President Vladimir Putin has called in a trusted aide and former personal bodyguard to be his eyes and ears in monitoring operations to expel Ukrainian forces from Russia, according to two people familiar with the decision.
While there’s been no official Kremlin announcement of Alexey Dyumin’s role, he’s been tasked with overseeing the military and civilian response to the incursion into Russia’s Kursk border region and to report back to Putin, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing internal matters.
Putin named Dyumin as secretary of Russia’s State Council in May, an influential post at the body that is responsible for developing “strategic goals and tasks of domestic and foreign policy.” Still, he does not have an official role at the defence ministry or the Federal Security Service, which the president charged publicly on Monday with driving out Ukrainian forces from Russia.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not respond to a request to comment.
Dyumin has been put in charge of operations in the region, said Nikolai Ivanov, a lawmaker for Kursk in Russia’s lower house of parliament, according to RTVi media’s website.
Russia has sent reinforcements to try to quell Ukraine’s surprise cross-border attack that is now in its eighth day, the first time since World War II that a foreign military has seized part of its territory. Ukraine’s army chief told President Volodymyr Zelensky late Monday that his troops control 1,000 square kilometres (386 square miles) of Russian territory and that offensive operations are continuing.
Ukraine’s incursion in Kursk is the biggest assault within Russia since Putin ordered the February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine that was supposed to end within days and is now well into its third year.
Kursk region acting Governor Alexey Smirnov told Putin and top officials on Monday that Ukraine had control of some 28 towns and villages over an area of about 480 square kilometres, and that 180,000 residents were leaving their homes to flee the fighting.
09:43
Ukraine war two years on: disease, displacement and demands for aid
Ukraine war two years on: disease, displacement and demands for aid
Dyumin, 51, was among officials present at the meeting. The former deputy defence minister and regional governor is part of an inner circle of officials that play ice hockey with Putin.
He once claimed to have protected Putin from a bear as a bodyguard, and his elevation to the State Council prompted speculation that he’s being groomed as a potential successor as president.
He was deputy head of the special operations division of Russia’s GRU military intelligence that was instrumental in Putin’s 2014 seizure of Crimea from Ukraine. He is under US, UK and European Union sanctions.