Admiral Igor Olegovich Kostyukov (russian: И́горь Оле́гович Костюко́в; born 21 February 1961) is a Russian naval officer. , he is the Head of the Russian General Staff's Main Intelligence Department ( GRU).

Military career

Kostyukov was appointed the acting Director of GRU on 22 November 2018 following the death of his predecessor

Igor Korobov Colonel General Igor Valentinovich Korobov (russian: И́горь Валенти́нович Ко́робов; 3 August 1956 – 21 November 2018) was the Chief of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Fed ...

and is a noted hardliner. This posting also made him the first naval officer in the history of the GRU to take the office of Director of Military Intelligence. He has been placed on the US Government's "blacklist" for allegedly interfering in the 2016 US presidential elections. He was further promoted to the rank of

Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

in late 2019.

Sanctions

In March 2022, during the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

, Kostyukov was placed on a

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

"blacklist".PDF, Wirtschaftskammer Wien
(German), Retrieved 11 March 2022.

March 2022 illness

On 25 March 2022, former Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov claimed that Kostyukov and Russian defence minister

Sergey Shoigu Sergei Kuzhugetovich Shoigu, ; tyv, Сергей Күжүгет оглу Шойгу, translit=Sergey Kyzhyget oglu Shoygu, . (russian: Сергей Кужугетович Шойгу; born 21 May 1955) is a Russian politician who has served as ...

had had a sudden illness, stating, "The symptoms of both are exactly the same - heartburn, shortness of breath." ''

The Moscow Times ''The Moscow Times'' is an independent English-language and Russian-language online newspaper. It was in print in Russia from 1992 until 2017 and was distributed free of charge at places frequented by English-speaking tourists and expatriates s ...

'' considered Kostyukov to have disappeared from public view in mid-March together with other senior siloviki (key Russian security officials), including

Viktor Zolotov Viktor Vasilyevich Zolotov (russian: Ви́ктор Васи́льевич Зо́лотов; born 27 January 1954) is the current Director of the National Guard of Russia (Rosgvardiya) and a member of the Security Council of Russia. Zolotov is ...

and

Valery Gerasimov Valery Vasilyevich Gerasimov ( rus, Валерий Васильевич Герасимов, p=vɐˈlʲerʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪdʑ ɡʲɪˈrasʲɪməf; born 8 September 1955) is a Russian army general serving as the Chief of the General Sta ...

References

External links

1961 births Living people GRU Chiefs Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia alumni Russian admirals Heroes of the Russian Federation Russian individuals subject to the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctions {{Russia-mil-bio-stub