Viktor Ivanov

For other people named Viktor Ivanov, see Viktor Ivanov (disambiguation).

In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming conventions, the patronymic is Petrovich and the family name is Ivanov.

Viktor Petrovich Ivanov (Russian: Виктор Петрович Иванов, born May 12, 1950) is a Russian politician and businessman, former KGB officer,^[1] who served in the KGB Directorate of Leningrad and its successors in 1977–1994. He was the director of The Federal Narcotics Service of Russia from 2008 until 2016.

Viktor Ivanov
Viktor Ivanov
Native name	Виктор Петрович Иванов
Born	(1950-05-12) May 12, 1950 (age 73) Novgorod, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Allegiance	Soviet Union
Service/branch	KGB
Years of service	1971–2008
Service number	Colonel general
Battles/wars	Soviet–Afghan War

He has the federal state civilian service rank of 1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation.^[2]

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 (Russian: НПО "Вектор") which conducted research and development of mobile and portable microwave communications monitoring and direction finding devices using micro-assemblies and microcircuits.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]}

Career

In 1987–1988 as a KGB officer he took part in the Soviet–Afghan War.^[9]

In December 1990 together with Boris Gryzlov and Valentin Chuykin he founded the small-scale enterprise Blok engaged in various businesses and became its director.^[10]

He has strong links to the Tambov Russian mafia.^[10][11] 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.^[10][a][b]

In October 1994 he resigned from FSK and, upon Vladimir Putin's recommendation to Mayor Anatoly Sobchak, was appointed Chief of the Administrative Staff of the Saint Petersburg Mayor Office until Sobchak lost the election in 1996.^[10]

Ivanov headed the Russian-United States firm Teleplus CJSC also spelled Tele+ or Teleplyus (Russian: ЗАО "Телеплюс") in 1996 and served as its CEO until 1998.^{[4][7][16][17]} "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 and Euronews. Telcell, which was a subsidiary of the John Kluge's Metromedia and later formed in 1984 in Mexico City and owned by Carlos Slim's América Móvil, had a 45% stake in Teleplus.^[18][c]

In 1999 he succeeded Nikolai Patrushev 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 Vladimir Putin since January 5, 2000. Viktor Ivanov is considered one of Putin's closest allies.^[20][d]

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 airline.^[10]

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^[21] 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.^[9]

In 2010, Rinat Akhmetshin penned an op-ed article for the Washington Times which was very supportive of Ivanov and his anti narcotics efforts.^[22]

Sanctions

On March 20, 2014, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published that Victor Ivanov and 19 other men had been added to the Specially Designated Nationals List.^{[23][24][25][26][27]}

Personal

Ivanov is married and has a daughter and a son.^[28][29]

Notes

1. As of 2017, Tamboskaya OGG also controlled the Stockholm sea port.^[12][13]
2. Russia is the largest consumer of heroin per capita in the world.^[14][15]
3. Metromedia helped Rupert Murdoch's News Corp form Murdock's Fox Broadcasting Company on 9 October 1986 and later Fox News. Previously in 1985, Murdoch had purchased 20th Century Fox from Marvin Davis who purchased his partner Marc Rich's stake in 20th Century Fox in 1984.^[19] John Kluge's Metromedia's subsidiary «Telcel», which was founded in 1984 in Mexico City and is owned by Carlos Slim's América Móvil, was very active in the Soviet Union and eastern Europe before 2003.^[18]
4. Other siloviki close to Ivanov include Nikolai Patrushev, Alexander Bortnikov, and Igor Sechin.^[20]

References

1. "New jobs, old faces: The line-up confirms that Vladimir Putin is still in control". The Economist. May 15, 2008. Retrieved 2011-01-02. Also seemingly sidelined is Viktor Ivanov, a hardline ex-spook who worked closely with Mr Sechin.
2. "О присвоении классного чина государственной гражданской службы Российской Федерации Иванову В.П.". Decree No. 1722 of 29 December 2012 (in Russian). President of Russia.
3. [Research Institute "Vector": Building at Kantemirovskaya st. , ten]. citywalss.ru website (in Russian). Archived from the original on 14 August 2019. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
4. Ликинова, Юлия (Likinova, Julia); Лукин, Михаил (Lukin, Mikhail); Стукалин, Александр (Stukalin, Alexander); Черников, Павел (Chernikov, Pavel); Черникова, Анна (Chernikova, Anna) (23 December 2002). "КГБ во власти: Государственные деятели (90 человек)" [KGB in power: Statesmen (90 people)]. Kommersant (in Russian). Retrieved 6 January 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)^{[dead link]} Alt URL
5. Ликинова, Юлия (Likinova, Julia); Лукин, Михаил (Lukin, Mikhail); Стукалин, Александр (Stukalin, Alexander); Черников, Павел (Chernikov, Pavel); Черникова, Анна (Chernikova, Anna) (23 December 2002). "КГБ в бизнесе: Бизнесмены (60 человек)" [KGB in business: Businessmen (60 people)]. Kommersant (in Russian). Retrieved 6 January 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)^{[dead link]} Alt URL
6. Ликинова, Юлия (Likinova, Julia); Лукин, Михаил (Lukin, Mikhail); Стукалин, Александр (Stukalin, Alexander); Черников, Павел (Chernikov, Pavel); Черникова, Анна (Chernikova, Anna) (23 December 2002). "КГБ во власти и бизнесе" [KGB in power and business]. Kommersant (in Russian). Retrieved 6 January 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)^{[dead link]} Alt URL
7. Ликинова, Юлия (Likinova, Julia); Лукин, Михаил (Lukin, Mikhail); Стукалин, Александр (Stukalin, Alexander); Черников, Павел (Chernikov, Pavel); Черникова, Анна (Chernikova, Anna) (23 December 2002). [KGB in power and business]. Kommersant (in Russian). Archived from the original on 25 April 2005. Retrieved 6 January 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
8. КГБ во власти: Государственные деятели (90 человек) (KGB in power: Statesmen (90 people)) from Kommersant
9. Keating, Joshua E. (22 October 2010). "Interview: Viktor Ivanov". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
10. Shvets, Yuri (19 September 2006). "Viktor Ivanov" (PDF). Stirling, Virginia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 June 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
11. Адамова, Екатерина (Adamova, Ekaterina); Калинина, Ольга (Kalinina, Olga); Новиков, Кирилл (Novikov, Kirill); Парыгин, Антон (Parygin, Anton); Пугаченко, Дмитрий (Pugachenko, Dmitry); Сухманский, Максим (Sukhmansky, Maxim); Урбан, Кирилл (Urban, Kirill); Черникова, Анна (Chernikova, Anna) (9 August 2004). ["Information about 43 employees of the presidential administration": All Presidential Administration]. Kommersant (in Russian). Archived from the original on 8 October 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) Alt URL
12. Galeotti, Mark (18 April 2017). "Crimintern: How the Kremlin uses Russia's criminal networks in Europe" (PDF). European Council on Foreign Relations (ecfr.eu). p. 4. Retrieved 10 July 2021. See Networks and outposts: Routes and supply chains
13. Galeotti, Mark (18 April 2017). Russian-based organised crime (RBOC) and its routes into Europe. European Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
14. Galeotti, Mark (June 2015). "Tough Times for Tough People: Crime and Russia's Economic Crisis" (PDF). Radio Free Europe. p. 6. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
15. Галеотти, Марк (13 June 2015). "Хорошие времена для плохих парней" [Good times for bad guys]. Радио Свобода (Radio Svoboda) (in Russian). Retrieved 10 July 2021.
16. Прибыловский, Владимир (Pribylovsky, Vladimir); Фельштинский, Юрий (Felshtinsky, Yuri) (10 March 2004). "Связи Путина: Откуда есть пошла питерская олигархия" [Putin's connections: Where did the St. Petersburg oligarchy come from?]. Operation "Heir" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 10 March 2004. Retrieved 6 January 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
17. "Высокий суд Лондона обнародовал досье на главу ФСКН Иванова" [The High Court of London has published a dossier on the head of the Federal Drug Control Service Ivanov]. Dozhd. 30 April 2015. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
18. [Career "Kremlin Bormann"] (in Russian). Stringer. 26 June 2003. Archived from the original on 15 September 2003. Retrieved 6 January 2021. Alt URL
19. "Marvin Davis Dies at 79, Former Owner of Pebble Beach Company, the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Aspen Skiing Company". hotel-online. 4 September 2004. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
20. Harding, Luke (21 December 2007). "Putin, the Kremlin power struggle and the $40bn fortune". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
21. Wu Jiao and Li Xiaokun (2010-06-11). "SCO leaders may make crucial Afghan decisions". China Daily. Retrieved 2011-01-02. Russia's drug control chief Viktor Ivanov warned last month in Beijing: "Drugs produced in Afghanistan are flowing to Russia and China, intensifying regional instability,
22. Higgins, Andrew; Kramer, Andrew E. (15 July 2017). . The New York Times. Archived from the original on 13 March 2019. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
23. "Treasury Sanctions Russian Officials, Members Of The Russian Leadership's Inner Circle, And An Entity For Involvement In The Situation In Ukraine". US Department of the Treasury.
24. "Executive Order - Blocking Property of Additional Persons Contributing to the Situation in Ukraine". The White House - Office of the Press Secretary. 20 March 2014.
25. Specially Designated Nationals List (SDN)
26. Shuklin, Peter (March 21, 2014). . liga.net. Archived from the original on February 7, 2015. Retrieved February 20, 2016.
27. President of The United States (March 19, 2016). "Ukraine EO13661" (PDF). Federal Register. Retrieved February 20, 2016.
28. "Victor Ivanov. Director of the Federal Service for Drug Control of the Russian Federation: the "Kremlin Borman"". Retrieved 10 July 2021.
29. Russia Executive Government Encyclopedic Directory Volume 1 Federal Government Strategic Information and Contacts. Washington, D.C.: International Business Publications, USA. 2012. p. 253. ISBN 978-1438776026.

External links

• Viktor Ivanov biograph