Iskhak Akhmerov
Iskhak Abdulovich Akhmerov (Russian: Исха́к Абду́лович Ахме́ров, Tatar Cyrillic: Исхак Габдулла улы Әхмәров, Latin: İsxaq Ğabdulla ulı Əxmərov, 1901–1975) was a highly decorated KGB officer, best known to historians for his role in KGB operations in the United States from 1942-1945. His name appears in the Venona decryptions over fifty times, often as signatory,[1] and on his return to the Soviet Union in 1945/46, he rose to deputy chief of the KGB's 'illegal' intelligence section.[2]
Akhmerov was born in Troitsk, located in modern Chelyabinsk Oblast,[3] and came from a Tatar background. He joined the Bolshevik Party in 1919, and attended the Communist University of Toilers of the East and the First State University, where he graduated from the School of International Relations in 1930. Akhmerov joined the OGPU/NKVD in 1930 and participated in the suppression of anti-Soviet movements in the USSR's Bukhara Republic between 1930 and 1931.[4] Akhmerov spoke Turkish, English and French, and his wife, Helen Lowry (Elza Akhmerova), was the niece of the CPUSA General Secretary Earl Browder. Lowry also worked for Soviet intelligence.
In 1932 Akhmerov transferred to the foreign intelligence division of the NKVD and served as a 'legal' intelligence officer under diplomatic cover in Turkey. In 1934, he transferred to China, where he served as an 'illegal' field officer. In 1935 he entered the United States with false identity papers and served until 1939, when he was transferred back to the Soviet Union. Akhmerov returned to the United States in 1942 and served as chief illegal resident during World War II. Akhmerov is known to have used the cover names "William Grienke", "Michael Green", "Michael Adamec", and several others while in the United States. His code names in the Venona project decrypts of Soviet intelligence messages are MAYOR and ALBERT.[5]
In late 1945 or early 1946 Akhmerov returned to the Soviet Union and became deputy chief of the KGB's 'illegal' intelligence section (отдел нелегальной разведки). He attained the rank of colonel and was awarded the Order of the Red Banner twice, the Order of the Badge of Honor, and the badge of Honored Chekist.
[edit] References
- ^ Robert L. Benson, The Venona Story, 2001, 35.
- ^ John Haynes and Harvey Klehr, Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000), 391, citing Veterany Vneshnei Razvedki Rossii, Moscow: Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, 1995.
- ^ Russian Foreign Intelligence Service. "Biography of Iskhak Abdulovich Akhmerov". Retrieved 04 Apr. 2013.
- ^ John Haynes and Harvey Klehr, Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000), 391.
- ^ Robert L. Benson, The Venona Story, 2001, 35.
- Russian Foreign Intelligence Service biography (in Russian)
- John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999)
- Richard C.S. Trahair and Robert Miller, Encyclopedia of Cold War Espionage, Spies, and Secret Operations (New York: Enigma Books, 2008) ISBN 978-1-929631-75-9
