The President of Russia Vladimir Putin has appointed one of his former bodyguards to head the operation ordered by him personally against the Ukrainian entry of Russian territory, writes the British "Daily Telegraph".
Alexei Dyumin, who personally guarded Putin during his first two terms as president, has been seen as a possible successor to the Kremlin leader. He has been announced as the "curator of the operation to liberate the Kursk Region", Russian military bloggers, quoted by the "Daily Telegraph", informed today.
"The appointment of Alexei Dyumin as a high representative with full authority to deal with the operational crisis in the Kursk region is a sign that the security structures are unable to solve the problems in their coordination alone and without the intervention of the authorities in Moscow,", writes in the "Telegram" app the famous Russian military blogger with the call sign "Ribar".
Dyumin became famous after saving Putin from a bear in the first decade of this century. He spoke about the incident in an interview with the Russian newspaper Kommersant. in 2016. Putin was sleeping in one of his summer villas when the bear approached the glass door of the room.
"The animal and I looked into each other's eyes, it gave way a little. Then I opened the door and emptied almost the entire magazine of the gun at his feet. I felt sorry for the bear," says Dumin. The bear left, and Putin showered his bodyguard with praise.
Dyumin was also deputy director of the military's Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), and is believed to have led special forces in the 2014 annexation of the Crimean peninsula. In 2016, Putin appointed him the governor of the Tula region. He was recalled to Moscow in May this year to head the Security Council.
The news of his appointment as head of the defense of the Kursk region was confirmed to the English-language Internet publication "Moscow Times" by the deputy in the Russian State Duma (the lower house of the parliament) Nikolai Ivanov.
"Alexey Gennadyevich Dyumin was summoned yesterday and authorized to lead the counter-terrorist operation," Ivanov told the private Russian-language RTVI TV, quoted by the "Moscow Times".