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Ex Vladimir Putin ally who helped Russian leader's rise to power dies: Report
Russia-Ukraine War: Viktor Cherkesov who once served as a KGB officer in St. Petersburg had a falling out with Vladimir Putin later.
Russian president Vladimir Putin's long-time associate who helped to usher the leader into power, has died at age 72, according to Russian media reports. Viktor Cherkesov who once served as a KGB officer in St. Petersburg had a falling out with Vladimir Putin.
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Between 1992 and 1998, he headed the security service's successor, the FSB, for the St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, during which time he became a close ally of Putin, the BBC reported.
No cause has yet been given for Viktor Cherkesov's death by the Russian news outlet Rosbalt. Viktor Cherkesov caused controversy for an article that he wrote in the newspaper Kommersant in October 2007 in which he criticized corruption among the security services.
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Vladimir Putin was unhappy with the article and said there was "no need to make such information public." Viktor Cherkesov was then removed from his post in 2008 and became the head of the Federal agency for military supplies.
In 2006, the agency Viktor Cherkesov led investigated a case of massive furniture smuggling that implicated high-ranking officers, Radio Free Europe reported.
Viktor Cherkesov is among a number of high-profile Russians who have died since Russian invasion of Ukraine.
