Putin appoints his ex-bodyguard as ‘angel of vengeance’

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DAILY MAIL

Putin has appointed his ex-bodyguard, who is considered a likely successor for the Russian leader, as an ‘angel of vengeance’ tasked with trying to reclaim the territory seized by Ukraine.

Former bodyguard Alexei Dyumin, who once single-handedly scared off a bear from the president’s mountain residence, will lead the charge on ‘Operation Revenge’ to reclaim the 386 square miles of Russian soil now under Ukrainian control.

Dyumin, 51, grew up in the Kursk region, where a state of emergency was implemented almost immediately after thousands of Kyiv‘s troops surged across the border and began seizing territory.

Close to 200,000 Russians are now said to have evacuated their homes amid the ongoing Ukrainian ground offensive in Kursk along with artillery and drone attacks in neighbouring Belgorod.

Dyumin was deputy head of the GRU military intelligence service when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and was hailed as a ‘hero of the Russian federation’ at the time.

Putin might hope that his former bodyguard becomes a ‘hero’ once again by sending him to bring 74 villages who have allegedly been captured by Ukraine back under Russian control.

It comes as Russia’s Belgorod region was put under a state of emergency early this morning with tens of thousands of people fleeing their homes as Ukraine launched waves of artillery and drone attacks.

‘The situation in our Belgorod region remains extremely difficult and tense due to shellings from the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Houses are destroyed, civilians died and were injured,’ governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram.

Some 121,000 people have fled in Kursk alone since the start of the fighting, which has killed at least 12 civilians and injured 121 more, regional governor Alexei Smirnov told a meeting with Putin on Monday.

Several Russian warblogging channels claim Moscow’s forces suffered significant casualties since the offensive began last Tuesday amid reports hospital and morgue workers are struggling to process a constant stream of bodies.

Ukrainian commanders claim to have captured some 386 square miles – 1,000 kilometres – of territory in just one week since their incursion began as Kyiv‘s soldiers scythed through Russian units caught completely unawares.

Matthew Savill, the Director of Military Sciences at the RUSI think tank, disputed the claim and said the total area covered by the incursion appears to be just about 400 square kilometres.

Earlier this week Ukrainian troops were seen to have made major gains, advancing up to 20 miles deep into Kursk in some locations and seizing the strategic town of Sudzha, which is also a key transit hub for Russian gas.

As of Tuesday, however, Moscow’s forces began to mount a more robust defence of their territory.

Army units, fresh reserves, army aircraft, drone teams and artillery forces have now been funnelled into the conflict to stop Ukrainian armoured mobile groups from moving deeper into Russia.

A Russian defence ministry statement issued Tuesday afternoon said that those units had managed to halt the Ukrainian offensive near the Kursk settlements of Obshchy Kolodez, Snagost, Kauchuk and Alexeyevsky.

Dyumin’s appointment as the leader of ‘Operation Revenge’ to free the territory in western Russia comes just months after Putin made Dyumin secretary of the advisory State Council, fuelling rumours about the ex-bodyguard’s presidential potential.

‘Russia’s elite is abuzz with the appointment of Dyumin as secretary of the State Council,’ Sergei Markov, a former Kremlin adviser and Putin supporter, said on Telegram.

‘This is seen as confirmation that Dyumin is the future president of Russia, Putin’s choice,’ Markov said, adding that this was something that had long been rumoured.

There is no public debate or reliable information about who might eventually succeed Putin, who is 71 and is expected to rule for years, but his appointments are scrutinised for signs of whether he is lining up a potential candidate to one day take over from him.

Being publicly identified as a potential successor carries certain risks attached to being seen as a challenger. But Dyumin’s name, among others, has long been the subject of speculation among Russia’s political elite.

Asked about Dyumin’s appointment, the Kremlin said it was part of a rotation – he is taking over the role from Igor Levitin, 72 – and said he would look at how the State Council would function.

Putin chairs the council and there has long been speculation that it could take on more importance.

Under changes championed by Putin in 2020, the role of the State Council, grouping the heads of Russia’s regions, was enshrined in the constitution for the first time.

Political analysts saw this as paving the way for it eventually to become a more powerful force.

Dyumin was born in Kursk in western Russia in 1972 and is married with a son.

Despite various state television appearances over the years, he is not a household name among Russians outside the region he used to govern, but is well known in political circles, the military and the intelligence services.

Dyumin told the Kommersant newspaper in 2016 how, as one of Putin’s bodyguards, he once used his pistol to scare off a bear from one of the president’s mountain residences while the Russian leader was resting.

A recipient of Russia’s highest Hero of Russia state award, Dyumin entered Russia’s Federal Guards Service, which ensures the security of the Kremlin elite, in 1995 and guarded Putin during his first and second terms.

‘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 a minister, set a task for the head of a region.’

Dyumin, who has played ice hockey with Putin, was deputy head of the GRU military intelligence service when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

He later served as a deputy defence minister and then as governor of Tula, a region which plays a big role in Russia’s military-industrial complex.

The US Treasury Department sanctioned Dyumin in 2018, saying he had headed Special Operations Forces which ‘played a key role in Russia’s purported annexation of Crimea.’

He also appears on a British sanctions list which says he launched a drone training school in 2022 for operatives undertaking missions in Ukraine.

‘Accordingly, there are reasonable grounds to suspect that Dyumin has been involved and continues to be involved with destabilising Ukraine or undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty or independence of Ukraine,’ the UK Treasury said.