• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Alexey Gennadyevich Dyumin

Tula Governor Alexey Dyumin is said by some Russian political analysts to being 'groomed as successor' to Vladimir Putin. Alexei Dyumin worked in military structures. Dyumin had served as deputy head of the GRU military intelligence. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the outspoken millionaire head of the private military contractor Wagner [sponsored by the GRU], had allied with various hawkish officials, reportedly including Alexei Dyumin. Sources in the Russian media called him one of Prigozhin's patrons. Prigozhin and Dyumin hade supposedly known each other for a long time and were on friendly terms. Prigozhin's political technologists participated in Dyumin's 2016 election campaign.

By 26 June 2023 Russian media outlets began to spread reports that Dyumin may replace Sergey Shoigu as Russia's Defence Minister. Russian propaganda channels in social networks began to massively repost the original message by the official channel of the Tula Oblast government about how Dyumin visited the permanent location of the "Tula battalion". Complimentary posts about Dyumin appeared, in particular, in Telegram channels close to the Wagner PMC.

In 2017, experts from the Petersburg Politics Foundation included Alexey Dyumin in the top three who could become the next president of Russia. Experts made such forecasts on the basis of information that Dyumin had been working alongside Putin since 1999 (with the exception of a few years) - in the Presidential Security Service. The image of Dyumin, according to political scientists, reflects the demand of society for the emergence of a new face among the highest state elite. The top five influencers in December 2022 were Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov , Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov, St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov, and head of the Tula Region Alexei Dyumin. It is interesting that if the first four characters in the top five are stable, then Dyumin entered it from the sixth position after Vladimir Putin's visit to the region, pushing the head of Samara Dmitry Azarov out of the nest.

Semen Novoprudsky wrote in April 2016 that "Putin could nominate any successor he likes. Russia is preoccupied by guesswork regarding the subject on an ongoing basis. Possible nominees for the post of the fifth President of Russia (given that realistically, since the collapse of the USSR only two people have ruled the country – namely Yeltsin and Putin), include: ... former presidential bodyguard Alexey Dyumin, who completely unexpectedly became the first Deputy Minister of Defense, and subsequently governor of the Tula Oblast."

Alexey Gennadyevich Dyumin was born on 28 August 1972 in Kursk in the family of a military doctor. His mother worked as a teacher. His father, General Gennady Vasilyevich Dyumin, a military physician, (since August 2013) was the head of the 4th Directorate of the Main Military Medical Directorate of the Ministry of Defense in 2013-2015. In the 1990s, he was a member of the inner circle of Defense Minister Pavel Grachev.

His childhood was spent in military garrisons, where his father served. Before school, Dyumin lived in Kursk, but he went to first grade in Kaluga. As the politician himself said in an interview, the family lived in the basement of a military hospital, which stored medical equipment and various drugs. Their housing was somewhat fenced off from this vault, but only with a tarpaulin. In the so-called room there were beds, as well as a field kitchen.

Some time later, the Dyumin family moved to Kaluga, Voronezh, where his father was transferred. In Voronezh, in the fourth grade, Alexei Gennadievich was sent to hockey. He approached this lesson very responsibly, attended all training sessions with pleasure. Team leaders spoke of him as a very reliable goalkeeper. He played hockey since childhood. After the tenth grade, he received an offer to switch to professional sports, to play for the Voronezh team "Buran".

In 1994 Alexey graduated from the Voronezh Higher Military Engineering School of Radio Electronics . He was assigned to the Moscow Military District, in a small military unit which was engaged in countering enemy reconnaissance technical means. In 1995 he entered service in the FSO of Russia, in the management of the presidential communications at the headquarters of protection. In the service office of President Security (FSO unit), Dyumin was a security officer in the Security Service of the President during the previous presidency of Vladimir Putin, from 09 August 1999.

However, he decided to enter a military university. In 1994, he received a diploma from the Voronezh Higher Military Engineering School of Radio Electronics (VVIURE) (now part of the Air Force Academy named after Professor N. E. Zhukovsky and Yu. A. Gagarin). In 1995, Alexei Dyumin managed to get into the most closed institution among the special services of the Russian Federation - the FSO. There he proved himself to be an excellent specialist, a man with excellent character traits. In 1994-1996 worked as an engineer at the Central Unit for Integrated Technical Control of the Russian Air Force. In 1996-2013 Alexey Dyumin served in the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation. He worked in a unit that provides communications for the first persons of the state.

When Vladimir Putin became Prime Minister in 1999, (during the first and second terms of the presidential powers of Vladimir Putin), Alexei Dyumin served in the Presidential Security Service (a division of the Federal Security Service of Russia). Dyumin took on new duties. They consisted in ensuring the safety of high-ranking guests, accompanying the leader of the state, organizing negotiations and meetings. Since August 1999, he was a member of the bodyguard group of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Then he held the position of deputy head of the security departments of the Prime Minister and the President of the Russian Federation. He accompanied the head of state during various events at home and abroad (including the summits of the G8, G20, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, APEC).

In 2007, after Viktor Zubkov was appointed chairman of the government, Dyumin was appointed head of his bodyguards.

When Vladimir Putin was approved as chairman of the executive branch of power in 2008, Alexei Gennadievich accompanied him everywhere, acquiring the status of a particularly close person to the prime minister. According to media reports, Dyumin became Vladimir Putin's personal adjutant when he headed the Russian government (although Dyumin himself denies this fact). He was always with Putin in the same car in the front seat, sometimes he spent the night at the Novo-Ogarevskaya residence. After some time, Aleksey Dyumin combined this position with the position of head of the SBP department, whose employees were Putin's personal bodyguards. He was adjutant of Putin and goalkeeper in the Kremlin strongman’s own ice hockey club. The duties of the adjutant were very broad — everything from issues of welfare of the protected person to ensuring their safety.

In 2009, he graduated with honors from the Russian Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation (now the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation). He was awarded a PhD in Political Science. In 2009, at the Russian Academy of Public Administration, he defended his thesis on "Political Aspects of Global Regulation in the Framework of Cooperation between the G8 Countries". In 2013, he underwent professional retraining at the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

In the space of at most seven months, Colonel Dyumin, one of the deputy heads of the SBP, moved to the Defence Ministry and took a senior role in the Ground Forces (despite not having been a career soldier).

He had a command position in GRU special forces, and then up to to deputy ministerial rank. In the process, he also went from colonel to major general to (two-star) to Lt.General. Accounts of his promotion said that he was previously the head of the Special Operations Forces (SSO: Sily spetsial’nykh operatsii) — and the Spetsnaz GRU assets. According to some accounts, he had a brief stint as deputy head of GRU military intelligence.

In 2013 [2014?], he was appointed Deputy Head of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces [aka, the GRU]. He commanded the Special Operations Forces of the RF Armed Forces. It was this unit that played one of the main roles in the operation to annex Crimea to Russia. During the annexation of Crimea, Dyumin was on the Peninsula for the Ministry of defense of the Russian Federation.

«Kommersant» with reference to a source close to the General staff, reported that Dyumin allegedly developed and conducted an operation on evacuation to Russia of disgraced Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych out of his country and into Russia as a pro-western revolution gripped Kiev in the night of 23 February 2014. The Kommersant newspaper wrote that Dyumin personally developed and carried out an emergency evacuation of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to Russia on the night of February 22-23, 2014. Dyumin himself denies this information. In response to the question, "if not for the Crimea why he received the title of Hero of Russia", Dyumin said, «No comment. For specialized assignments within the unit». On successful completion, it was reported to President Vladimir Putin, who praised the actions of subordinates Dyumin.

Dyumin denied his participation in the evacuation of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014, which was reported by the press. «I don’t understand where that’s coming from. Where are the legends? Who creates these myths? This gentleman after the beginning of the known events in Ukraine I never saw. And what are you asking me, I can’t even comment on because it’s not like that,» said Dyumin in an interview to the special correspondent of the newspaper «Kommersant» Andrei Kolesnikov. Putin awarded him the Hero of Russia honor for courage, and he was promoted to deputy head of infantry with the rank of General. In 2015 he was Chief of Staff of the Land Forces - First Deputy Commander of the Land Forces (where he replaced Sergey Istrakova).

In 2015, he served as Chief of the General Staff - First Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces. On 11 December 2015 he was promoted to Lieutenant General. On 24 December 2015 Dyumin was appointed Deputy Minister of Defence and became a member of the Collegium of the Ministry of Defence. In his capacity as Deputy Defence Minister, he was in charge of the department of construction, housing and property relations, the expert directorate and the Main Military Medical Directorate – in a word, things that are of great importance in civilian life as well. In this position Dyumin oversaw the military training. On January 29, 2016 he was handed a personal standard. Dyumin served in this position for only one month.

Since 2016, he has been in charge of the Tula region. On 02 February 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed the Governor of Tula region Vladimir Gruzdev, who retired ahead of schedule, and appointed acting head of the region Deputy defense Minister Alexei Dyumin. Tula and Tula Region is the nation’s armory. After Dyumin was handed the job of governor of Tula region, previously unknown details of his ‘courage’ were suddenly leaked to the media.

Dyumin’s sudden fast tracking to become governor of strategically important Tula was seen as a bid by Putin to give him political experience running a region ahead of another meteoric promotion. His rapid career from Colonel to Lieutenant General was owed to Putin, who had noticed the talented subordinate and moved him up the ladder. Famous TV host and a close former associate of Boris Berezovsky, Sergei Dorenko, named Alexei Dyumin a possible successor to Putin.

On September 18, 2016, Alexey Dyumin won the direct election of the governor of the Tula region. He ran as a self-nominated candidate, received 84.17% of the votes in his support (the second place was taken by the candidate from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Oleg Lebedev, 7.53%). Alexey Dyumin took office on September 22 of the same year.

On September 19, 2021, he was re-elected Governor of the Tula Region with a score of 83.58% (he participated in the elections as a self-nominated candidate). The second place was taken by the secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Vladimir Isakov (8.97%). On September 22, the inauguration took place.

Member of the Presidium of the State Council of the Russian Federation. Since December 2020 - Chairman of the State Council Commission in the direction of "Industry".

A Colonel General, he is a Hero of the Russian Federation.

• Medal "Participant in the elimination of fires in 2010"
• Medal 125 years of state protection bodies of Russia.
• Medal "For military valor" (FSO).
• Medal "In memory of the 1000th anniversary of Kazan"
• Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 1st class.
• Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" IV degree with swords.
• Hero of the Russian Federation.
• Order of Courage.
• Suvorov medal.
• Medal "For the return of the Crimea" (Ministry of Defense of Russia).
• Medals "For Distinction in Military Service" (FSO) I, II and III degree.
• Medal "For the Commonwealth in the Name of Salvation" (EMERCOM of Russia)
• Medal "For Contribution to Strengthening the Defense of the Russian Federation" (Russian Ministry of Defense)

He speaks foreign languages, and is said to be fond of linguistics. He goes in for sports, participates in marathons, and also runs short distances. It is known that Alexey Dyumin is officially married. His wife's name is Olga. She is reportedly running a business. In 2005, the son Nikita was born in the family, he studies in one of the capital's schools and is fond of mathematics.

Alexei Dyumin's father has the rank of general. He oversaw the issues of tendering and procurement of medicines, was at the head of the D&D Pharma enterprise, and entered into partnerships with Sanofi. Since 2013, he has been in the leadership of one of the medical units of the Ministry of Defense. Alexei Dyumin has a brother Artem. It is known that he heads the TPK Prodmarket. He also runs a small company "Turbo".

Alexei Dyumin himself is the head of the Board of Trustees of the Nochnaya HK established by Vladimir Putin. He also plays as a goalkeeper. In addition, Dyumin is a payer of Putin's Night Hockey League (in the position of goalkeeper). He was an adviser to the SKA professional hockey club (St. Petersburg). One commentator claimed his main duty was to ‘let in goals’ in a ‘delicate and polite way’ so Putin could be seen on TV hitting the puck into the net.