Colonel General Colonel general is a three- or four-star military rank used in some armies. It is particularly associated with Germany, where historically general officer ranks were one grade lower than in the Commonwealth and the United States, and was a ra ...

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 Federation, Russia's

military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from ...

agency previously known as the GRU.

Early life

Igor Korobov was born in

Vyazma Vyazma (russian: Вя́зьма) is a town and the administrative center of Vyazemsky District in Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Vyazma River, about halfway between Smolensk, the administrative center of the oblast, and Mozhaysk. Thr ...

, a town in Russia's

Smolensk Oblast Smolensk Oblast (russian: Смоле́нская о́бласть, ''Smolenskaya oblast''; informal name — ''Smolenschina'' (russian: Смоле́нщина)) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative centre is the city ...

, on 3 August 1956. In 1977, Korobov graduated with honors from the Stavropol Higher Military Aviation School for Pilots and Navigators,

North Caucasus Military District The North Caucasus Military District was a military district of the Russian Armed Forces, which became in 2010 the Southern Military District and lately also included the Black Sea Fleet and Caspian Flotilla. It comprised the Republic of Adygeya, ...

, as an officer in the

Soviet Air Forces The Soviet Air Forces ( rus, Военно-воздушные силы, r=Voyenno-vozdushnyye sily, VVS; literally "Military Air Forces") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces ...

Career and death

Korobov served as head of the Strategic Intelligence Directorate (''Upravlenie strategicheskoi razvedky''). He was appointed by president

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

to head the military intelligence directorate (GU) following the sudden death of Igor Sergun in January 2016. On 29 December 2016, Korobov was one of the individuals sanctioned by the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...

for "malicious cyber-enabled activities" threatening the national security of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

. In May 2017, by a "closed" Decree of the Russian President, Colonel-General Korobov was awarded the

Hero of the Russian Federation Hero of the Russian Federation (russian: Герой Российской Федерации, Geroy Rossiyskoy Federatsii), also unofficially Hero of Russia (russian: link=no, Герой России, Geroy Rossii), is the highest honorary title ...

for courage and heroism displayed in the performance of military duty. Nevertheless, he officially visited the U.S., along with other Russia's top security chiefs, at the end of January 2018. Korobov died on 21 November 2018, "after a long and serious illness", according to sources in the Russian defence ministry cited by official news agencies. Korobov's death followed a few months after the badly bungled

poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal On 4 March 2018, Sergei Skripal, a former Russian military officer and double agent for the British intelligence agencies, and his daughter, Yulia Skripal, were poisoned in the city of Salisbury, England. According to UK sources and the Organ ...

, widely attributed in the West to Korobov's GRU. GRU defector

Viktor Suvorov Vladimir Bogdanovich Rezun (russian: link=no, Владимир Богданович Резун; born 20 April 1947), known by his pseudonym of Viktor Suvorov () is a former Soviet GRU officer who is the author of non-fiction books about World ...

said that while he had no knowledge, "My spy instinct tells me that Korobov was murdered. Everyone sitting inside GRU would understand this, 125%." According to Suvorov, Korobov would have been killed to eliminate a witness who might easily defect.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Korobov, Igor 1956 births 2018 deaths GRU Chiefs Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia alumni