Viktor Petrovich Ivanov (
Russian: Виктор Петрович Иванов, born May 12, 1950) is a Russian politician and businessman, former
KGB officer,[1] who served in the KGB Directorate of
Leningrad and its successors in 1977–1994. He was the director of
The Federal Narcotics Service of Russia from 2008 until 2016.
Ivanov graduated from
Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute of Communications under
Konstantin Muravyov in 1971. From 1971 to 1977 as an engineer in the army, he worked at Leningrad's research institute
Vector (
Russian: НПО "Вектор") which conducted research and development of mobile and portable microwave communications monitoring and direction finding devices using micro-assemblies and microcircuits.[3][4][5][6][7][8]
In December 1990 together with
Boris Gryzlov and
Valentin Chuykin he founded the small-scale enterprise Blok engaged in various businesses and became its director.[10]
He has strong links to the
TambovRussian mafia.[10][11] He supported
Vladimir Kumarin's Tambovskaya OGG in their war against the Malyshevskaya OGG for control of the Saint Petersburg sea port and the trafficking of
Colombian narcotics through the Saint Petersburg sea port to Europe.[10][a][b]
Ivanov headed the Russian-United States firm Teleplus CJSC also spelled Tele+ or Teleplyus (
Russian: ЗАО "Телеплюс") in 1996 and served as its CEO until 1998.[4][7][16][17] "Teleplus" CJSC is a United States-Russia company which was engaged in broadcasting and installation of transmitters and receivers for both satellite and terrestrial communications. It had 30 channels including
CNN and
Euronews. Telcell, which was a subsidiary of the
John Kluge's
Metromedia and later formed in 1984 in Mexico City and owned by
Carlos Slim's
América Móvil, had a 45% stake in Teleplus.[18][c]
In 1999 he succeeded
Nikolai Patrushev as the head of the Internal Security Department of Russia's
FSB. As of 2007, he had been a Deputy Head of the Presidential Staff for personnel appointed by
Vladimir Putin since January 5, 2000. Viktor Ivanov is considered one of Putin's closest allies.[20][d]
In September 2001 Russia's prime minister appointed Ivanov representative of the state in the boards of directors of the
Antei Corporation and
Almaz Scientific Industrial Corporation, developing and producing air defence systems, including
S-300. On November 22, 2001, he was elected chairman of the board of directors of Almaz and initiated the merger of Almaz and Antei. Since June 2002 Ivanov has been the chairman of the board of directors of the result of the merger, OJSC
Almaz-Antei Air Defense Concern.
Since November 4, 2004, he has also been the chairman of the board of directors of JSC
Aeroflot airline.[10]
Head of Federal Narcotics Control Service
Since May 15, 2008, he has been a director of Russia's
Federal Service for the Control of Narcotics[21] and a chairman of State Anti-Narcotics Committee, which includes 29 heads of Russian ministries.
In 2010, when the State of California in the United States had a ballot initiative asking voters about the legalization of marijuana, Ivanov public spoke out against it. He flew to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., to lobby against drug legalization, meeting with the Los Angeles mayor, Los Angeles county sheriff, and U.S. drug czar.[9]
In 2010,
Rinat Akhmetshin penned an op-ed article for the Washington Times which was very supportive of Ivanov and his anti narcotics efforts.[22]
^
abЛикинова, Юлия (Likinova, Julia); Лукин, Михаил (Lukin, Mikhail); Стукалин, Александр (Stukalin, Alexander); Черников, Павел (Chernikov, Pavel); Черникова, Анна (Chernikova, Anna) (23 December 2002).
"КГБ во власти: Государственные деятели (90 человек)" [KGB in power: Statesmen (90 people)]. Kommersant (in Russian). Retrieved 6 January 2021.{{
cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)[dead link]Alt URL
^Ликинова, Юлия (Likinova, Julia); Лукин, Михаил (Lukin, Mikhail); Стукалин, Александр (Stukalin, Alexander); Черников, Павел (Chernikov, Pavel); Черникова, Анна (Chernikova, Anna) (23 December 2002).
"КГБ в бизнесе: Бизнесмены (60 человек)" [KGB in business: Businessmen (60 people)]. Kommersant (in Russian). Retrieved 6 January 2021.{{
cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)[dead link]Alt URL
^Ликинова, Юлия (Likinova, Julia); Лукин, Михаил (Lukin, Mikhail); Стукалин, Александр (Stukalin, Alexander); Черников, Павел (Chernikov, Pavel); Черникова, Анна (Chernikova, Anna) (23 December 2002).
"КГБ во власти и бизнесе" [KGB in power and business]. Kommersant (in Russian). Retrieved 6 January 2021.{{
cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)[dead link]Alt URL
^
abЛикинова, Юлия (Likinova, Julia); Лукин, Михаил (Lukin, Mikhail); Стукалин, Александр (Stukalin, Alexander); Черников, Павел (Chernikov, Pavel); Черникова, Анна (Chernikova, Anna) (23 December 2002).
"КГБ во власти и бизнесе" [KGB in power and business]. Kommersant (in Russian). Archived from
the original on 25 April 2005. Retrieved 6 January 2021.{{
cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
^Адамова, Екатерина (Adamova, Ekaterina); Калинина, Ольга (Kalinina, Olga); Новиков, Кирилл (Novikov, Kirill); Парыгин, Антон (Parygin, Anton); Пугаченко, Дмитрий (Pugachenko, Dmitry); Сухманский, Максим (Sukhmansky, Maxim); Урбан, Кирилл (Urban, Kirill); Черникова, Анна (Chernikova, Anna) (9 August 2004).
""Сведения о 43 сотрудниках администрации президента": Вся Администрация Президента" ["Information about 43 employees of the presidential administration": All Presidential Administration]. Kommersant (in Russian). Archived from
the original on 8 October 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2021.{{
cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)Alt URL
^Wu Jiao and Li Xiaokun (2010-06-11).
"SCO leaders may make crucial Afghan decisions". China Daily. Retrieved 2011-01-02. Russia's drug control chief Viktor Ivanov warned last month in Beijing: "Drugs produced in Afghanistan are flowing to Russia and China, intensifying regional instability,