Former Russian Deputy Minister of Defense Yuriy Sadovenko has died in Moscow at the age of 57, according to Russian media reports. The reported cause of death was heart disease, UNN cited Russian sources as saying.
Sadovenko, who held the rank of Colonel General, was for many years one of the closest associates of former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. From 2013 to 2024, he headed the apparatus of the Russian Ministry of Defense, playing a key role within Russia’s military command structure.
Born in 1969 in Zhytomyr, Ukraine, Sadovenko was educated at the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School and later at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. Since 1994, he had been part of Shoigu’s inner circle—first within the Ministry of Emergency Situations, then in the Moscow regional administration, and later at the Ministry of Defense.
Sadovenko also participated in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and was awarded some of the highest state honors of the Russian Federation, including the “Order for Merit to the Fatherland” and the “Order of Alexander Nevsky.”
His death comes amid a period of heightened tensions and serious internal developments within Russia’s military and security structures, further underscoring the instability surrounding the country’s defense establishment.
