Igor Kostyukov
 Igor Kostyukov    (spook, mariner) | ||||||||||||
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| Born | February 21, 1961 | |||||||||||
| Nationality | Russian | |||||||||||
Head of the Russian General Staff's Main Intelligence Department (GRU)
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Admiral Igor Olegovich Kostyukov is a naval officer and Head of the Russian General Staff's Main Intelligence Department (GRU).[1] Kostyukov was appointed the acting Director of GRU on 22 November 2018 following the death of his predecessor Igor Korobov. Since 2016, he has been on the US and EU sanctions lists several times, for both real and imagined actions.
Background
He was born on February 21, 1961 in the Amur Region in Eastern Siberia.
He received a naval education. Later he graduated from the Military Diplomatic Academy (now the Military Academy of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation).
Career
After graduating from the academy, he worked in the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, and became first deputy head.
As one of the leaders of Russian military intelligence, he was directly involved in leading the military operation in the Syrian Arab Republic against the "Islamic State".
By the decree of the President of the Russian Federation in 2017, for courage and heroism shown in the performance of military duty, Vice Admiral Igor Olegovich Kostyukov was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation with the Gold Star medal.
Kostyukov was appointed the acting Director of GRU on 22 November 2018 following the death of his predecessor Igor Korobov[2].[3]. His posting also made him the first naval officer in the history of the GRU to take the office of Director of Military Intelligence.
He was further promoted to the rank of Admiral in late 2019.
Sanctions
He has been placed on the US Government's "blacklist" for allegedly interfering in the 2016 US presidential elections.[4], and for "actions to undermine democracy in the United States".[5]
On January 21, 2019, the EU Foreign Affairs Council imposed sanctions against Kostyukov as responsible for the storage, transportation and use of the Novichok poisoning agent on March 4, 2018 in Salisbury.[6]
On October 22, 2020, the Council of the European Union and the United Kingdom imposed sanctions against Kostyukov for alleged cyber attacks on the Bundestag in 2015 and the OPCW in 2018.[7]
In March 2022, during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kostyukov was placed on a European Union "blacklist".[8]
March 2022 illness
On 25 March 2022, former Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov claimed that Kostyukov and Russian defence minister Sergey Shoigu had had a sudden illness, stating, "The symptoms of both are exactly the same - heartburn, shortness of breath,"[9], consistent with poisoning with Sputnik V jabs.
The Moscow Times considered Kostyukov to have disappeared from public view in mid-March together with other senior siloviki (key Russian security officials), including Sergey Shoigu, Viktor Zolotov and Valery Gerasimov.[10]
References
- ↑ http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=875096
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20220327094409/https://www.rbc.ru/politics/22/11/2018/5bf663419a794749ecda09f5
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20220327094409/https://www.rbc.ru/politics/22/11/2018/5bf663419a794749ecda09f5
- ↑ http://tass.com/defense/1032011/
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20180920234725/https://ria.ru/economy/20161229/1484946096.html
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20190121193716/https://www.bbc.com/russian/news-46948036
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20190121193716/https://www.bbc.com/russian/news-46948036
- ↑ PDF, Wirtschaftskammer Wien (German), Retrieved 11 March 2022.
- ↑ https://censor.net/ua/news/3328517/avakov_povidomyv_pro_pogirshennya_zdorovya_shoyigu_ta_zastupnyka_nachalnyka_genshtabu_zs_rf_symptomy
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20220326145142/https://www.moscowtimes.ru/2022/03/25/iz-publichnogo-prostranstva-rossii-propali-pochti-vse-osnovnie-siloviki-a18986
