Tyler Durden
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
Via Zerohedge…
One of Russia’s highest ranking spies and the powerful head of military intelligence has died “after a long and serious illness,” a Defense Ministry spokesperson told the news agency RIA Novosti. Gen. Col. Igor Korobov, the 63-year old head of Russia’s Military Intelligence Directorate (GRU), was reported dead early Thursday morning; currently there’s no reports of foul play though officials did not reveal specific details or the circumstances of his death.
Crucially Korobov had been dubbed by the West the “Novichok spymaster” — as the Russian GRU chief ultimately blamed for the Salisbury attack as well as the downing of MH17 over Ukraine in 2014, which the Kremlin in turn had blamed on pro-Kiev national forces.
Korobov had for two years been under US sanctions, added by US Treasury in December 2016 related to allegations of Russian hacking and “efforts to undermine democracy”. Ironically, however, he was seen at times as a cooperative ally in Washington’s “war on terror” efforts since 9/11. In one particular stunning and unprecedented case, he was still allowed to participate as part of a high level Russian intelligence delegation to the United States in February 2018 to meet with American intelligence officials to discuss counter-terror initiatives.
At that time Korobov made the trip to D.C. despite officially being under US sanctions while accompanied by the directors of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) and Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).
According Korobov’s bio in Meduza he ascended the ranks of the USSR’s military intelligence wing starting in the 1980’s:
He served in the Soviet and Russian armed forces since 1973, joining the USSR’s military intelligence in 1985 and becoming Russia’s GRU director in 2016.
A career intelligence officer who started out in the 1980s, Korobov graduated from the “Conservatory” and went on to oversee Russia’s strategic intelligence gathering, including the management of all foreign stations. His appointment was no surprise: since the 1990s, the president has traditionally entrusted the job to lieutenants who supervised Russia’s foreign stations.
According to TASS, “in 2016 he was appointed by a presidential decree as the head of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces and Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.”
Korobov had been ill since early October, when reports revealed he was severely reprimanded by President Putin himself over mishandling accusations surrounding the alleged Salisbury poison attack the West pinned on Russian intelligence.
According to The Daily Mail:
President Vladimir Putin personally gave a dressing down to the head of Russian spy agency GRU over ‘deep incompetence’ shown in the Salisbury poisonings and other international operations.
GRU chief Col-Gen Igor Korobov, 62, reportedly emerged shaken and in sudden ‘ill health’ after his confrontation with the furious Russian president.
This detail alone means we could soon hear more to the story and circumstances surrounding his death, which the defense ministry has yet to be forthcoming about in terms of details or exact cause of death.
An official defense ministry statement called Korobov “a wonderful person, a faithful son of Russia and a patriot of his homeland.”
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
I am indeed very sad for this great loss in 2018. Russia should be more careful in protecting his Patriots in the frontline of its history.
I would take the Daily Mail’s reporting with strong grain of salt, involved as it has been as an unwavering mouthpiece and propagandist for the UK Government’s ludicrous anti-Russian allegations about ‘Novichok’ and the Skripals.
Military intelligence officers are NOT “spies”. I really wish people would stop calling them spies.
Sergei Skripal, for instance, was a military intelligence officer in the Russian GRU. Then he became a spy for the UK.
MI6 and 5 will not be able to keep lying about their Novichok false-flags now he has departed ~
So is the most credible source of this “dressing down” by Putin the Daily Mail?? And this all coming from ZeroHedge..?
This is the way that false stories are created, because it is ridiculous to suggest that the head of the GRU would have been “dressed down” by VVP for mishandling the so-called GRU agents, because they weren’t anything of the sort; the whole story was made up by Higgins and his mates at MI6.
It is vaguely possible he was criticised for the internal intelligence failure that enabled MI6 to gain access to Petrov and Boshirov’s passport details… how likely is that?
Maybe Tyler doesn’t know what the Daily Mail is like….
The “Daily Mail” writes rubbish and should not be quoted here. The “Daily Mail” is a mouthpiece of British intelligence and disseminates fake news about Russia.