Dead at 73, Sergei Ivanov was once Russia’s almost-president but wound up saving leopards instead of succeeding Putin

Sergei Ivanov, a former defense minister and the man who came closer than anyone else to the Russian presidency in the 2000s, died on June 26. After Vladimir Putin chose Dmitry Medvedev over Ivanov as his successor, Ivanov served as deputy prime minister in the 2008–2011 cabinet and later as the president’s chief of staff. In 2016, however, he moved to the post of presidential envoy for environmental affairs and transportation, which he held until February 2026. He appears to have retired because of health problems. At Meduza’s request, a Russian journalist who has studied Ivanov’s biography reflects on his life and how, despite a spectacular defeat in 2007, he found his calling on the sidelines of government service.