President Vladimir Putin appointed Lieutenant Colonel Artyom Zhoga, the Kremlin’s envoy to the Urals Federal District, to Russia’s National Security Council.
Zhoga, originally a military officer from the Russian-occupied Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, gained attention last year after publicly encouraging Putin to run for re-election in 2025.
Earlier this month, Putin assigned Zhoga, a veteran of the Ukraine war, to serve as his envoy to the Urals Federal District, a region vital to Russia’s extensive military-industrial complex.
With this appointment, Zhoga becomes one of 21 non-permanent members of Russia’s Security Council, a core executive body responsible for overseeing national security and strategic policy. The council also includes 13 permanent members: top security officials and senior figures from Russia’s legislative and executive branches.
Putin leads the Security Council, with former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu as secretary and former President Dmitry Medvedev as deputy secretary. Analysts view the Security Council as an influential entity, central to shaping major policy changes and mediating conflicts between agencies.
Zhoga is the highest-profile Kremlin figure to emerge from the “Time of Heroes” professional development program, launched after Putin pledged to elevate Ukraine war veterans as Russia’s “new elite.”
