Igor Kostyukov

In this name that follows East Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Olegovich and the family name is Kostyukov.

Admiral Igor Olegovich Kostyukov (Russian: И́горь Оле́гович Костюко́в; born 21 February 1961) is a Russian naval officer. As of 2018^[update], he is the Director of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian General Staff (GRU).^[1]

Admiral Igor Kostyukov
Игорь Костюков
Official portrait, 2012
Director of Russian Military Intelligence
Incumbent
Assumed office 22 November 2018
President	Vladimir Putin
Defence Minister	Sergey Shoygu Andrey Belousov
Preceded by	Igor Korobov
Personal details
Born	Igor Olegovich Kostyukov 21 February 1961 (1961-02-21) (age 64) Amur Oblast, RSFSR, USSR
Awards	Hero of Russian Federation
Military service
Allegiance	Soviet Union Russia
Branch/service	Soviet Navy  Russian Navy
Rank	Admiral
Battles/wars	Syrian Civil War Russo-Ukrainian War Russian invasion of Ukraine

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.^[2] He was further promoted to the rank of admiral in late 2019.^{[citation needed]}

Sanctions

In March 2022, during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kostyukov was placed on a European Union "blacklist".^[3]

2022 illness

On 25 March 2022, former Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov claimed that Kostyukov and Russian defence minister Sergey Shoigu had suffered a sudden illness, stating, "The symptoms of both are exactly the same - heartburn, shortness of breath."^[4] The Moscow Times considered Kostyukov to have disappeared from public view in mid-March together with other senior siloviki (key Russian security officials), including Sergey Shoigu, Viktor Zolotov and Valery Gerasimov.^[5]