Putin’s top war chief who entered UK posing as a Beatles fan has died at 73

One of Kremlin’s top war enthusiasts – and one of Russian leader Putin’s right hand men – has passed away, sources have confirmed.

Mad Vlad’s top war pal has died just months after being sacked from his government role. Sergei Ivanov – the former Russian defence minister, Kremlin chief of staff and longtime Putin ally – died at the age of 73 after what was believed to be a “long term illness.”

A Russian VTB United League basketball organisation, where he served as honorary president, confirmed he had passed but did not disclose the cause of death, after which the Kremlin acknowledged his death.

The exiled news outlet Meduza reported that Ivanov was rumoured to be suffering from a severe, long-term illness as Putin expressed his “deep condolences” to Ivanov’s friends and relatives in a statement published on the Kremlin’s website.

It read: “Vladimir Putin expressed his deep condolences to the family and friends of Sergei Ivanov upon his passing. I understand with all my heart what a bitter, irreparable loss this is.

“He was a man devoted to Russia who did a great deal for our country’s development and the strengthening of its sovereignty. His knowledge, experience, and energy were consistently in demand for complex and critical tasks.

“In every role and at every government post, he distinguished himself as an active, competent leader and a thoroughly reliable, decent man. Sergei Borisovich Ivanov was respected by colleagues, associates, and friends—by everyone who knew him and had the opportunity to work alongside him. That is how he will remain in our memory.”

Ivanov and Putin are believed to have first met in the 70s while both were serving in the KGB.

While Putin transitioned into local politics by joining the St. Petersburg mayor’s office in the 1990s, Ivanov remained in the intelligence services, rising to become a senior officer in the Foreign Intelligence Service.

As a trainee spy during the Cold War, Ivanov was staggeringly allowed into Britain to learn English in Ealing staying at a bed and breakfast, posing as a Beatles’ fan.

He later said: “I found it very interesting. I could apply the knowledge that I got in university and the Foreign Intelligence Academy. My interest in studying English as a language was due to my fascination with the Beatles‘ songs.”

It is unclear if during his later espionage career he spied in Britain. The death of the war expert comes as others warn Putin could be planning an assault on the likes of Britain in the coming months, sparking fears WW3 is imminent.

Vladimir Putin may be orchestrating a “false flag” assault on his own Russian soil as justification for launching a military campaign against the West. The Kremlin strongman would pin the blame for the orchestrated strike on NATO – before retaliating against the West, cautioned Poland’s esteemed foreign minister Radosław Sikorski.

Such a manoeuvre could spark a Third World War, echoing Hitler’s fabricated Polish raid on a wireless station in Gleiwitz, which provided the justification to commence the Second World War. This emerges as Russian state television military analyst Col. Yuri Knutov informed audiences the “time has come” for Putin to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

Sikorski argued Putin’s recent statements seem to establish the foundation for a Russian deception. “This sounds like an announcement of a provocation. I expect an attack on Russian territory under a false flag, to which Putin will ‘respond’,” he shared on X.

Sikorski drew parallels with Nazi Germany initiating WW2. “I remind you that in August 1939, the Abwehr staged a ‘Polish’ attack on a radio station in Gleiwitz in order to give itself a pretext for war,” stated the Warsaw minister, previously a British citizen.

He voiced concerns after Putin accused the West of scheming to wage war against Russia, informing prospective armed forces and intelligence personnel they face the possibility of battling NATO.