Putin appoints Rostec cybersecurity specialist linked to GRU hackers from Fancy Bear as aide to Sergei Shoigu in Russia’s Security Council
https://theins.press/en/news/292888
Publish Date: 2026-05-22 14:03:00
Source Domain: theins.press
Vladimir Putin has appointed Andrei Kozlov as an aide to the secretary of Russia’s Security Council, former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Kozlov comes from cybersecurity structures linked to the state defense corporation Rostec and, according to leaked data, held a classified security clearance issued through Military Unit 26165. He succeeded General Pavel Konovalchik, who held the post until March and was also linked to the same GRU unit. The Insider previously established that Military Unit 26165 is connected to the hacker group Fancy Bear/APT28, which has been accused of hacking the Emmanuel Macron campaign’s headquarters, the U.S. Democratic Party, NATO, WADA, and Russian journalists.
The Insider confirmed that the newly appointed aide to the Security Council secretary is Andrei Gennadyevich Kozlov, who was previously linked to information security structures close to Russian state defense corporation Rostec. A woman who answered a phone number listed in corporate registries confirmed Kozlov’s appointment and said she would forward The Insider’s request for clarification about his biography.
According to the records in the corporate database SPARK is a Russian corporate and financial database, formally SPARK-Interfax, run by the Interfax news agency. It aggregates data on companies, executives, shareholders, court cases, financial statements, tenders, bankruptcies, as well as multiple other data points.
” tabindex=”0″ role=”button” aria-label=”SPARK”SPARK, Kozlov headed the RUSIB Association, which brings together organizations working in information security, from May 2024 to April 2026. Earlier, in November and December 2022, he served as acting general director of RT-Information Security, or RT-IB, previously known as IB Reform. The company is Rostec’s cybersecurity center and is responsible for protecting the state corporation’s information systems and those of its affiliated organizations.
RT-IB describes itself as a directly managed…
