Viktor Petrovich Ivanov (, born May 12, 1950) is a Russian politician and businessman, former

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

officer, who served in the KGB Directorate of

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

and its successors in 1977–1994. He was the director of The Federal Narcotics Service of Russia from 2008 until 2016. He has the federal state civilian service rank of

1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation 70px, Shoulder's rank 1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation () is the highest federal state civilian service rank of Russia. The rank of the 1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation was first introduced ...

Early life

Ivanov graduated from Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute of Communications under Konstantin Muravyov in 1971. From 1971 to 1977 as an engineer in the army, he worked at Leningrad's research institute ''Vector'' () which conducted research and development of mobile and portable microwave communications monitoring and direction finding devices using micro-assemblies and microcircuits.Alt URL
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Career

In 1987–1988 as a KGB officer he took part in the

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War took place in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from December 1979 to February 1989. Marking the beginning of the 46-year-long Afghan conflict, it saw the Soviet Union and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic o ...

. In December 1990 together with

Boris Gryzlov Boris Vyacheslavovich Gryzlov (, ; born 15 December 1950) is a Russian politician and diplomat currently serving as the Russian Ambassador to Belarus. Previously, he served as the chairman of the State Duma from 2003 to 2011 and as interior m ...

and Valentin Chuykin he founded the small-scale enterprise Blok engaged in various businesses and became its director. He has strong links to the

Tambov Tambov ( , ; rus, Тамбов, p=tɐmˈbof) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Tambov Oblast, Central Federal District, central Russia, at the confluence of the Tsna River (Moksha basin), Tsna ...

Russian mafia The Russian mafia ( or ), also known as Bratva ( ; ) less as Obshchak (Общак) or Brigades (Бригады) , is a collective of various organized crime related elements originating or/and operating in Russia. In December 2009, Timur ...

. He supported Vladimir Kumarin's Tambovskaya OGG in their war against the Malyshevskaya OGG for control of the Saint Petersburg sea port and the trafficking of Colombian narcotics through the Saint Petersburg sea port to Europe. In October 1994 he resigned from FSK and, upon

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

's recommendation to Mayor

Anatoly Sobchak Anatoly Aleksandrovich Sobchak ( rus, Анатолий Александрович Собчак, p=ɐnɐˈtolʲɪj ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ sɐpˈtɕak; 10 August 1937 – 19 February 2000) was a Russian politician and legal scholar, a co-autho ...

, was appointed Chief of the Administrative Staff of the

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

Mayor Office until Sobchak lost the election in 1996. Ivanov headed the Russian-United States firm ''Teleplus'' CJSC also spelled ''Tele+'' or ''Teleplyus'' () in 1996 and served as its CEO until 1998. "Teleplus" CJSC is a United States-Russia company which was engaged in broadcasting and installation of transmitters and receivers for both satellite and terrestrial communications. It had 30 channels including

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

and

Euronews Euronews (stylised in lowercase) is a pan-European television news broadcasting, news network, headquartered in Lyon, France. It is a provider of livestreamed news, which can be viewed in Europe and North Africa via satellite, and in most of the ...

. Telcell, which was a subsidiary of the

John Kluge John Werner Kluge (; September 21, 1914September 7, 2010) was a German-American entrepreneur who became a television industry mogul in the United States. At one time he was the richest person in the U.S. Early life and education Kluge was b ...

Metromedia Metromedia, Inc. (also often MetroMedia) was an American media company that owned radio station, radio and television stations in the United States from 1956 to 1986 and controlled Orion Pictures from 1988 to 1997. Metromedia was established in ...

and later formed in 1984 in Mexico City and owned by

Carlos Slim Carlos Slim Helú (; born 28 January 1940) is a Mexican business oligarch, investor, and philanthropist. From 2010 to 2013, Slim was ranked as the richest person in the world by ''Forbes'' business magazine. He derived his fortune from his e ...

América Móvil América Móvil, S.A.B. de C.V. is a Mexican telecommunications corporation headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico. It is the 7th largest mobile network operator in the world in terms of equity subscribers, as well as one of the largest corpor ...

, had a 45% stake in Teleplus.Alt URL
/ref> In 1999 he succeeded

Nikolai Patrushev Nikolai Platonovich Patrushev (; born 11 July 1951) is a Russian politician, security officer and former intelligence officer who served as the secretary of the Security Council of Russia from 2008 to 2024. He previously served as the director o ...

as the head of the Internal Security Department of Russia's FSB. As of 2007, he had been a Deputy Head of the Presidential Staff for personnel appointed by

since January 5, 2000. Viktor Ivanov is considered one of Putin's closest allies. In September 2001 Russia's prime minister appointed Ivanov representative of the state in the boards of directors of the Antei Corporation and Almaz Scientific Industrial Corporation, developing and producing air defence systems, including S-300. On November 22, 2001, he was elected chairman of the board of directors of Almaz and initiated the merger of Almaz and Antei. Since June 2002 Ivanov has been the chairman of the board of directors of the result of the merger, OJSC Almaz-Antei Air Defense Concern. Since November 4, 2004, he has also been the chairman of the board of directors of JSC

Aeroflot PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (, ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; , , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. Aeroflot is headquartered in the Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow, with its hub being Sheremetyevo Interna ...

airline.

Head of Federal Narcotics Control Service

Since May 15, 2008, he has been a director of Russia's Federal Service for the Control of Narcotics and a chairman of State Anti-Narcotics Committee, which includes 29 heads of Russian ministries. In 2010, when the State of California in the United States had a ballot initiative asking voters about the legalization of marijuana, Ivanov public spoke out against it. He flew to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., to lobby against drug legalization, meeting with the Los Angeles mayor, Los Angeles county sheriff, and U.S. drug czar. In 2010, Rinat Akhmetshin penned an op-ed article for the ''

Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It covers general interest topics with an emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout Washington, D. ...

'' which was very supportive of Ivanov and his anti narcotics efforts.

Sanctions

On March 20, 2014, the US

Office of Foreign Assets Control The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is a financial intelligence and enforcement agency of the United States Department of the Treasury, United States Treasury Department. It administers and enforces economic and trade economic sanctions, ...

(OFAC) published that Victor Ivanov and 19 other men had been added to the

Specially Designated Nationals List The Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, also known as the SDN List, is a United States government sanctions/embargo measure targeting U.S.-designated terrorists, officials and beneficiaries of certain authoritarian regimes, a ...

Personal

Ivanov is married and has a daughter and a son.

Notes

References

External links

Viktor Ivanov biograph
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ivanov, Viktor 1950 births Aeroflot Living people Russian media executives Politicians from Saint Petersburg 1st class Active State Councillors of the Russian Federation Soviet military personnel of the Soviet–Afghan War Russian individuals subject to U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctions People from Veliky Novgorod Aides to the president of Russia