Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday (May 29) appointed Alexei Dyumin as secretary of the advisory State Council. The appointment has brought Dyumin closer to the core of power and now, people are speculating that he might become the next president.
Putin was re-elected for another six-year term in March and appointed Dyumin as an adviser supervising the weapons industry in May.
Kremlin’s website announced a decree signed by Putin that appointed Dyumin to the State Council. It provided no further information about his new employment.
Sergei Markov, who is a former Kremlin adviser and Putin supporter, said on Telegram: “Russia’s elite is abuzz with the appointment of Dyumin as secretary of the State Council.”
Who is Alexei Dyumin?
Dyumin worked as the president’s bodyguard for Putin’s first and second terms from August 1999. He is one of his closest allies. He was born on August 28, 1972, in Kursk and his father was a military medic and his mother a teacher.
He entered the Federal Guards Service (FSO) in 1995 and guarded both President Boris Yeltsin and Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin.
The 51-year-old has played ice hockey with Putin. He was deputy head of the GRU military intelligence service when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
Dyumin later served as a deputy defence minister and then as governor of Tula, a region which plays a big role in Russia’s military-industrial complex.
Dyumin saved Putin from bear attack
While speaking to the Kommersant newspaper in 2016, Dyumin explained how he once used his pistol to scare off a bear from one of the president’s mountain residences. He is a recipient of Russia’s highest Hero of Russia state award.
“I was part of a group of officers which ensured the security of the president everywhere – in Russia and abroad. Every morning began with a report to the president on operational reports. You must have information on the regions, on emergency situations. Sometimes I had to give instructions to a minister, set a task for the head of a region,” Dyumin said.
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