Deputy Premier Sergey Borisovich Ivanov of Russia
Ivanov is widely considered to be a member of Vladimir Putin's inner circle.
Upon graduating in 1976, Ivanov was sent to serve for the Leningrad and Leningrad Oblast KGB Directorate, where he became a friend of Vladimir Putin, then a colleague of his.
On November 15, 1999 Ivanov was appointed secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, an advisory body charged with formulating presidential directives on national security, by Boris Yeltsin.
As secretary, Ivanov was responsible for coordinating the daily work of the council, led by the president.
Ivanov was named by Vladimir Putin, who had succeeded Yeltsin as President on December 31, 1999, as Russia's Minister of Defence in March 2001.
Ivanov had resigned from military service around a year earlier, and was a civilian while serving as secretary of the Security Council.
Although Ivanov was not successful in abandoning the draft, he did downsize it.
On May 2001, Ivanov was elected chairman of the Council of Commonwealth of Independent States Defence Ministers.
In January 2006, Ivanov received criticism for his downplaying response to the public outcry over a particularly brutal hazing incident at a military base in the Urals, which involved Andrey Sychyov as a victim, whose legs and genitals were amputated due to the vicious beatings and abuse.
From time to time Ivanov has disconcerted Western audiences with the bluntness of his remarks on international military and political issues, though his political orientation is moderate and generally liberal on economic issues.
On December 15, 2006, in Moscow, Sergei Ivanov said to foreign correspondents about Alexander Litvinenko, murdered in London in November, which made headlines in the West: "For US, Litvinenko was nothing.
In November 2005 Ivanov was appointed to the post of Deputy Prime Minister in Mikhail Fradkov's Second Cabinet, with added responsibility for the defence industry and arms exports.
In June 2007 Ivanov was appointed chairman of the Government Council for Nanotechnology.
Three months younger than Putin, Ivanov had been a student contemporary of Putin's in their hometown of Leningrad.
Ivanov is an FSB colonel-general in reserve.
Sergei Ivanov has promised to strive for discharge of the Russian prisoners in Qatar.
Russian motorists enraged by elite's flashing blue lights by Adrian Blomfield, The Daily Telegraph, February 13, 2006.
Ivanov is the third Russian defense minister to visit Seoul since 1994.
India and Russia can work together in the ambitious project of Glonass, the global navigation satellite system being developed by his country, Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Sergey Borisovich Ivanov said today.
Mr Ivanov said Russia was ready to extend its cooperation with India beyond the construction of nuclear power plants like the Koodankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu.
Russian Defence Minister Sergey Borisovich Ivanov came specially to our studio to congratulate you, our dear warriors, on the coming new year.
Mr Ivanov is leading a ten-member delegation and is here on a three-day visit.
If Putin is a card player and the entire political elite is a deckof cards, then Ivanov is indisputably the joker - the quot;wild cardquot;that can pop up at any time and send the game careening in the mostunpredictable direction.
Sergey Ivanov is one of those politicians who drive peopleto distraction when they try to compose a political profile ofthe man.
Cabs were in short supplyon Vasilyevskiy Island that night, but Ivanov was resourceful, so hehailed.
Ivanov was one of the few who managed tokeep his dignity.
Ivanov is no stranger to common human weaknesses.
Sergey Ivanov is extremely proud of his English language skills.
Some people base theirviews on the fact that Ivanov had a chance to see Western democracy inaction in England and Finland, in contrast to Vladimir VladimirovichPutin, who worked in the GDR.
We know that Sergey and Irina got married when Ivanov was still astudent in the Philology Department of Leningrad University.
When Ivanov was working as an intelligence officerabroad, she chose to improve her skills and earned a Western academicdegree.
Sometimes they are caught up in itanyway, however, as they were in spring 2005, for example, whenAleksandr Ivanov was involved in a traffic accident with a tragicoutcome.
I think that Sergey Ivanov is a very noticeable and well-known politician in Russia, no questions about that.
In March 2001, Sergey Ivanov was appointed as Minister of Defense of Russian Federation.
professional armed forces in Russia by 2008.
interview for Russia TV's Vesti Nedeli.
What's New in DefenseLINKContract: Contracts for Apr 06, 2004News Photo: Russian Minister of Defense Sergey Borisovich Ivanov Is Escorted Into the Pentagon by Secretary Rumsfeld.
News Photo: Russian Minister of Defense Sergey Borisovich Ivanov Meets With Secretary Rumsfeld.
In an interview with Izvestiya's Shishkunova, Vice-Premier Sergey Ivanov said why Ukraine will not join NATO, for whom federal highways will have tolls, and how much airplane tickets will cost.
Ivanov said the Indian side had taken the final decision on the design of the aircraft.
Ivanov said Russia was convinced that after 44 years of cooperation, there were newer opportunities to strengthen the bond between the countries.
Ivanov said the advanced Russian MiG-35 combat aircraft would fly out of his country for the first time to take part in the February air show here.
Ivanov said Russia was not opposed to the sale of BrahMos supersonic missile, developed jointly by the two countries, to specific countries.
Ivanov was non-committal on the possibility of Russia supplying nuclear fuel to India.
The following is the text of a report by the Russian newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda on 17 June: As Krasnaya Zvezda has already reported, on 8-11 June Russian Federation Minister of Defence Sergey Ivanov was on an official visit to the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Sergey Borisovich Ivanov said firmly in this regard that Baykonur's military significance will certainly be maintained for the foreseeable future.
In an interview with the Moscow newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, given during his return from a visit to Washington, Ivanov said that selling arms was "the sovereign right of any country", and he accused the USA of operating "double standards" by selling arms to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
Upon graduating from the Higher Courses of the KGB in Minsk, Ivanov was sent to work at the State Security Department of Leningrad and the Leningrad region, where he met Vladimir Putin.
Even though their paths continued in parallel as they both moved on to the Higher KGB School in Minsk, Ivanov says that it wasnt until they were both assigned afterward to work in the same KGB division in Leningrad that they became acquainted.
Ivanov was also responsible for liaising with foreign security services and counter intelligence.
Ivanov expressed his support for Medvedevs candidacy as well.