Igor Korobov
 Igor Korobov    | ||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 3 August 1956 | |||||||||||||||
| Died | 21 November 2018 (Age 62) | |||||||||||||||
Cause of death | "illness" | |||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Russian | |||||||||||||||
| Victim of | premature death | |||||||||||||||
Russian military officer
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Igor Korobov was Head of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (GRU) from October 2016 until his death on 21 November 2018.
As the Russian GRU chief, Korobov had been dubbed by the West the "Novichok spymaster" and blamed as ultimately responsible for the Salisbury attack as well as the downing of MH17 over Ukraine in 2014 [1].
On 29 December 2016, Korobov was one of a number of Russian individuals sanctioned by the US Treasury Department for what it called "malicious cyber-enabled activities" threatening the national security of the US. He was nevertheless allowed to visit the US, along with other Russia′s top security chiefs, at the end of January 2018.[2]
Death
According to a source in the Russian Defence Ministry "Head of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Deputy Chief of General Staff Igor Korobov died [aged 62] on November 21 from a serious illness".[3][4]
References
- ↑ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6416095/Head-Russian-spy-agency-dies-aged-63-long-illness.html
- ↑ US suspends sanctions against Russian security chiefs during their visit to Washington TASS, 2 February 2018.
- ↑ http://tass.com/defense/1031941
- ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/22/russias-chief-of-military-intelligence-gru-igor-korobov-dies-after-illness
