Sergei Ivanov
Encyclopedia
Sergei Borisovich Ivanov is a Russia
n senior official and statesman. He was Minister of Defence from March 2001 to February 2007, Deputy Prime Minister
from November 2005 to February 2007, and the First Deputy Prime Minister from February 2007 to May 2008. Previously, as secretary of the Russian Security Council, Ivanov served as an adviser to President
Boris Yeltsin
and later President Vladimir Putin
(November 1999-March 2001) on matters of national security. After the election
of Dmitry Medvedev
as President of Russia, Ivanov has been reappointed as a deputy prime minister
in Vladimir Putin's second government
.
Before joining the federal administration in Moscow, Ivanov, a fluent speaker of English
—served in the Soviet and later Russian foreign intelligence service as a specialist in law and foreign languages, both at home and abroad (in Europe and Africa) from the late 1970s to the late 1990s. In 1975, Ivanov graduated from the Department of Philology
at Leningrad State University, where he studied English and Swedish, and later completed postgraduate studies in counterintelligence and law in Minsk
.
In 1976 he started his service for Leningrad and Leningrad Oblast KGB Directorate, where he became a friend of his colleague Vladimir Putin
. From July 1998 through August 1999 Ivanov served as a deputy to Vladimir Putin, then director of the Federal Security Service. In November 1999, Yeltsin appointed Ivanov secretary of the Security Council of Russia
, a body charged with advising the president on matters of national security. Ivanov became Russia's defence minister, becoming the first civilian to hold that post, in March 2001. On 15 February 2007, Ivanov resigned as defence minister following his elevation to the post of deputy prime minister.
Ivanov is widely considered to be a member of Vladimir Putin's inner circle
and a member of the Kremlin's Silovik
faction. He was previously seen as the most likely candidate to replace Mikhail Fradkov
as Prime Minister in September 2007.
. In 1975 he graduated from the English translation branch of the Department of Philology at Leningrad State University, where he majored in English
and Swedish
. In the late 1970s Ivanov began a two decades career on the staff of the external intelligence service. In 1976 he completed postgraduate studies in counterintelligence, graduating from Higher Courses of the KGB in Minsk
.
Upon graduating in 1976, Ivanov was sent to serve for the Leningrad and Leningrad Oblast KGB
Directorate, where he became a friend of Vladimir Putin
, then a colleague of his. In the late 1970s Ivanov began working in foreign intelligence, holding various posts in Africa
and Europe
. In 1981 Ivanov graduated from KGB First Chief Directorate
's 101st School (now the Andropov
Red-Banner Institute).
In the 1980s Ivanov served as the Second Secretary at the Soviet Embassy in Helsinki
, working directly under the KGB resident Felix Karasev
.
In the mid-1990s, Ivanov became one of the youngest generals in the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service
.
became head of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, and appointed Ivanov his deputy. As deputy director of the Federal Security Service, Ivanov solidified his reputation in Moscow as a competent analyst in matters of domestic and external security. On 15 November 1999 Ivanov was appointed secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, an advisory body charged with formulating presidential directives on national security, by Boris Yeltsin. In that position, Ivanov replaced Putin as Yeltsin's national security adviser upon Putin's promotion to the premiership.
As secretary, Ivanov was responsible for coordinating the daily work of the council, led by the president. But Ivanov's role as secretary was initially unclear to media observers. At the time of his appointment, the Security Council was a relatively new institution. (The council was set up by Yeltsin's tutelage in 1991-1992). Between 1992 and Ivanov's appointment in 1999, Yeltsin used the council as political expediency had dictated, but had not allow it to emerge as a relatively strong and autonomous institution. Ivanov's predecessors in that post, including Putin, according to Western analysts, were either the second most powerful political figure in Russia or the just another functionary lacking close access to the center of state power, depending on their relationship with Yeltsin.
Ivanov was named by Vladimir Putin, who had succeeded Yeltsin as President on 31 December 1999, as Russia's Minister of Defence
in March 2001. That month Ivanov stepped down as secretary of the Security Council, but remained a member. Ivanov had resigned from military service around a year earlier, and was a civilian while serving as secretary of the Security Council. Ivanov therefore became Russia's first civilian defence minister. Putin called the personnel changes in Russia's security structures coinciding with Ivanov's appointment as defence minister "a step toward demilitarizing public life." Putin also stressed Ivanov's responsibility for overseeing military reform as defence minister.
Unsurprisingly to specialists on Russia, Ivanov became bogged down in the sheer difficulty of his duties as Defence Minister. But despite bureaucratic inertia and corruption in the military, Ivanov did preside over some changes the form of a shift towards a more professional army. Although Ivanov was not successful in abandoning the draft, he did downsize it.
As Defence Minister, Ivanov worked with U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
to expand Russian-U.S. cooperation against international terrorist threats to both states.
On May 2001, Ivanov was elected chairman of the Council of Commonwealth of Independent States
Defence Ministers.
In October 2003 Sergei Ivanov claimed that Russia did not rule out a pre-emptive military strike anywhere in the world if the national interest demands it.
In 2004, Sergei Ivanov, then acting Defence Minister, pledged state support to the suspects in Chechen leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev
's assassination detained in Qatar
and declared that their imprisonment was illegal. Later Qatari prosecutors concluded that the suspects had received the order to eliminate Zelimkhan Yandarbiev from Sergei Ivanov personally.
In January 2006, Ivanov received criticism for his downplaying response to the public outcry over a particularly brutal hazing incident at a military base in the Urals, which involved Andrey Sychyov as a victim, whose legs and genitals were amputated due to the vicious beatings and abuse.
From time to time Ivanov has disconcerted Western audiences with the bluntness of his remarks on international military and political issues, though his political orientation is moderate and generally liberal on economic issues. In a series of public comments on the 2003-2004 elections, for instance, he unequivocally stated his opposition to rolling back the Western-style economic reforms and privatizations of the 1990s.
On 15 December 2006, in Moscow, Sergei Ivanov said to foreign correspondents about Alexander Litvinenko
, murdered
in London in November, which made headlines in the West: "For us, Litvinenko was nothing. We didn't care what he said and what he wrote on his deathbed."
, with added responsibility for the defence industry and arms exports. On 15 February 2007 Putin elevated Ivanov to the post of First Deputy Prime Minister and relieved him of his duties as Defence Minister; he was appointed as First Deputy Prime Minister with responsibility over defense industry
, aerospace industry, nanotechnology
and transport
. In June 2007 Ivanov was appointed chairman of the Government Council for Nanotechnology.
was nominated to run for presidency with Putin's backing. Ivanov expressed his support for Medvedev's candidacy as well.
Russian opinion polls
suggested that Ivanov enjoys wide name recognition among the Russian public with relatively strong approval ratings.
Ivanov's career, in terms of his background and rise through Russia's state structures, has often been compared to Putin's, fueling speculation that Ivanov might run for president in 2008. Three months younger than Putin, Ivanov had been a student contemporary of Putin's in their hometown of Leningrad. Both completed competitive specialized secondary education programs (Putin in chemistry, Ivanov in English language) in Leningrad before attending Leningrad State University. Both completed postgraduate studies in counterintelligence; and both joined the foreign intelligence service shortly afterward. However, according to Ivanov's recollections, he did not become acquainted with Putin during their years as students, but rather when both were assigned to work in the same foreign intelligence division in Leningrad.
colonel-general in reserve. He is fluent in English
and Swedish
as well as speaking Norwegian
, and some French
. Ivanov's hobbies include fishing and reading detective novels in the original English.
Sergei Ivanov supports CSKA Moscow
, he can often be seen at PFC CSKA and PBC CSKA
matches.
He married in 1976 and has two sons: Alexander Sergeyevich Ivanov (b. 1978), works at Vneshekonombank and Sergei Sergeyevich Ivanov (b. 1982), a vice president at Gazprombank
since 2006.
On 20 May 2005, a Volkswagen
driven by Ivanov's eldest son Alexander struck and killed a 68-year-old woman, Svetlana Beridze, on a zebra crossing
. Charges against him were, however, dropped.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n senior official and statesman. He was Minister of Defence from March 2001 to February 2007, Deputy Prime Minister
Deputy Prime Minister
A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some counties, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, but is significantly different, though both...
from November 2005 to February 2007, and the First Deputy Prime Minister from February 2007 to May 2008. Previously, as secretary of the Russian Security Council, Ivanov served as an adviser to President
President of the Russian Federation
The President of the Russian Federation is the head of state, supreme commander-in-chief and holder of the highest office within the Russian Federation...
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999.Originally a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yeltsin emerged under the perestroika reforms as one of Gorbachev's most powerful political opponents. On 29 May 1990 he was elected the chairman of...
and later President Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
(November 1999-March 2001) on matters of national security. After the election
Russian presidential election, 2008
The Russian Presidential election of 2008, held on March 2, 2008 resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. Medvedev, whose candidacy was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin and five political parties , received 71% of the vote, and defeated...
of Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev is the third President of the Russian Federation.Born to a family of academics, Medvedev graduated from the Law Department of Leningrad State University in 1987. He defended his dissertation in 1990 and worked as a docent at his alma mater, now renamed to Saint...
as President of Russia, Ivanov has been reappointed as a deputy prime minister
Deputy Prime Minister
A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some counties, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, but is significantly different, though both...
in Vladimir Putin's second government
Vladimir Putin's Second Cabinet
Vladimir Putin's Second Cabinet is a cabinet of the government of the Russian Federation following the Russian presidential election, 2008 that resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. The second President, Vladimir Putin, was appointed to the position of the...
.
Before joining the federal administration in Moscow, Ivanov, a fluent speaker of English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
—served in the Soviet and later Russian foreign intelligence service as a specialist in law and foreign languages, both at home and abroad (in Europe and Africa) from the late 1970s to the late 1990s. In 1975, Ivanov graduated from the Department of Philology
Philology
Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...
at Leningrad State University, where he studied English and Swedish, and later completed postgraduate studies in counterintelligence and law in Minsk
Minsk
- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
.
In 1976 he started his service for Leningrad and Leningrad Oblast KGB Directorate, where he became a friend of his colleague Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
. From July 1998 through August 1999 Ivanov served as a deputy to Vladimir Putin, then director of the Federal Security Service. In November 1999, Yeltsin appointed Ivanov secretary of the Security Council of Russia
Security Council of Russia
The Security Council of the Russian Federation is a consultative body of the Russian President that works out the President's decisions on national security affairs...
, a body charged with advising the president on matters of national security. Ivanov became Russia's defence minister, becoming the first civilian to hold that post, in March 2001. On 15 February 2007, Ivanov resigned as defence minister following his elevation to the post of deputy prime minister.
Ivanov is widely considered to be a member of Vladimir Putin's inner circle
Political groups during Vladimir Putin's presidency
A diverse variety of informal political groups emerged during the presidency of Vladimir Putin. They include remnants of the so-called the Yeltsin Family, Sankt Petersburg lawyers and -economists, and security-intelligence elements called the siloviki.-Background:...
and a member of the Kremlin's Silovik
Silovik
Silovik is a Russian word for politicians from the security or military services, often the officers of the former KGB, the FSB, the Federal Narcotics Control Service and military or other security services who came into power...
faction. He was previously seen as the most likely candidate to replace Mikhail Fradkov
Mikhail Fradkov
Mikhail Yefimovich Fradkov is a Russian politician and statesman who was the Prime Minister of Russia from March 2004 to September 2007. Fradkov has been the head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service since 2007.-Early life:...
as Prime Minister in September 2007.
Youth, education, and early career
Ivanov was born in LeningradSaint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
. In 1975 he graduated from the English translation branch of the Department of Philology at Leningrad State University, where he majored in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
. In the late 1970s Ivanov began a two decades career on the staff of the external intelligence service. In 1976 he completed postgraduate studies in counterintelligence, graduating from Higher Courses of the KGB in Minsk
Minsk
- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
.
Upon graduating in 1976, Ivanov was sent to serve for the Leningrad and Leningrad Oblast KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
Directorate, where he became a friend of Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
, then a colleague of his. In the late 1970s Ivanov began working in foreign intelligence, holding various posts in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. In 1981 Ivanov graduated from KGB First Chief Directorate
First Chief Directorate
The First Chief Directorate , of the Committee for State Security , was the organization responsible for foreign operations and intelligence collection activities by the training and management of the covert agents, intelligence collection management, and the collection of political, scientific and...
's 101st School (now the Andropov
Yuri Andropov
Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov was a Soviet politician and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 12 November 1982 until his death fifteen months later.-Early life:...
Red-Banner Institute).
In the 1980s Ivanov served as the Second Secretary at the Soviet Embassy in Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
, working directly under the KGB resident Felix Karasev
Felix Karasev
Felix Karasev or Felix Sutyrin was a KGB General and Soviet diplomat. He served three times in Finland between 1963 and 1992. His memoir Naapurinpojan muistelmat was published in 1998....
.
In the mid-1990s, Ivanov became one of the youngest generals in the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service
Foreign Intelligence Service (Russia)
The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service is Russia's primary external intelligence agency. The SVR is the successor of the First Chief Directorate of the KGB since December 1991...
.
Career in Moscow
In August 1998, Vladimir PutinVladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
became head of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, and appointed Ivanov his deputy. As deputy director of the Federal Security Service, Ivanov solidified his reputation in Moscow as a competent analyst in matters of domestic and external security. On 15 November 1999 Ivanov was appointed secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, an advisory body charged with formulating presidential directives on national security, by Boris Yeltsin. In that position, Ivanov replaced Putin as Yeltsin's national security adviser upon Putin's promotion to the premiership.
As secretary, Ivanov was responsible for coordinating the daily work of the council, led by the president. But Ivanov's role as secretary was initially unclear to media observers. At the time of his appointment, the Security Council was a relatively new institution. (The council was set up by Yeltsin's tutelage in 1991-1992). Between 1992 and Ivanov's appointment in 1999, Yeltsin used the council as political expediency had dictated, but had not allow it to emerge as a relatively strong and autonomous institution. Ivanov's predecessors in that post, including Putin, according to Western analysts, were either the second most powerful political figure in Russia or the just another functionary lacking close access to the center of state power, depending on their relationship with Yeltsin.
Defence Minister
Russian Ministry of Defence
The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation exercises operational leadership of the armed forces of Russia.The Russian Minister of Defence is the nominal commander of all the armed forces, serving under the president of the Russian Federation, in whom executive authority over the military is...
in March 2001. That month Ivanov stepped down as secretary of the Security Council, but remained a member. Ivanov had resigned from military service around a year earlier, and was a civilian while serving as secretary of the Security Council. Ivanov therefore became Russia's first civilian defence minister. Putin called the personnel changes in Russia's security structures coinciding with Ivanov's appointment as defence minister "a step toward demilitarizing public life." Putin also stressed Ivanov's responsibility for overseeing military reform as defence minister.
Unsurprisingly to specialists on Russia, Ivanov became bogged down in the sheer difficulty of his duties as Defence Minister. But despite bureaucratic inertia and corruption in the military, Ivanov did preside over some changes the form of a shift towards a more professional army. Although Ivanov was not successful in abandoning the draft, he did downsize it.
As Defence Minister, Ivanov worked with U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Henry Rumsfeld is an American politician and businessman. Rumsfeld served as the 13th Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford, and as the 21st Secretary of Defense from 2001 to 2006 under President George W. Bush. He is both the youngest and the oldest person to...
to expand Russian-U.S. cooperation against international terrorist threats to both states.
On May 2001, Ivanov was elected chairman of the Council of Commonwealth of Independent States
Commonwealth of Independent States
The Commonwealth of Independent States is a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics, formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union....
Defence Ministers.
In October 2003 Sergei Ivanov claimed that Russia did not rule out a pre-emptive military strike anywhere in the world if the national interest demands it.
In 2004, Sergei Ivanov, then acting Defence Minister, pledged state support to the suspects in Chechen leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev
Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev
Zelimkhan Abdumuslimovich Yandarbiyev was a Chechen writer and a politician, who served as acting president of the breakaway Chechen Republic of Ichkeria between 1996 and 1997...
's assassination detained in Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
and declared that their imprisonment was illegal. Later Qatari prosecutors concluded that the suspects had received the order to eliminate Zelimkhan Yandarbiev from Sergei Ivanov personally.
In January 2006, Ivanov received criticism for his downplaying response to the public outcry over a particularly brutal hazing incident at a military base in the Urals, which involved Andrey Sychyov as a victim, whose legs and genitals were amputated due to the vicious beatings and abuse.
From time to time Ivanov has disconcerted Western audiences with the bluntness of his remarks on international military and political issues, though his political orientation is moderate and generally liberal on economic issues. In a series of public comments on the 2003-2004 elections, for instance, he unequivocally stated his opposition to rolling back the Western-style economic reforms and privatizations of the 1990s.
On 15 December 2006, in Moscow, Sergei Ivanov said to foreign correspondents about Alexander Litvinenko
Alexander Litvinenko
Alexander Valterovich Litvinenko was an officer who served in the Soviet KGB and its Russian successor, the Federal Security Service ....
, murdered
Alexander Litvinenko poisoning
Alexander Litvinenko was a former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service, FSB and KGB, who escaped prosecution in Russia and received political asylum in the United Kingdom...
in London in November, which made headlines in the West: "For us, Litvinenko was nothing. We didn't care what he said and what he wrote on his deathbed."
Deputy Prime Minister
In November 2005 Ivanov was appointed to the post of Deputy Prime Minister in Mikhail Fradkov's Second CabinetMikhail Fradkov's Second Cabinet
Mikhail Fradkov's Second Cabinet was the twelfth cabinet of the government of the Russian Federation, preceded by Mikhail Fradkov's First Cabinet, which followed the cabinet led by Mikhail Kasyanov, who had been dismissed by President Vladimir Putin on February 24, 2004 shortly before the...
, with added responsibility for the defence industry and arms exports. On 15 February 2007 Putin elevated Ivanov to the post of First Deputy Prime Minister and relieved him of his duties as Defence Minister; he was appointed as First Deputy Prime Minister with responsibility over defense industry
Defense industry of Russia
The Defense industry of Russia is a strategically important sector and a large employer. It is also a significant player in the global arms market...
, aerospace industry, nanotechnology
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is the study of manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally, nanotechnology deals with developing materials, devices, or other structures possessing at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometres...
and transport
Transport in Russia
The transport network of the Russian Federation is one of the world's most extensive. The national web of roads, railways and airways stretches almost from Kaliningrad in the west to the Kamchatka Peninsula in the east, and major cities such as Moscow and Saint Petersburg are served by extensive...
. In June 2007 Ivanov was appointed chairman of the Government Council for Nanotechnology.
2008 presidential election
http://www.ufg.com/pr/press_kit/ufg_russia_index_2006_en.pdf Because of his popularity with voters, Putin's endorsement was expected to help his preferred candidate, according to opinion polls and Russian political analysts. This speculation was intensified in November 2005 by Ivanov's promotion to the rank of Deputy Prime Minister. The speculation was further intensified in February 2007 by Ivanov's promotion to the post of First Deputy Prime Minister, but they ceased after his colleague Dmitry MedvedevDmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev is the third President of the Russian Federation.Born to a family of academics, Medvedev graduated from the Law Department of Leningrad State University in 1987. He defended his dissertation in 1990 and worked as a docent at his alma mater, now renamed to Saint...
was nominated to run for presidency with Putin's backing. Ivanov expressed his support for Medvedev's candidacy as well.
Russian opinion polls
Opinion polling for the Russian presidential election, 2008
This is a collection of scientific, public opinion polls that have been conducted relating to the Russian presidential election, 2008.-Opinion polls by "Levada-center":Source: http://www.levada.ru/vybory2008.html...
suggested that Ivanov enjoys wide name recognition among the Russian public with relatively strong approval ratings.
Ivanov's career, in terms of his background and rise through Russia's state structures, has often been compared to Putin's, fueling speculation that Ivanov might run for president in 2008. Three months younger than Putin, Ivanov had been a student contemporary of Putin's in their hometown of Leningrad. Both completed competitive specialized secondary education programs (Putin in chemistry, Ivanov in English language) in Leningrad before attending Leningrad State University. Both completed postgraduate studies in counterintelligence; and both joined the foreign intelligence service shortly afterward. However, according to Ivanov's recollections, he did not become acquainted with Putin during their years as students, but rather when both were assigned to work in the same foreign intelligence division in Leningrad.
Personal
Ivanov is an FSBFSB (Russia)
The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation is the main domestic security agency of the Russian Federation and the main successor agency of the Soviet Committee of State Security . Its main responsibilities are counter-intelligence, internal and border security, counter-terrorism, and...
colonel-general in reserve. He is fluent in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
as well as speaking Norwegian
Norwegian language
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
, and some French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
. Ivanov's hobbies include fishing and reading detective novels in the original English.
Sergei Ivanov supports CSKA Moscow
CSKA Moscow
CSKA Moscow is a major Russian sports club based in Moscow. It is popularly referred to in the West as "Red Army" or "the Red Army team" because during the Soviet era, it was a part of the Armed Forces sports society, which in turn was associated with the Soviet Army...
, he can often be seen at PFC CSKA and PBC CSKA
PBC CSKA Moscow
PBC CSKA Moscow is a Russian professional basketball team that is based in Moscow, Russia. The club is a member of the VTB United League. It is often referred to in the West as "Red Army" for its past affiliation with the Soviet Army. CSKA has won two titles between 2006 and 2009 in Europe's...
matches.
He married in 1976 and has two sons: Alexander Sergeyevich Ivanov (b. 1978), works at Vneshekonombank and Sergei Sergeyevich Ivanov (b. 1982), a vice president at Gazprombank
Gazprombank
Gazprombank is the largest Russian non-state owned bank, which is among the three largest banks in Russia. It is a joint stock bank founded in 1990. The bank is owned by the Russian gas company Gazprom, which controls 62.59% of shares directly and also retains shares through its subsidiaries...
since 2006.
On 20 May 2005, a Volkswagen
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
driven by Ivanov's eldest son Alexander struck and killed a 68-year-old woman, Svetlana Beridze, on a zebra crossing
Zebra crossing
A zebra crossing is a type of pedestrian crossing used in many places around the world. Its distinguishing feature is alternating dark and light stripes on the road surface, from which it derives its name. A zebra crossing typically gives extra rights of way to pedestrians.The use of zebra...
. Charges against him were, however, dropped.
External links
- Interview with Sergei Ivanov, in Hardtalk (BBC).
- Ivanov, Sergei, Lenta.ruLenta.RuLenta.Ru is a Moscow-based news website in Russian language, owned by Rambler Media Group which belongs to Prof-Media. It is considered one of the most popular Russian language online resources with over 600 thousand visitors daily....
(in Russian). - Biography by Vladimir PribylovskyVladimir PribylovskyVladimir Valerianovich Pribylovsky is a Russian historian, journalist and human rights advocate opposed to current Russian authorities.-Biography:...
(in Russian). - Russia Profile of Sergei Ivanov
- Sergei Ivanov Biography at spb.ru
- "Russian Defense Minister Arrives In Kyrgyzstan"