Russian GRU military spy chief Igor Sergun dies
January 5, 2016
Gen. Igor Dmitrievich Sergun, director of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency, died suddenly on January 3, reports said Monday. The cause of the 59-year-old Sergun’s death was not disclosed. News of his passing was reported in Moscow with the publication of condolence letters sent by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu to the general’s family. Expressing condolences, President Vladimir Putin called him “an experienced and competent commander, a man of great courage, a true patriot”.
The circumstances of his death are not clear. He became GRU chief in 2011. In 2014 he was placed on EU and US sanctions lists targeting top Russian officials after Russia’s annexation of Crimea, in southern Ukraine. The EU list said Gen Sergun was “responsible for the activity of GRU officers in eastern Ukraine“.