Alexander Kornkov was appointed by Putin to the post of ’emergency minister’ due to the war with Ukraine. After his predecessor in office Yevgeny Zinichev died last September after ‘falling’ from a waterfall, Zinichev was defined as a future leader before his mysterious death, but like many close associates of Putin, he was found dead in a fall from a great height
Vladimir Putin promoted his former personal bodyguard to be the Kremlin’s new ’emergency minister’, months after his predecessor mysteriously fell to his death from a waterfall. Alexander Kornkov, 49, was appointed today by Putin and is the sixth bodyguard of the Russian president appointed to a senior government post. The last man to serve in the post was Yevgeny Zinichev, also a former Putin bodyguard, who died in a fall at a waterfall tens of meters high, his death remains mysterious.
With the nickname ‘The Man Without a Face’, very little is known about Kornkov’s past and background, there are allegations that he served in the FSB’s (former KGB) counterintelligence agency as well as in the FSO, which is in charge of retaining senior officials.
A spokesman for the president, Dmitry Peskov, said: “Putin knows him well personally. The choice is due to Kornkov’s personal and professional qualities, and these will allow him to serve in that role.” Critics say Putin is increasingly paranoid, relying only on those who have proven their loyalty by preserving his life. Regarding the death of Zinichev, who was “tapped as a possible successor” to Putin, it was alleged in Russia that he was killed in an attempt to “save a man” at the Kitabu-Oron waterfall last September at the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Siberia. Zinichev, calling his death a “irreplaceable personal loss.” Some analysts believe Putin nurtured Zinichev as his eventual successor.
Zinichev, who held the rank of general, enjoyed a rise in popularity during the Putin era and was a candidate for a new powerful position on the Kremlin’s Security Council when he was killed in the mysterious incident. Professor Valery Solovi linked to the SVR Telegram channel claimed: “I will say right away that it was not the death, but the murder of the general.”
“He did not die alone, several other people died with him,” he said. The man the Russian media claims he was trying to save was a documentary filmmaker and photographer, Alexander Melnik, 63. Putin called Zinichev a “Russian hero” after his death.