Topic: Sergei Ivanov

Sergei Borisovich Ivanov (Russian: Серге́й Бори́сович Ивано́в; born 31 January 1953) is a Russian senior official and statesman. He was Minister of Defence from March 2001 to February 2007, Deputy Prime Minister from November 2005 to February 2007, and has been First Deputy Prime Minister since February 2007. Previously, as secretary of the Russian Security Council, Ivanov served as an adviser to President Boris Yeltsin and later President Vladimir Putin (November 1999-March 2001) on matters of national security.

Before joining the federal administration in Moscow, Ivanov, a fluent speaker of English—served in the Soviet and later Russian foreign intelligence service as a specialist in law and foreign languages, both at home and abroad (in Europe and Africa) from the late 1970s to the late 1990s. In 1975, Ivanov graduated from the Department of Philology at Leningrad State University, where he studied English and Swedish, and later completed postgraduate studies in counterintelligence and law in Minsk.

In 1976 he started his service for Leningrad and Leningrad Oblast KGB Directorate, where he became a friend of his colleague Vladimir Putin. From July 1998 through August 1999 Ivanov served as a deputy to Vladimir Putin, then director of the Federal Security Service. In November 1999, Yeltsin appointed Ivanov secretary of the Security Council of Russia, a body charged with advising the president on matters of national security. Ivanov became Russia's defence minister, becoming the first civilian to hold that post, in March 2001. On 15 February 2007, Ivanov resigned as defence minister following his elevation to the post of deputy prime minister.