two worked together at the beginning of their careers, forming a relationship that would later prove decisive.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ivanov rose through the KGB’s successor organizations to become a deputy director of the Federal Security Service (FSB) under Putin.
In 2001, Ivanov was appointed defense minister, becoming Russia’s first civilian defense minister. In that role, he oversaw Russia’s armed forces during the second Chechen war.Chechnya.
He became deputy prime minister in 2005, and first deputy prime minister in 2007, which briefly placed him among the leading candidates to succeed Putin as president.
Sidelined after years at the top
Ultimately, Putin chose Dmitry Medvedev as his successor for the 2008 presidential term, while Ivanov remained in government as deputy prime minister and later Kremlin chief of staff.
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In 2016, he was removed from that position and appointed a special presidential envoy for environmental and transport issues – a move widely interpreted as a demotion.
According to The Moscow Times, Putin signed the official decree announcing Ivanov’s dismissal from this role in 2026, less than a week after he turned 73.
Although senior Russian officials are normally required to retire at 65, with extensions possible only up to 70, a legal change in 2021 allowed Putin to keep close allies in post beyond the limit.
Throughout his years in power, Ivanov was a consistent voice against what he described as the erosion of Russia’s security interests, particularly regarding NATO expansion and US missile defense plans.
He framed NATO’s enlargement as a strategic threat to Moscow and argued that European security should be built on mutual respect for all parties – a line that foreshadowed the justifications Putin would later offer for the invasion of Ukraine, a justification Western countries dismissed as a false pretext for the invasion.
In 2024, Putin ordered KGB’s heir to bust the West’s sanctions following a speech at the FSB spy service’s annual meeting at the Lubyanka in central Moscow following his reelection in a vote widely viewed in the West as rigged by the West, Putin said its spies should work with other agencies to increase the security of the banking and financial systems.
According to former US Army Counterintelligence Special Agent David DeBatto in 2025, Russia’s spy network is larger and more dangerous than ever, with agents engaging in sabotage, terrorism and assassinations.
Earlier this year, two men have been jailed in the UK over a series of arson linked to properties associated with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who were offered money to carry out the attacks via Telegram by a Russian-speaking figure using the name “El Money”, according to prosecutors.
The person was later revealed to be a diplomat highly trained in information warfare, with the arson attack was just one part of an “extensive campaign of sabotage, provocation and lies” that ultimately led back to the Russian Federation.
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