Viktor Zolotov

Viktor Zolotov was born January 27, 1954 in the Ryazan region. After compulsory military service in the border troops worked in the Production Association "ZIL" in Moscow. He started his career in the ninth Directorate of the KGB of the USSR, which later was converted into a FSO. Zolotov graduated from the law Institute and the Academy of the General staff. Zolotov worked thirteen years in the Federal Guard Service (FSO) and the head of the presidential security Service.

In 1990-2000 he served in various senior military posts in the State Protection of the Russian Federation authorities. On August 19, 1991 he guarded Boris Yeltsin during his speech to the country from a tank.

Zolotov was the bodyguard of St. Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak in the early 1990s. In that capacity, he first met then-deputy St. Petersburg mayor Putin and became his sparring partner in boxing and judo. He graduated from the Law Institute and the Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.

Zolotov was appointed by Putin to manage the presidential guard after his arrival in the Kremlin in 2000. In 2000-2013 he held the post of chief of the Presidential Security Service - the deputy director of the Federal Security Service. Putin promoted Zolotova in 2006, when he became Colonel-General.

Zolotov got a promotion in August 2013, when Putin named him second-in-command of the Interior Ministry's troops, which number about 170,000 soldiers. "Zolotov's appointment suggests that the Kremlin is preparing for the possibility of mass protests in the event of a political or economic crisis," said Donald Jensen, a fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

On 12 May 2014 Putin appointed Zolotov First Deputy Interior Minister, commander of the Interior Troops of Russia.

On 10 November 2015 President Putin awarded the title of General of the army, to his former security guard, the first Deputy interior Minister Viktor Zolotov. Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev also received a similar rank in the police force. Another decree the President promoted Kolokoltseva, giving him a «special rank» the General of the police. Prior to that time, , Kolokoltsev and Zolotov both held the rank of Colonel General.

Viktor Zolotov's visit to Chechnya in September 2015 emphasized the special status of Ramzan Kadyrov. On the night of August 31, Chechnya held a sudden operational readiness test of the regional branch of the OMON (riot police) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA). This was announced by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. The operational readiness test was organized by Viktor Zolotov, Russian First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and Commander-in-Chief of the Internal Troops of the Russian MIA.

Political analyst Mikhail Remizov, the president of the National Strategy Institute, treats the Viktor Zolotov's visit to Chechnya as a support of the Chechen leader by the federal government. Mikhail Remizov has emphasized, first of all, two striking facts of the situation: the high status of Viktor Zolotov and the fact that he is a top-ranking official close to the President of Russia.

Meanwhile, according to Mikhail Remizov, the visit of Viktor Zolotov can be a sign of the deterioration of the Ramzan Kadyrov's relations with Russian power agents, with whom the Chechen leader had a conflict against the background of the incident with Stavropol law enforcers and the murder of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov.

Zolotov was awarded the Order "For Services to the Fatherland" III and IV degree, Alexander Nevsky, Courage, "For Military Merit," Friendship, medals. He has the honorary title "Honored employee of the Russian Federation state protection".

He is not to be confused with the Viktor Zolotov who started his career as an artist in 1979, and in 1980 tried sculpture in wood for the first time.