To coordinate its troops in the Kursk region, ten days after the start of the Ukrainian army's surprise attack on Russia, which began on August 6, the Kremlin has chosen one of its most loyal men: Alexei Dyumin, 52 years old at the end of the month. Among the silovikithose members of the security forces who seized power in Moscow in almost a quarter of a century of Vladimir Putin's regime, the former bodyguard, later promoted to lieutenant general, has experienced one of the most surprising rises in the last ten years.
His appointment has not been made official. But this pure product of the services, a graduate of a military engineering school, renowned for his cold efficiency and unwavering loyalty, is there to reassure the president in the face of a high military command towards which the Kremlin has always maintained a certain mistrust. After the army's failures in the border areas of Russia, this native of Kursk has therefore appeared as the man for the job.
The past of this loyal man with an imposing body and a straight gaze speaks for him. In 2014, as deputy head of the GRU (the military intelligence directorate), Alexei Dyumin is said to have played a key role in the evacuation of pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, then during the annexation of Crimea. Then appointed chief of staff in the land forces, he was briefly deputy minister of defense at the end of 2015, before a more political turn desired by the Kremlin: Alexei Dyumin became, the following year, governor of the Tula region, specialized in arms production, some 200 kilometers south of Moscow. He then took a malicious pleasure in keeping a rumor alive by being regularly cited as a possible successor to Vladimir Putin.
After his re-election in March, the Kremlin leader brought him back to Moscow, appointing him secretary of the State Council, a relatively unimportant advisory body headed by the president. A vaguely defined “advisory” position for this intriguing figure of the Praetorian Guard. But Alexei Dyumin thus found himself very close to the powerful Kremlin machine.
Experience in delicate missions
Russian media, including Telegram channels specializing in military affairs, quickly decoded his unexpected presence on Monday, August 12, at a strategic meeting with Vladimir Putin, partially broadcast on television, intended to devise a response to the first foreign military incursion on Russian soil since 1945. The former governor was the only participant who was not a member of the government and had no official connection to the army.
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Source: Lemonde
