Sergei Ivanov Dies at 73 After Falling From Putin Successor to Envoy
Updated
Updated · The Associated Press · Jun 26
Sergei Ivanov Dies at 73 After Falling From Putin Successor to Envoy
3 articles · Updated · The Associated Press · Jun 26
Summary
The Kremlin said Friday that Sergei Ivanov, 73, had died, with President Vladimir Putin sending condolences but officials giving no cause of death.
Ivanov was one of Putin’s closest longtime allies — a fellow KGB veteran appointed defense minister in 2001 — and oversaw the second Chechen war until leaving the post in 2007.
By 2008, he was widely seen as Putin’s most likely successor when term limits forced the president to step aside, but Putin instead elevated Dmitry Medvedev before returning to the Kremlin in 2012.
Ivanov stayed in senior posts as deputy prime minister and Kremlin chief of staff, then was shifted in 2016 to a low-profile envoy role widely viewed as an honorary retirement; he stepped down earlier this year.
His death closes the career of a once-powerful insider who, like other top Russian officials, was later hit by U.S. and EU sanctions over Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.