Igor Dmitrievich Sergun ( rus, И́горь Дми́триевич Сергу́н, p=ˈiɡərʲ ˈdmʲitrʲɪjɪvʲɪtɕ sʲɪrˈɡun; 28 March 1957 – 3 January 2016) was Director of
GRU
The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, rus, Гла́вное управле́ние Генера́льного шта́ба Вооружённых сил Росси́йской Федера́ци ...
, Russia's military intelligence service, from 2011 until his death in January 2016. He was promoted to
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 r ...
on 21 February 2015.
Biography
Igor Sergun was born on 28 March 1957 in
Podolsk
Podolsk ( rus, Подольск, p=pɐˈdolʲsk) is an industrial city, center of Podolsk Urban Okrug, Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Pakhra River (a tributary of the Moskva River).
History
The first mentions of the village of Podol, ...
,
Moscow Oblast
Moscow Oblast ( rus, Моско́вская о́бласть, r=Moskovskaya oblast', p=mɐˈskofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ), or Podmoskovye ( rus, Подмоско́вье, p=pədmɐˈskovʲjə, literally " under Moscow"), is a federal subject of Ru ...
. He completed the
Moscow Suvorov Military School and the
Moscow Higher Military Command School
The Moscow Higher Combined Arms Command School ''" Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR"'' (abbreviated to MVOKU) is a higher military educational institution of the Russian Armed Forces.
History
The school was formed in December 15, 1917 (O.S., Decembe ...
. In active military service from 1973, in the GRU from 1984.
There is no information in the public domain on him participating in the
Soviet military campaign in
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
in the 1980s, or in the Chechen Wars in the 1990s, or any other actual combat.
In 1998, Sergun had a rank of colonel and served as military attaché in
Tirana
Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...
,
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares la ...
.
On 26 December 2011, Sergun was appointed Director of GRU, which had in 2010 received a new official name, the Main Directorate of the General Staff. He also became Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
He was promoted to Lieutenant-General by a presidential decree on 31 August 2012 and
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 r ...
on 21 February 2015.
[Умер начальник ГРУ Игорь Сергун](_blank)
rbc.ru, 4 January 2016.
In 2014, Sergun was put on the
sanction lists of the EU and the U.S. as a person ″responsible for the activity of GRU officers in Eastern Ukraine″.
He was last spotted by media at
Bocharov Ruchey, as one of the Russian delegation for negotiations with King
Abdullah II of Jordan
Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein ( ar, عبدالله الثاني بن الحسين , translit=ʿAbd Allāh aṯ-ṯānī ibn al-Ḥusayn; born 30 January 1962) is King of Jordan, having ascended the throne on 7 February 1999. He is a member of t ...
, on 24 November 2015.
GRU Director
Background
Perceived poor performance of the GRU in the
Russo-Georgian War
The 2008 Russo-Georgian WarThe war is known by a variety of other names, including Five-Day War, August War and Russian invasion of Georgia. was a war between Georgia, on one side, and Russia and the Russian-backed self-proclaimed republics of So ...
, the rivalry amongst Russia's intelligence services as well as the
overall reform of the Russian Armed Forces initiated in the late 2000s under the Defence Minister
Anatoliy Serdyukov led to the downsizing and reduced standing of the GRU and eventual dismissal of the GRU chief
Valentin Korabelnikov
Army General Valentin Vladimirovich Korabelnikov (russian: Валентин Владимирович Корабельников, born January 4, 1946, in Tambov Oblast, Soviet Union) is a Russian general, best known for being the longest serving ...
in April 2009 over his publicly voiced disagreement with the reforms. In October 2010, the Defence Ministry announced that the GRU Spetsnaz would be subordinated to the operational-strategic commands, in other words it would be transferred from the General Staff to the
Ground Forces
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
Russia's internal security service, the
FSB, which
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 ...
as former head thereof had a special interest in, along with the external service, the
SVR, were encroaching on the GRU's turf.
The dismissal of Serdyukov as Minister of Defense in November 2012, after he was exposed as having used the army to build a private road, boosted morale and signaled a return to high military spending; Spetnaz units are believed to have been given priority in making improvements.
Political turmoil in Russia and Ukraine and inter-agency rivalry
The beginning of Sergun's tenure as the GRU chief coincided with the start of
mass protests in December 2011, which were being promoted in online social media and which Vladimir Putin accused the U.S. secretary of state
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States senat ...
of inciting. The FSB's inability to comprehend high tempo social-media agitation cost it some of the favour with Putin. Although the former head of GRU cyberwarfare was responsible for revealing FSB technical support of
Shaltai Boltai (supposed anti-establishment hacking group that exposed the
Internet Research Agency
The Internet Research Agency (IRA; russian: Агентство интернет-исследований, translit=Agentstvo internet-issledovaniy), also known as ''Glavset'' (russian: link=no, Главсеть) and known in Russian Internet sl ...
) as far as is known the IRA, which dates from the
Snow Revolution and disrupts social media comment threads critical of Putin, had never been run by the GRU. So called "Psychographics" and data mined targeting of advertisements as used by
Cambridge Analytica
Cambridge Analytica Ltd (CA), previously known as SCL Group, SCL USA, was a British political consulting firm that came to prominence through the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal. It was started in 2013, as a subsidiary of the privat ...
was not practiced by the IRA, and its output in English has been characterized as the stilted product of a "troll farm" although that term has been criticized as failing to convey sophisticated manipulation by a foreign state.
With the
annexation of Crimea and the speed and efficiency of the "
little green men
Little green men is the stereotypical portrayal of extraterrestrials as little humanoid creatures with green skin and sometimes with antennae on their heads. The term is also sometimes used to describe gremlins, mythical creatures known for cau ...
" took control, it was taken as evidence that Main Directorate operations, technology, signals, and security had drastically improved. Under the previous GRU Director,
Valentin Korabelnikov
Army General Valentin Vladimirovich Korabelnikov (russian: Валентин Владимирович Корабельников, born January 4, 1946, in Tambov Oblast, Soviet Union) is a Russian general, best known for being the longest serving ...
, there was criticism of a focus on kinetic operations rather than gathering intelligence, but as the political situation deteriorated for Russia in Ukraine, and the FSB analysis that rebellion across the
Donbass
The Donbas or Donbass (, ; uk, Донба́с ; russian: Донба́сс ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. Parts of the Donbas are controlled by Russian separatist groups as a result of the Russo-Ukrai ...
region could be autarkical proved faulty, the Main Directorate
Spetsnaz
Spetsnaz are special forces in numerous post-Soviet states. (The term is borrowed from rus, спецназ, p=spʲɪtsˈnas; abbreviation for or 'Special Purpose Military Units'; or .)
Historically, the term ''spetsnaz'' referred to the So ...
troops became an indispensable cadre for the insurgency.
Apart from the use of drones for real time reconnaissance and artillery strike,
Unit 26165 is thought to have interfered with Ukrainian communications. Sergun supervised the deniable undercover units that America struggled to find an effective response to. The local partisan-proxies and Russian artillery were utilized in a combination of low intensity and siege warfare "to transfer military power into political progress, while obfuscating the associated cost" as in the
Second Battle of Donetsk Airport
A part of the ongoing war in the Donbas region of Ukraine, the Second Battle of Donetsk Airport began on 28 September 2014. An earlier battle in May 2014 had left Donetsk International Airport in Ukrainian control. Despite a ceasefire agreem ...
.
Sergun and his U.S. counterparts
In the opinion of Peter Zwack, who from 2012 until 2014 served as the United States Senior Defense Official and Attache to the Russian Federation, before U.S.–Russia relations deteriorated drastically in early 2014, Sergun made efforts to promote MI to MI contacts between Russia and the U.S., which during 2012 and 2013 included meetings between U.S. and Russian intelligence chiefs from strategic regional and global commands that took place in cities across Russia.
In June 2013, Sergun hosted
Michael Flynn
Michael Thomas Flynn (born December 24, 1958) is a retired United States Army lieutenant general and conspiracy theorist who was the 24th U.S. National Security Advisor for the first 22 days of the Trump administration. He resigned in light of ...
, then the
Director
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker
* ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty
Music
* Director (band), an Irish rock band
* ''D ...
of the U.S.
Defense Intelligence Agency
The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is an intelligence agency and combat support agency of the United States Department of Defense, specializing in defense and military intelligence.
A component of the Department of Defense (DoD) and the ...
, at GRU headquarters, where Flynn gave a lecture to GRU officers and took questions and was entertained at a formal dinner.
[Peter Zwac]
Death of the GRU Commander
Defense One, 1 February 2016.
Death and tributes
On 4 January 2016, the
web site of the Russian president released a short excerpt of 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 ...
's telegram that expressed condolences to Sergun's relatives; the telegram was published by the
Interfax
Interfax (russian: Интерфакс) is a Russian news agency. The agency is owned by Interfax News Agency joint-stock company and is headquartered in Moscow.
History
As the first non-governmental channel of political and economic informatio ...
news agency, which, citing the Kremlin's press service, also said that Sergun had "died unexpectedly on 3 January 2016, aged 59", without citing place and
cause of death
In law, medicine, and statistics, cause of death is an official determination of conditions resulting in a human's death, which may be recorded on a death certificate. A cause of death is determined by a medical examiner. The cause of death is ...
.
BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
's report on his death said that "circumstances of his death
erenot clear" and quoted experts who credited him with the GRU having "recovered some of its former prestige", which had been reduced by drastic cuts to the service shortly before he took over.
[Russian GRU military spy chief Igor Sergun dies](_blank)
BBC, 5 January 2016. Two publications by the Russian
tabloid ''
Komsomolskaya Pravda
''Komsomolskaya Pravda'' (russian: link=no, Комсомольская правда; lit. "Komsomol Truth") is a daily Russian tabloid newspaper, founded on 13 March 1925.
History and profile
During the Soviet era, ''Komsomolskaya Pravda'' w ...
'' posted on 4 January, without reference to sources, in their subtitles, cited Moscow and
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...
for place and cause of death.
A source in the General Staff cited by the Russian daily ''
Kommersant
''Kommersant'' (russian: Коммерсантъ, , ''The Businessman'' or Commerce Man, often shortened to Ъ) is a nationally distributed daily newspaper published in Russia mostly devoted to politics and business. The TNS Media and NRS Russia ...
'' credited Sergun with leaving behind an "exceedingly effective and balanced directorate".
In May 2016, he was posthumously awarded the title of 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 ...
.
Questions over location of death
Two days after his death, the U.S.-based global intelligence company
Stratfor
Strategic Forecasting Inc., commonly known as Stratfor, is an American geopolitics publisher and consultancy founded in 1996. Stratfor's business model is to provide individual and enterprise subscriptions to Stratfor Worldview, its online public ...
questioned the official version of Sergun's death citing an unattributed report that alleged he had died on New Year's Day in
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
.
In early March 2016, a similar theory was suggested by the Lebanese daily ''
Al Akhbar'' that alleged Sergun was killed when on a visit to
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint of ...
in a "complicated secret mission" carried out by unnamed Arab and Middle Eastern intelligence agencies. His death was cited as one in a series of "dozens of high-profile" Russian officials' (as well as Putin critics') sudden deaths, such as
Vitaly Churkin
Vitaly Ivanovich Churkin ( rus, Вита́лий Ива́нович Чу́ркин, p=vʲɪˈtalʲɪj ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ ˈtɕurkʲɪn; 21 February 1952 – 20 February 2017) was a Russian diplomat and former child actor. Churkin served as Permane ...
's (February 2017), in "the past three years in Russia and abroad in suspicious circumstances" in a publication by ''
USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'' of 2 May 2017. The Kremlin spokesman
Dmitry Peskov
Dmitry Sergeyevich Peskov ( rus, Дмитрий Сергеевич Песков, p=pʲɪˈskof; born 17 October 1967) is a Russian diplomat and the press secretary for Russian President Vladimir Putin.[Michael Flynn
Michael Thomas Flynn (born December 24, 1958) is a retired United States Army lieutenant general and conspiracy theorist who was the 24th U.S. National Security Advisor for the first 22 days of the Trump administration. He resigned in light of ...]
said "he called Ambassador
Kislyak following Sergun's death in Lebanon". After Flynn's FBI interview summary was released on 17 December 2018, the Russian Defense Ministry issued a denial that Sergun had died in Lebanon, calling the story "conspiracy nonsense".
State awards
*
Order of Military Merit
*
Order of Honour
*
Medal for Battle Merit
A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be int ...
*
*
*
*
Medal "For Impeccable Service"
The Medal "For Impeccable Service" (russian: Медаль «За безупречную службу») was a Soviet military award for long service awarded to deserving members of the military personnel of the armed forces of the USSR, of the Int ...
, 1st class
* Medal of the Order "For Merit", 2nd class
* Medal "For strengthening of the state system of protection of information", 2nd class
*
"Medal "Participant of Operation ''March-Shot'' Bosnia-Kosovo 12 June 1999"
References
External links
"Official biography of the Chief of the New Russian Military Intelligence, Igor Sergun" official website of the
Russian Ministry of Defence
The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation (russian: Министерство обороны Российской Федерации, Минобороны России, informally abbreviated as МО, МО РФ or Minoboron) is the govern ...
br>
(webarchive)Путин соболезнует в связи с кончиной начальника ГРУ Игоря СергунаTASS
The Russian News Agency TASS (russian: Информацио́нное аге́нтство Росси́и ТАСС, translit=Informatsionnoye agentstvo Rossii, or Information agency of Russia), abbreviated TASS (russian: ТАСС, label=none) ...
4 January 2016
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sergun, Irgo
Russian colonel generals
GRU Chiefs
Russian diplomats
1957 births
2016 deaths
Recipients of the Order of Military Merit (Russia)
Recipients of the Order of Honour (Russia)
People of the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation
Burials in Troyekurovskoye Cemetery
Russian military attachés
Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia alumni
Heroes of the Russian Federation
Russian individuals subject to the European Union sanctions