The Kremlin confirms that Sergei Ivanov, former defense minister and longtime ally of Vladimir Putin, has died at 73 and does not disclose a cause.Dmitri Peskov says that Ivanov had been removed from the Security Council and dismissed from his last official role earlier this year, and that he had withdrawn from frontline duties.Ivanov rose through the KGB and later the Foreign Intelligence Service and the FSB to become the first civilian defense minister in 2001, then served as first deputy prime minister and Kremlin chief of staff.He was subject to
EU and US sanctions tied to
Russia's military actions in Ukraine and maintained ties with domestic institutions including the
VTB League, while officials say no credible evidence supports unusual-circumstance claims about his death.