A senior former Russian defence official once described as a key confidant of President Vladimir Putin has died suddenly, less than two years after being dismissed from office. Colonel-General Yuri Sadovenko, 56, died on Christmas Day in Moscow, with Russian media citing “heart disease” as the cause. Ukrainian-born Sadovenko was widely reported to have been close to Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s former defence minister, and was often portrayed as a powerful intermediary within the ministry.
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Sadovenko served as a deputy defence minister until May 2024, when he and Shoigu were removed amid a major shake-up of Russia’s military leadership. Shoigu was later appointed secretary of the Security Council. At the time, Sadovenko was said to have acted as a trusted gatekeeper, controlling access and sensitive information within the defence establishment.
Despite being under sanctions imposed by the UK and other Western countries, there were reportedly no public indications that Sadovenko was suffering from serious health problems before his death. His name had previously appeared in tabloid headlines following reports that his wife, Maria Kitaeva, left him for another senior defence official, Timur Ivanov.
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Ivanov, who was arrested in April 2024, was convicted in July 2025 on charges of embezzlement and money laundering and sentenced to 13 years in prison, according to the Associated Press. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a growing number of senior political, military and business figures have died suddenly or in unexplained circumstances. This week
