Vladimir Kryuchkov
Vladimir Alexandrovich Kryuchkov (Russian: Владимир Александрович Крючков) (29 February 1924 – 23 November 2007) was a former Soviet politician and Communist Party member, having been in the organization from 1944 until he was dismissed in 1991. He was born in Tsaritsyn, which is now Volgograd.[1]
[edit] Career
Kryuchkov joined the Soviet diplomatic service, stationed in Hungary until 1959. He then worked for the Communist Party Central Committee for eight years, before joining the KGB in 1967 together with his patron Yuri Andropov. He was appointed head of the First Chief Directorate (FCD) in 1974 (the KGB Foreign Operations) and Deputy Chairman in 1978. In 1988 he was promoted to the rank of General of the Army and became KGB Chairman. In 1989-1990, he was a member of the Politburo.
A political hard-liner, Kryuchkov was among the members of the Soviet intelligence community who misinterpreted the 1983 NATO exercise Able Archer as a prelude to a nuclear attack. Many historians, such as Robert Cowley and John Lewis Gaddis, believe the Able Archer incident was the closest the world has come to nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
Hoping to defuse the campaign to rehabilitate Imre Nagy and the Hungarian reform movement in general, Kryuchkov sent a dossier of incriminating KGB documents, both genuine and bogus, to Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev on Friday, June 16, 1989 - the same day that several hundred thousand Hungarians gathered in Heroes Square in Budapest to witness the ceremonial reburial of Nagy and several other leaders of the 1956 revolt who had been tried and executed in 1958.[2]
According to Sergei Tretyakov, Kryuchkov secretly sent US$50 billion worth of funds of the Communist Party to an unknown location in the lead up to the collapse of the USSR.[3]
During the August Coup of 1991, Kryuchkov was among the gang of eight that led the State Emergency Committee (Государственный Комитет по Чрезвычайному Положению, ГКЧП) that temporarily ousted Gorbachev. Following the failed coup attempt, Kryuchkov was imprisoned for his participation. However, in 1994 the State Duma freed him in an amnesty. Kryuchkov was replaced as chairman of the KGB by Leonid Shebarshin.
[edit] References
- ^ "USSR's hawkish KGB chief Kryuchkov dies at 83". Reuters. 2007-11-25. http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL2521028720071125.
- ^ "Imre Nagy aka 'Volodya' - A Dent in the Martyr's Halo?", "Cold War International History Project Bulletin", Spring, 1995.
- ^ Wise, David (2008-01-27). "Spy vs. Spy". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/24/AR2008012402750.html. Retrieved 2008-01-30.
| Government offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Viktor Chebrikov |
Head of Soviet Committee of State Security 1988–1991 |
Succeeded by Leonid Shebarshin |
[edit] External links
- 1924 births
- 2007 deaths
- Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union members
- Expelled members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
- People from Volgograd
- Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union members
- KGB chairmen
- Burials in Troyekurovskoye Cemetery
