Igor Kobzev was born on 19 October 1966 in
Voronezh. From a family with a long military tradition, his grandfather participated in the
Eastern Front and was awarded the
Order of Glory, 3rd class. In 1988, Kobzev graduated from the . From August 1988 to August 1989, he served as assistant chief of staff of the 936th separate battalion of aerodrome technical support of the
60th Anniversary of the USSR Syzran Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots, and then was assistant to the head of the personnel department of the school. Between February 1992 and December 1999, he served as head of the personnel department and combat unit of the 146th separate mobile mechanized civil defense brigade. In 1999, as part of the Territorial Administration of the Russian Emergencies Ministry, he took part in the
Second Chechen War. And from December 1999 to August 2000, he was a senior assistant to the chief of staff for personnel and combat units of the 847th rescue center. Between August 2000 and December 2003, he held the post of head of the Department for Civil Defense and Emergencies of the of Voronezh - Deputy Head of Civil Defense in Voronezh. From April 2016 to August 2017, he was the first deputy head of the Central Regional Center of the EMERCOM of Russia, and also served as the acting head of the Central Regional Center. In 2017, he graduated from the magistracy of the of Russia. In August 2017, he took the post of Director of the HR Policy Department of the Ministry of Emergencies of Russia, and in August 2018, became Acting Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Emergencies of Russia. Kobzev was engaged in the resolution of a number of major emergencies, particularly in the consequences of the
2011 Garbuzovo Antonov An-148 crash in
Belgorod Oblast, he participated in the dispatch of a convoy with humanitarian aid to the territory of
South Ossetia during the
Russian-Georgian War, took part in extinguishing natural fires in the
Voronezh Oblast in 2018, led the operation to receive refugees from Ukraine in the Voronezh region in 2014, and dealt with the consequences of the
Saratov Airlines Flight 703 crash in
Moscow Oblast in 2018. On November 4 of the same year, he was reappointed in the same position. On 18 November 2019, Kobzev was included in the
Heraldic Council under the President of the Russia. On 12 December 2019, Kobzev was appointed the acting
Governor of Irkutsk Oblast, following the resignation of
Sergey Levchenko. After that, he attended a working meeting with Russian President
Vladimir Putin, as well as with Prime Minister
Dmitry Medvedev. The appointment was supported by the Minister of Emergency Situations
Yevgeny Zinichev. On the same day, he was promoted to Colonel-General of Internal Service. As to Levchenko's departure from the post of governor, it had occurred against the backdrop of problems and confusion with dealing with the consequences of the 2019 , the heaviest in the past 180 years. On 13 December, Kobzev was introduced by the plenipotentiary representative in the
Siberian Federal District,
Sergey Menyaylo, to members of the government and deputies of the
Legislative Assembly of Irkutsk Oblast. Assessing the appointment, experts pointed out that in the future elections of the governor of the Irkutsk Oblast, Kobzev, as a typical "Varangian", may face competition from local elites. On 20 May 2020, Kobzev announced that he had decided to participate as a self-nominated candidate in the , which were scheduled for 13 September of the same year. The possibility of Kobzev winning the elections in the first round was assessed rather skeptically, despite the fact that he is a protégé of the federal center and enjoys the support of the Kremlin's political strategists. Nevertheless, Kobzev won 60% of the vote, ahead of the
Communist Party candidate and
State Duma deputy
Mikhail Shchapov with 26%, against whom a "
spoiler" with a surname close to confusion was put forward. The turnout in the Irkutsk elections was the lowest in Russia and amounted to about 32%. The inauguration ceremony of Kobzev took place on 18 September at a meeting of the Legislative Assembly of Irkutsk Oblast. On the same day, Kobzev was included in the subgroup in the direction of "Higher education" of the working group "Education and Science" as part of the
State Council of Russia. On 23 September, he made a reshuffle in the government, in particular, he appointed and as his deputies. On 26 October, Kobzev was hospitalized with
coronavirus, Since 21 December 2020, Kobzev is a member of the of Russia. He was reelected as governor in 2025. ==Personal life==