Sergei Ivanov, once seen as a potential successor to Putin, has died at the age of 73

Sergei Ivanov, a former Russian defense minister and longtime ally of President Vladimir Putin who was once seen as a potential successor to the Russian leader, has died at the age of 73.The Kremlin did not provide the cause of death. Exile news outlet Meduza reported that Ivanov was rumored to have a serious, long-term illness. Putin expressed his “deep condolences” to Ivanov’s friends and relatives in a brief, one-sentence statement posted on the Kremlin’s website.Ivanov and Putin first met in the 1970s when they were both serving in the KGB’s Leningrad Directorate. While Putin moved into domestic politics by joining the St. Petersburg mayor’s office in the 1990s, Ivanov remained in the intelligence services, rising to become a senior officer in the Foreign Intelligence Service.The pair met again in the late 1990s with Putin’s rise through the federal government. Putin appointed Ivanov as his deputy in the Federal Security Service in 1998 and later appointed him Secretary of the Russian Security Council after he became prime minister in 1999.

Minister of Defense and his potential successor

Ivanov served as Minister of Defense from 2001 to 2007, and oversaw the second war in Chechnya, which crushed separatist efforts in the region.When Putin decided to step down due to term limits and move to the seat of prime minister in 2008, Ivanov was widely seen as his most likely successor.

However, Putin chose another long-time associate, Dmitry Medvedev, to be his running mate until regaining the presidency in 2012. Some observers have argued that Putin abandoned Ivanov’s candidacy because he saw him as too ambitious and feared he would try to retain the presidential seat.Ivanov remained at Putin’s side as deputy prime minister from 2007 to 2011, then served as Kremlin chief of staff from 2011 to 2016, a powerful role overseeing the presidential administration.In 2016, Ivanov was appointed presidential envoy for environmental protection, ecology and transport, a job that carried no political weight and was widely seen as an honorary retirement. Putin dismissed him from that position in February, less than a week after he turned 73, three years above the standard mandatory retirement age for civil servants.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Ivanov personally asked the president to relieve him of his duties.Ivanov, along with other senior Russian officials, was subjected to sanctions from the United States and the European Union in response to Moscow’s military action in Ukraine.He retained his position as one of 13 permanent members of Russia’s Security Council even though he no longer serves as the president’s special representative. He also served as honorary president of the VTB United League basketball organization.Ivanov held the rank of retired colonel.