Putin's new leader of Northwest Russia is staunch supporter of war and Orthodoxy

Rudenya, who has been governor of the Tver region for more than nine years, was on September 29 officially appointed the new leader of the Northwest Federal District.

He takes over the post from Aleksandr Gutsan, who shortly before that was appointed new General Prosecutor.

57-year-old Igor Rudenya originally comes from Moscow and has climbed the career ladder in Putin's Russia. After having graduated from the Military Academy of the Russian General Staff in 2002, he entered state service and held several high posts in the state agriculture complex. In the period 2005-2007, he served as deputy minister of agriculture.

Rudenya is closely connected with the Russian Orthodox Church and regularly meets with top church leaders, including Patriarch Kirill. 

Despite his allegiance to the church and its 'traditional values', he is accused of serious crimes against children. The European Union, the USA and several more countries have put him on their sanctions lists because of his involvement in abduction of Ukrainian children. 

The high-ranking state official is a staunch supporter of the war. In a speech delivered in Tver on February 23, 2025 - the so-called Day of Protectors of the Fatherland - he hit back against western countries.

"Western elites are trying to take revenge for all their unsuccessful battles against Russia, both on the economical and political and military fronts, [and] they continue to take advantage of corrupt practices among our neighbouring countries," he said. 

"A Nazi gang of banderites, bandits, and followers of Hitler from practically all over the world, are against us. But the protectors of our motherland, our entire nation, reminded the West of an immutable truth: nobody will ever be able to defeat Russia," he exclaimed.

In September this year, he welcomed Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia's security council, to a militaristic youth camp in his region. Together with warriors who recently came back from the front lines in Ukraine and children dressed up in uniforms, Rudenya and Medvedev reportedly discussed 'patriotic education.'

Present in the meetings was also Vladimir Medinsky, the presidential adviser and former minister of culture. Together the three men also paid a visit to a museum devoted to a trip by Josef Stalin to the region in 1943.

The management skills of Igor Rudenya were put to the test for real when the Ukrainian Armed Forces on September 17-18, 2024, hit a giant arms depot in Toropets, a town located in the western part of the Tver region.

It was one of the most successful hits by the Ukrainians so far in the war.

The attack caused several explosions, the strongest of which had an earthquake-like effect with a magnitude of 2.8. The shock wave spread over a distance of up to 300 km, which is estimated to be equivalent to an explosion of 200 tonnes of TNT.

In a comment on the attack, governor Rudenya on September 18 said that "debris from a drone had fallen down during an air defence attack, causing a fire."

"The situation is under control," he emphasised in a deceptive statement.

Parts of the town of 18000 people had to be evacuated.