One of Putin’s closest associates and former Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov has died in Russia

Former Russian Defense Minister, former head of the Russian presidential administration, and one of Vladimir Putin’s closest associates, Sergei Ivanov, has died at the age of 74. The causes of his death are not yet known.

This is reported by Russian media.

Sergei Ivanov was a member of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. Their acquaintance began in the mid-1970s during their joint service in the First Main Directorate of the KGB of the USSR in Leningrad.

After Putin became head of the FSB in 1998, he appointed Ivanov as his first deputy. Ivanov went on to hold a number of key positions in the Russian government, including:

• Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation;
• Minister of Defense of Russia in 2001-2007;
• Deputy Prime Minister;
• Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation in 2011-2016;
• Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for Ecology and Transport.

Until 2008, Ivanov was considered one of the main contenders to succeed Vladimir Putin, but in the end, Dmitry Medvedev became the president of Russia.

Ivanov had been in the political shadows in recent years, working as the president’s special representative for ecology and transport. In February 2026, Vladimir Putin dismissed him from this position and expelled him from the Russian Security Council.

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