Admiral Igor Olegovich Kostyukov (; born 21 February 1961) is a Russian naval officer. , he is the Director of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the

Russian General Staff The General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation () is the military staff of the Russian Armed Forces. It is the central organ of the military command of the Armed Forces Administration and oversees operational command of the armed ...

(GRU).

Military career

Kostyukov was appointed the acting Director of GRU on 22 November 2018 following the death of his predecessor Igor Korobov and is a noted hardliner. This posting also made him the first naval officer in the history of the GRU to take the office of Director of Military Intelligence. He has been placed on the US Government's "blacklist" for allegedly interfering in the 2016 US presidential elections. He was further promoted to the rank of

admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...

in late 2019.

Sanctions

In March 2022, during the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, Kostyukov was placed on a

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

"blacklist".

2022 illness

On 25 March 2022, former Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs

Arsen Avakov Arsen Borysovych Avakov (, ; born 2 January 1964) is a Ukrainian politician of Armenian descent who served as the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine from 2014 to 2021. He was the Chairman of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration from ...

claimed that Kostyukov and Russian defence minister

Sergey Shoigu Sergei Kuzhugetovich Shoigu; , . (born 21 May 1955) is a Russian politician and military officer who has served as secretary of the Security Council since 2024. He served as Minister of Defence of Russia from 2012 to 2024. Shoigu has served ...

had suffered a sudden illness, stating, "The symptoms of both are exactly the same - heartburn, shortness of breath." ''

The Moscow Times ''The Moscow Times'' (''MT'') is an Amsterdam-based independent English-language and Russian-language online newspaper. It was in print in Russia from 1992 until 2017 and was distributed free of charge at places frequented by English-speaking to ...

'' considered Kostyukov to have disappeared from public view in mid-March together with other senior

siloviki In the politics of Russia, Russian political lexicon, a ''silovik'' ( rus, силовик, p=sʲɪlɐˈvʲik; plural: ''siloviki'', rus, силовики, p=sʲɪləvʲɪˈkʲi) is a person who works for any state organisation that is authori ...

(key Russian security officials), including

Viktor Zolotov Viktor Vasilyevich Zolotov (; born 27 January 1954) is a Russian military officer who is the Director of the National Guard (Rosgvardiya, concurrently serving as National Guard Forces Commander-in-Chief) and a member of the Security Council. Zo ...

and

Valery Gerasimov Valery Vasilyevich Gerasimov (born 8 September 1955) is a Russian Army general (Russia), army general serving as the Chief of the General Staff (Russia), Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces and First Deputy Ministry of Defen ...

References

External links

1961 births Living people GRU Chiefs Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia alumni Russian admirals Heroes of the Russian Federation Russian individuals subject to U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctions Russian military personnel of the Russian invasion of Ukraine Russian individuals subject to United Kingdom sanctions Russian individuals subject to European Union sanctions Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List Recipients of the Order of Courage (Russia) {{Russia-mil-bio-stub