President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday dismissed his longtime ally and former Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov as special representative for environmental protection and transportation.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told news outlets that Ivanov had personally asked the president to relieve him of his duties.
The official decree announcing Ivanov’s dismissal appeared less than a week after he turned 73. Normally, Russian officials must retire when they turn 65, with extensions possible up to the age of 70.
A 2021 amendment to Russia’s civil service law allows the president to personally approve public service beyond the age of 70 for high-level appointees like Ivanov. That change has allowed Putin to retain some of his most trusted senior personnel in posts beyond the mandatory retirement age.
Putin appointed Ivanov as his special representative for environmental protection, ecology and transportation in 2016. Before that, he served as chief of staff of the Presidential Executive Office.
Ivanov was also Russia’s defense minister and deputy prime minister in the early 2000s.
He had a long and distinguished career as a senior officer in the Soviet-era KGB and the FSB security service and holds the rank of retired colonel general.
According to the state news agency TASS, Ivanov retained his position as one of 13 permanent members of Russia’s Security Council despite no longer serving as a special representative to the president.
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