Putin Appoints Former Bodyguard to Lead Kursk Defense Amid Ukrainian Incursion

Aleksey Dyumin, a close advisor and former senior bodyguard for Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been assigned to command the Kursk region’s defense against the current Ukrainian military offensive.

Having been Putin’s bodyguard during his early years as president, Dyumin has had a quick ascent through the Kremlin levels and is now regarded as a member of Putin’s inner circle.

Nevertheless, Dyumin has no formal position in the Defense Ministry or the Federal Security Service, which the president openly assigned the mission of driving Ukrainian military out of Russia on Monday.

A request for comment was not answered by Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesperson.

According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), after the meeting, Putin assigned Alexander Bortnikov, the director of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), to assume command of the “counter-terrorism operation” in Kursk.

Interestingly, Dyumin’s selection was seen by prominent Russian blogger Rybar to be “a sign that the security forces, on their own and without interference from Moscow, were unable to solve coordination problems.”