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Sergei Smirnov (intelligence officer)

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Sergei Smirnov
Smirnov around 2018
First Deputy Director of the Federal Security Service
In office
July 2003 – October 2020
PresidentVladimir Putin
Dmitri Medvedev
Succeeded bySergei Korolev
Personal details
Born
Sergei Mikhailovich Smirnov

(1950-10-12) October 12, 1950 (age 73)
Chita, Zabaykalsky Krai, RSFSR, Soviet Union
Alma materM.A. Bonch-Bruevich Leningrad Electroengineering Institute of Communications (B.S.)
Military service
AllegianceRussia
Branch/serviceKGB, FSK, FSB
Years of service1975–2020
RankGeneral of the Army

Sergei Mikhailovich Smirnov (Russian: Серге́й Миха́йлович Смирно́в, born October 12, 1950) is a retired Russian intelligence officer whose career ended with a seventeen-year stint as First Deputy Director of the Federal Security Service (FSB). He was made a General of the Army in 2006.

Early life and education

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Born in Chita in 1950, his family moved to Leningrad in 1952. He later attended school alongside Nikolai Patrushev and Boris Gryzlov at the school No. 211. Together with Gryzlov he graduated from M.A. Bonch-Bruevich Leningrad Electroengineering Institute of Communications in 1973. [1]

He completed the Higher Courses of the KGB under the Council of Ministers of the USSR in Minsk in 1975.

Intelligence career

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In 1975, he joined the KGB and the early part of his career was spent in the Leningrad region KGB and then FSB.

While not a personal friend of Vladimir Putin, he was a member of the Leningrad security clique. When Putin was made director of the FSB in 1998, Patrushev became his deputy and Smirnov moved to Moscow. He quickly acquired one of the key positions within the agency: head of the Internal Security Directorate (UVB), the watchdogs’ watchdog.[1]

In 1999, he became the Chief of the Internal Security Directorate of FSB.

From January 5, 2001, to June 2003, he was the Chief of the Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast FSB Directorate.

Smirnov meeting with Dmitry Medvedev in 2011.

In July 2003, he became First Deputy Director of the FSB, retaining his position after a major reorganization of it in July 2004.

On December 20, 2006, he was made a General of the Army by presidential decree.

Personal life

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Smirnov was reported to have had a stroke several years prior to his retirement.

Retirement

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In October 2020, Smirnov retired quietly in an apparent dismissal by Vladimir Putin. It was no surprise that he was going to retire, as he had reached the age of 70 and was already in ill-health, but it was a surprise that he departed office with such a lack of fanfare and no comfortable sinecures. He was, after all, a powerful and influential figure within the Russian security community.[2]

Honors and awards

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References

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  1. ^ a b Galeotti, Mark (October 27, 2020). "No Country for Old Spooks: Reshuffle at the Top of the FSB Will Set the Tone for Remainder of Putin Era". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 2022-05-28.
  2. ^ Galeotti, Mark (March 12, 2021). "Korolev's coronation and the rise of the ruthless in the FSB". Raam op Rusland (in Dutch). Retrieved 2022-05-24.
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Political offices
Preceded by Chief of the Internal Security Directorate of FSB
1999 - ??
Succeeded by
Preceded by Chief of the FSB Directorate of Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast
January 5, 2001 - June 2003
Succeeded by