Putin's Aide, Who Saved Him From Bear Attack, Moved To Powerful State Post

Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed Alexey Dyumin to a top state post, continuing the rise of an official who was once his personal bodyguard.

Putin named 51-year-old Dyumin as secretary of the State Council, according to a Kremlin statement published Wednesday. The body responsible for developing "strategic goals and tasks of domestic and foreign policy" draws together Kremlin and government officials with lawmakers and regional leaders.

Dyumin was moved to the Kremlin as a presidential aide from his position as governor of Russia's Tula region in a shuffle that Putin, 71, carried out this month after his inauguration for a fifth term as president.

He served in Putin's personal security detail from 1999, rising to become one of his closest bodyguards, and once claimed to have protected the president from a bear. Dyumin is also among an inner circle of officials who play ice hockey with Putin.

He was deputy head of the special operations division of Russia's GRU military intelligence that was instrumental in Putin's 2014 seizure of Crimea from Ukraine. A former deputy defense minister, Dyumin is under international sanctions for his role in Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The State Council had a largely ceremonial role until Putin bolstered its power when he changed the constitution in 2020 to allow himself up to two more terms and to remain president potentially to 2036.

Dyumin's promotion follows the president's decision to oust longtime ally Sergei Shoigu as defense minister. Shoigu was made secretary of Russia's Security Council, and Putin appointed former First Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov, an economist, as defense minister.