Russian military intelligence chief Igor Sergun suddenly passed away

A condolence message published on Russian President Vladimir Putin's website on January 4 said that the head of the Russian Military Intelligence Directorate (GRU), Igor Sergun, had passed away.

Head of the Russian Military Intelligence Directorate (GRU), Mr. Igor Sergun. (Source: wordpress.com)

Sergun was appointed head of the GRU and Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces on December 26, 2011. On August 31, 2012, Sergun was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General and on February 21, 2015, to the rank of Colonel General.

According to his biography, posted on the website of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Mr. Sergun was born on March 28, 1957, graduated from the Suvorov Moscow Military Academy, the Moscow Higher Military Command School, the Military Academy of the Soviet Army (formerly) and the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. In 1984, Mr. Sergun began working in Russian military intelligence. In 1998, he received the rank of Colonel and served as the Russian military attaché in Albania.

In 2014, Mr. Sergun was on the sanctions list of the US and the European Union (EU) for what the EU called "the activities of GRU officers in Eastern Ukraine".

According to VIETNAM+