Igor Korobov, the head of Russia's military intelligence service (GRU), has died, reportedly of a "long and serious illness" at the age of 63.
Korobov 's predecessor, Igor Sergun, died suddenly on January 3, 2016. Officially, he passed away at his home outside Moscow after suffering a heart attack. According to the American geopolitical intelligence firm Stratfor, however, Sergun died on New Year’s Day in Lebanon.
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American officials added Korobov to their sanctions list in December 2016 for his “efforts to undermine democracy” by organizing hacker attacks. Nevertheless, Korobov and the directors of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) and Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) made an unprecedented trip to Washington in February 2018 to meet with members of the U.S. intelligence community to discuss the war against terrorism.
Several GRU agents have been exposed recently through a series of their own mistakes.
In addition, the online investigative outlet Bellingcat and The Insider were able to identify the two men accused of poisoning former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter as GRU officers, in spite of their claiming on national television they were fitness industry professionals.
The head of Russia's GRU spy agency is reported dead ‘after a long and serious illness’ (Meduza)