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In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Alexandrovich and the family name is Erovinkin.
Oleg Erovinkin
Оле́г Алекса́ндрович Еровинкин
Born
Oleg Aleksandrovich Erovinkin

c. 1955
Soviet Union
Died(2016-12-26)26 December 2016 (age 61)
Moscow, Russia
NationalityRussian
Alma materFSB Academy
OccupationIntelligence officer
Years active1976–2016
OrganizationRosneft
Known forConnection to Steele dossier

Oleg Alexandrovich Erovinkin (Russian: Оле́г Алекса́ндрович Еровинкин; c. 1955 – 26 December 2016) was a Russian intelligence officer. He was a general in both the KGB and FSB.[1] Erovinkin served as chief of staff at Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft.[2]

Early life and education

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Erovinkin was born c. 1955. He began serving with the KGB in 1976[3] and graduated from the Dzerzhynsky Higher School of the KGB in 1980.[4]

Career

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In 1994, under Russian President Boris Yeltsin, Erovinkin was positioned as deputy head of personnel for the protection of state secrets.[5] Erovinkin was appointed chief of staff for Rosneft by Vladimir Putin in May 2008.[2] Under Putin, Erovinkin was a key aide to Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin and acted as a key liaison between Sechin and Putin.[6] Erovinkin worked in a department of Rosneft that handles classified documents, receiving and forwarding them to other agencies.[4] He prepared personal declarations of Sechin's assets and property for the government.[citation needed] In May 2012, Erovinkin worked for Rosneft and headed Sechin's office for a short time in late 2012.[4]

Death and investigation

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On 26 December 2016, Erovinkin was found dead in the back of his car in Moscow.[7] He was 61 years old.[5] While no cause of death was announced,[6] local media sources reported that foul play was suspected.[6] The morgue reported no cause of death (although Erovinkin's last employer, Rosneft, claimed he died of a heart attack).[1] His death was to be investigated by FSB officials.[8]

Because of his similarity to dossier Source B, who was "a former top level intelligence officer still active in the Kremlin",[9] described as "Sechin's treasurer",[6] media sources speculated that Erovinkin was an unnamed informant for the Steele dossier, a document compiled by former MI6 spy Christopher Steele detailing connections between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and Russian agents. The dossier describes a "close associate" of Rosneft president Sechin as a source, and the media have speculated that Erovinkin was that source.[1][10][11][6]

Steele responded to the reports of Erovinkin's death and said that, although much of his information came from a source close to Sechin, he denied that Erovinkin was a source. In interviews with Luke Harding, "Steele was adamant that Erovinkin wasn't his source and 'not one of ours.' As a person close to Steele put it to me: 'Sometimes people just die.'"[12][9] Glenn Simpson has also said he knows of no sources who have been harmed physically.[13] Sources have noted that Erovinkin was a key liaison between Sechin and Putin, serving as chief of staff at Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft, the same company associated with dossier allegations about Carter Page and the lifting of sanctions by Trump.[14][15] Those allegations came from a source. Erovinkin was "Sechin's closest associate", and to Putin, who was looking for leakers, he "was at least a person of interest".[16][17][18][6]

According to Christo Grozev, a journalist at Risk Management Lab, a think tank based in Bulgaria, the circumstances of Erovinkin's death were "mysterious". Grozev suspected Erovinkin helped Steele compile the dossier on Trump and suggests the hypothesis that the death may have been part of a cover-up by the Russian government.[16][19][6] Experts expressed skepticism about the theory: "As a rule, people like Gen Yerovinkin don't tend to die in airport thriller murders," said Mark Galeotti, an expert on the Russian security services.[16]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Mendick, Robert; Verkaik, Robert (27 January 2017). "Mystery death of ex-KGB chief linked to MI6 spy's dossier on Donald Trump". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 11 February 2017. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  2. ^ a b Berdy, Michele A. (26 December 2016). "Top Rosneft Exec Found Dead in Moscow". The Moscow Times. Archived from the original on 1 March 2017. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  3. ^ "Head of Office of Rosneft's Chairman found dead in Moscow". Construction.RU. 26 December 2016. Archived from the original on 21 March 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  4. ^ a b c "FSB general dealing with classified documents at Rosneft found dead in car in Moscow". UaPosition. 27 December 2016. Archived from the original on 3 February 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  5. ^ a b Давыдова, Марина (26 December 2016). "Начальник управления аппарата президента "Роснефти" найден мёртвым в Москве". Life.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 29 June 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g "Report: Death of former Russian spy chief linked to dossier on Trump". Haaretz. 30 January 2017. Archived from the original on 9 November 2019. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  7. ^ "Russian spy linked to Donald Trump's dirty dossier found DEAD in his car in Moscow". Daily Kos. Archived from the original on 6 February 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  8. ^ "В центре Москвы убит глава аппарата Игоря Сечина". Forpostation.com (in Russian). Archived from the original on 6 February 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  9. ^ a b Stahl, Jeremy (9 January 2018). "Glenn Simpson Testified That the FBI Had a Source Inside the Trump Campaign Corroborating Collusion Claims". Slate Magazine. Archived from the original on 9 November 2019. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  10. ^ Bertrand, Natasha (11 February 2017). "The timeline of Trump's ties with Russia lines up with allegations of conspiracy and misconduct". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 28 January 2021. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  11. ^ Abramson, Seth (11 February 2017). "The Fates Of 5 Men Connected To The Trump-Russia Dossier". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 12 February 2017. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  12. ^ Harding, Luke (2017). Collusion: Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win. Knopf Doubleday. p. 101. ISBN 9780525520931.
  13. ^ Burleigh, Nina (18 December 2019). "Fusion GPS' Glenn Simpson on the Steele Dossier, the FBI's Trump Investigation and Life as a Fox News Pinata". Newsweek. Archived from the original on 16 February 2021. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  14. ^ Harding, Luke (11 January 2017). "What we know—and what's true—about the Trump–Russia dossier". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 16 February 2021. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
  15. ^ "Ex-KGB Officer found dead". Center for American Progress Action Fund: The Moscow Project. 26 December 2016. Archived from the original on 25 April 2020. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  16. ^ a b c Mendick, Robert; Verkaik, Robert (27 January 2017). "Mystery death of ex-KGB chief linked to MI6 spy's dossier on Donald Trump". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 30 January 2017. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  17. ^ Stern, Grant (29 January 2017). "Ex-KGB Chief Thought Dead As Source Of Trump Blackmail Dossier Leak". HuffPost. Archived from the original on 13 September 2018. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  18. ^ Knight, Amy (3 February 2017). "Putin's Intelligence Crisis". The New York Review of Books. Archived from the original on 9 November 2019. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  19. ^ Zois, Chris (28 January 2017). "Russians suspected of aiding investigations into hacking are being arrested and possibly murdered". AOL. Archived from the original on 28 January 2017. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
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