Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed Nikolai Patrushev as an aide along with long-term ally Alexei Dyumin while raising his economic adviser, Maxim Oreshkin, to the job of deputy chief of staff, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.
Putin left Anton Vaino as his chief of staff, along with Alexei Gromov and Sergei Kiriyenko as first deputy chiefs of staff. Dmitry Peskov remains as press secretary.
Patrushev was moved from his role of secretary of the Security Council to make way for Sergei Shoigu, who was replaced as defence minister. Dyumin, a former Putin bodyguard who went on to become governor of the Tula region, was also made an aide.
Oreshkin was raised to the job of deputy chief of staff, alongside Dmitry Kozak, Peskov, Vladimir Ostrovenko and Magomedsalam Magomedov.
Who is Alexei Dyumin?
Alexei Dyumin, who was appointed as a Kremlin aide on Tuesday, is one of President Vladimir Putin closest allies.
* Born on Aug. 28, 1972, in Kursk. His father was a military medic and his mother a teacher.
* In 1995, he entered the Federal Guards Service (FSO). Guarded both President Boris Yeltsin and Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin.
* From August 1999, Dyumin worked in the president’s body guard for Putin’s first and second terms.
“I was part of a group of officers which ensured the security of the president everywhere – in Russia and abroad,” Dyumin said.
“Every morning began with a report to the president on operational reports. You must have information on the regions, on emergency situations. Sometimes I had to give instructions to the minister, set a task to the head of the region.”
* In 2012, he was appointed deputy head of the presidential body guard. In 2014, he was he appointed deputy head of the GRU (Russian military intelligence). He was one of the key people behind the annexation of Crimea. In 2015, he was made deputy defence minister.
* In 2016, he was elected as governor of Tula region.
* On May 2, he was shown in a televised one-to-one meeting with Putin at which the president congratulated him on the “impressive” growth of industrial production in his region.