igor korobov head of russias military intelligence agency dies after long illness creditpool photo by alexei druzhininnov 21 2018moscow the head of russias military intelligence agency who oversaw the hacking of the democratic partys computers during the united states 2016 presidential election died on wednesday after a long illness russian state news agencies reportedcol gen igor v korobov 63 had not been seen in public for months and was notably absent from a ceremony on nov 2 marking the 100th anniversary of the military intelligence agency known as the gruhistorically a secretive littleunderstood agency the gru under general korobov emerged as russias primary tool of global disruption mr korobov was sanctioned by the treasury department for the release of emails stolen from the democratic party in support of donald trumps campaign in 2016under his watch the gru was implicated in the theft and publication of documents belonging to the presidential campaign of emmanuel macron in france the hacking of computers of the global antidoping watchdog and the poisoning of a former gru officer sergei v skripal with a highly potent nerve agent in britain this yeargru operatives also play a key role in the wars in ukraine and syriasuch operations have demonstrated russias ability to project its limited power well beyond its borders and to remain a relevant international player that the west is still struggling to reckon withthe officer expected to succeed general korobov is vice adm igor o kostyukov who had been serving as acting director because of mr korobovs illness according to russian news reportsthe admiral sat next to president vladimir v putin during the public ceremony commemorating the organizations 100th anniversaryadmiral kostyukov 59 who was sanctioned by the united states twice was also linked by the american government to cyberattacks educated as a naval officer he served abroad as a military attach before joining the gru the news reports saidimagecreditministry of defence of the russian federationlike his late boss he helped plan and direct russian operations in syria although no details about his role are public he received a hero of russia award in 2017 for his military servicealthough the twitter feeds of numerous russia watchers in the west filled with black humor about the short life expectancy of any gru leader especially after a string of bungled overseas operations general korobovs death was not considered all that untimely in russiahe had cancer according to various independent publications plus the average life expectancy for russian men although it has risen by about a decade to 66 in recent years is still far lower than that of men in most western countriesthe speculation was fed partly by the fact that the death of the generals predecessor col gen igor d sergun occurred nearly three years ago under cloudy circumstances at a similar age despite some reports that he had dropped dead in the lebanese capital beirut during a stopover on a trip to syria the government insisted that general sergun 58 had died in russiageneral korobov was