User:Overagainst/Igor Sergun

Biography
Sergun was born on 28 March 1957 in Podolsk, Moscow Oblast, he joined the Soviet Armed Forces in 1973, and moved to the General Staff’s GRU (Glavnoe Razvedyvatel’noe Upravlenie– Main Intelligence Directorate), which then as now uses technical and human intelligence gathering in addition to controlling  it own large commando formation, the Special Forces of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces in 1984. His retentive memory enabled Sergun to shine in the intensive though rigid education emphasized by the Soviet system, and he received advanced schooling in the coveted Moscow area, including at a special academy for officers of the armed forces to be stationed at embassies as a GRU agent under diplomatic cover. The course was partially intended to give the officers extra polish to allow more easy mixing with foreigners at diplomatic social functions. Sergun, who was a described as a moderate drinker, probably attended the diplomatic military academy prior to 1991, up until that time the most promising candidates from the GRU diplomatic course were recruited to more prestigious KGB, to which the GRU was subordinate in all interactions. By the time of the accidental Cold War crisis of Able Archer 83, the GRU's Spetsnaz being forward deployed in apparent constant readiness for attack on battlefield nuclear weapons in West Germany became of great concern to Nato, the units were eventually stood down as relations improved. Serving in the First and Second Chechen Wars, his latter career was largely out of the public eye, although he was once embarrassed by a photograph of him standing at a Red Square Victory Day parade next to an elderly female impostor in a general's uniform.

In December 2011, he was appointed Director of GRU, whose official name of "Main Directorate" reflects it's high and independent status, Serchen though, was the lowest ranking officer to ever head the organisation; widely seen as a harbinger of further inroads being made in its establishment. Disappointing performance in the Russo-Georgian War had reduced GRU's standing and  radical reorganization a Defence Minister who had lacked all defence for the armed forces (Anatoliy Serdyukov) had retired 80% of headquarters staff at GRU, imposed physical fitness requirements as a condition of even generals remaining on active service and issued a decree that in due course control of the Special Forces of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces would be taken from GRU and given to the regular ground forces command, leaving GRU vulnerable to the suspicion, reportedly shared by Putin, that it wastefully duplicated the activities of the Foreign Intelligence Service. Russia internal security service, which Vladimir Putin as former head had a special interest in developed their own special forces units based on Western anti-terrorist models, and were encroaching on the GRU's preserve by operating in tactical fashion outside the Russian Federation. Sergun, who in person was understated, emphasized that GRU's unique value lay in seamlessly combining intelligence with Spetsnaz for strategic interventions.

Sergun and Michael Flynn
The begining of Sergun's tenure as GRU chief coincided with the burgeoning Snow Revolution protests, which had rapidly gained momentum due to social media and which Vladimir Putin accused Hillary Clinton of encouraging; restrictions on internet use were subsequently introduced.