GRU: Igor Korobov, Chief of Russian Spy Agency Blamed for Election Hacks, Dies at 62

The head of Russia's military intelligence agency implicated in a number of attacks on Western election systems and a nerve agent attack in Britain has died aged 62, the country's news agencies have reported.

Russia's defense ministry said that General Igor Korobov died after a "serious and long illness" and described him as "a wonderful person, a faithful son of Russia and a patriot of his homeland," but gave no further details about his death.

"Korobov Igor Valentinovich will forever remain in our hearts. We express condolences to his family and friends," the statement said, according to TASS.

Born in the Smolensk region, Korobov had worked in military intelligence since 1985.

He took up the post as the head of the GRU, or Main Intelligence Directorate, which is the intelligence arm of the Russian military and is now known as the GU, in February 2016 after the death of 58-year-old Igor Sergun.

The GRU has been blamed for several global cyber attacks, for which Korobov and other officers have been sanctionedd by the United States in 2016.

His predecessor died as suddenly in January 2016, three weeks after he was sent to Syria by Putin to demand that the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad step down, Sky News reported.

The U.K government also believes that the GRU was responsible for the nerve agent attack in the English city of Salisbury against the spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

Investigative website Bellingcat said the two Russians accused of the attack were GRU officers. Named as Alexander Mishkin and Anatoly Chepiga, whom British authorities said were "almost certainly" approved by the Russian state. Moscow denies any responsibility.

The botched assassination attempt led to the death of Dawn Sturgess, who handled a container contaminated with the nerve agent in June.

Korobov was reportedly heavily criticized and faced criticism from Russian President Vladimir Putin for failings over the botched attempted murder.

Russian journalist Sergey Kanev, who writes for The Insider, which worked with UK-based Bellingcat in uncovering details about the Skripal case, reported that Korobov fell ill after meeting Putin, according to The Telegraph.

Michael Carpenter, a Russia adviser for Barack Obama's administration, tweeted on Thursday: "His predecessor died in 2016 of a heart attack. Life expectancy for incumbents of this job is pretty low, but then so is the median life expectancy in Russia."

The BBC's Steve Rosenberg wrote that"if you take on the role of GRU chief, don't expect a carriage clock and a happy retirement at the end of it."

However, Evgeny Buzhinsky, a former Russian general, dismissed claims that it was foul play, telling the BBC: "It was a long, long struggle against a very bad disease ... In Russia no one is suspicious, believe me."

GRU agents were accused of a failed attempt to mount a coup in Montenegro in 2016, and its forces are said to be involved in Russia's semi-covert wars in Ukraine and Syria.