Shvets Yuri, former Soviet intelligence officer: biography

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:43

Intelligence was the elite of the Soviet special services. Military intelligence officers were called "fighters of the invisible front", they were trusted by the country's leadership. But foreign intelligence also gave rise to such a thing as treason. Defectors have always created a lot of problems, because they revealed to the enemy all their activities, methods and strategies. This led to the need to re-do very painstaking work. The defectors were not even stopped by the fact that people involved in such actions would definitely be extradited and could no longer go unnoticed.

Previously, such information was not disclosed, but with the beginning of perestroika and freedom of speech, a lot of secret facts were made public. The article will talk about who Yuri Shvets (KGB) is, the biography of the former secret agent will be discussed in this material.

What led to defectors?

What preceded the appearance of defectors in the circles of the elite unit? At the same time that Yury Shvets left the country, some other former Soviet intelligence agents followed him.example. Of course, the specific reasons for this were different for everyone, but there was also a common thing in the decision of the former intelligence officers.

Many heads of special services wrote about the mood prevailing at that time. This is L. V. Shebarshin and N. S. Leonov. Moreover, it covered not only the highest ranks, but also ordinary employees. Most of the employees were frightened by the futility of further work. There was no talk of a raise or a decent pension. Some have gone into business. But only for a few, it consisted in trading with the Motherland.

How did Yuri Shvets become a scout?

Shvets Yuriy is a native of Ukraine. Scout was born in the fifty-second year of the last century.

After graduating from school, Shvets became a student at the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia. Studying was given to him quite easily, as he was exemplary and assiduous. Noted in the study of foreign languages. Yuri knew English very well, which was a compulsory subject. He is also fluent in Spanish and French.

Before graduation, he and two of his fellow students were interviewed by the State Security Committee. They were selected from among a dozen invited students.

Shvets got a job in the First Main Directorate of the KGB of the USSR and entered the Red Banner Academy of Foreign Intelligence. His classmate was Russian President Vladimir Putin.

How did the intelligence career start?

Shvets Yury was quite an ordinary employee of the special services. At first, it was assigned by the First Main Directorate to the Centerfirst department. This department handled the North American direction.

Soon, Yuri Shvets (KGB) was sent on a business trip to the capital of the United States. In Washington, he worked under the guise of another person - a correspondent for the Central State News Agency.

The Soviet agent surprised everyone by being able to recruit John Helmer. He was a very tasty morsel for the Soviet services, as he was previously listed as an employee of President Carter's administration. After numerous checks, the American received the callsign Socrates.

Why did the rapid drop occur?

The secret services of the world are generally not very trustworthy. And in this situation, the commanders of Soviet intelligence considered the connection between Shvets and the American Helmer rather reckless. According to the Center, the case was not clean. Indirectly, the agent's bad habit, namely addiction to alcohol, also had an influence. In this regard, the captain was returned to his homeland in 1987.

Shvets Yury, a scout who worked abroad, was demoted. Instead of the prestigious First Department, he received a position in the Intelligence Directorate in the territory of the Soviet Union. Despite such humiliation, the KGB man was not greatly outraged. He continued to carry out his duties conscientiously. For his work, Shvets was even awarded a new military rank. However, he stopped seeing himself in this area, and due to the lack of further prospects, he decided to dismiss.

But on dismissal, radical actionsSweden is not over. In the ninety-first year, he left the Komsomol party. However, the former intelligence officer was not interested in other intelligence agencies of the world. He started writing a book about his former job.

The Foreign Intelligence Service found out about this very quickly. The agent was gently asked to curtail this creative activity. His former boss, Colonel Bychkov, personally hinted about this to him. Yuri was warned about the possible consequences of divulging state secrets. He was forbidden to engage in any publishing activities. He was not supposed to maintain contact with either domestic or foreign printing houses without the knowledge of the Service. But, despite this, the former intelligence officer tried to cooperate with Soviet publishers, however, everywhere he was denied publication. Yuri realized that he could realize his idea only abroad. For emigration, the former intelligence officer chose the United States, because there, in his opinion, there would be an opportunity to publish his book.

How did the former intelligence officer go to America?

Shvets Yury only in the ninety-third year began to draw up documents for traveling abroad. The State Migration Service, of course, requested additional data on such a specific person. Intelligence had to decide whether to let its former employee leave the state. However, the Office categorically objected to the issuance of a passport to Shvets. But since the visa application was commercialized, he took advantage of this opportunity and emigrated to the United States. To do this, he first had to leave for the B altic states.

Foreign intelligence provided Shvets with an ally and friend for that difficult period. They became a former agent of the First Chief Directorate of the KGB Valentin Aksilenko. Their careers were very similar as both had once worked in America.

How did work on the book start?

Thanks to the acquaintance of Shvets' colleague with the American Brenda Lipson, the friends were honored with a meeting with literary agent John Brockman. Their acquaintance took place in February of the ninety-third year. However, Brockman, as a highly qualified specialist, did not appreciate the creativity of the former intelligence officers. The first manuscript was titled "I Have Always Done My Own Way". The agent said that from a professional point of view, a book of such content cannot be of an artistic nature. His suggestion was to remake the manuscript into a drier documentary version. Aksilenko and Shvets began to settle down in Virginia, and with renewed vigor set to work on the book.

The whole piece has been redone. Even the name was changed by Shvets. "Washington Residency: My Life as a KGB Spy in America" - it was with this title that the publishing house Simon & Schuster, located in New York, got acquainted with the work under this title in April 1994.

How was the book perceived in society?

Naturally, such creativity aroused the interest of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. American agents closely studied the contents of the manuscript. But their decision was quite unexpected - they sent Shvets and Aksilenko a notification that they would soondeported from the United States.

The book received a lot of media attention. Newspaper headlines were full of big names. The articles often flashed information that the authors of the "Washington Residency" were recruited by the CIA, which almost dictated the entire text to them. There was even a statement that the authors contributed to the exposure of the KGB officer O. Ames.

The Russian press hastened to condemn Yuri Shvets. But the former intelligence officer responded by sending a letter to the notorious Moscow News newspaper. His daring stunt in the form of such an appeal caused a lot of angry responses. And the thing is that he expressed everything he thought about the Directorate, in which he worked, and about the current Foreign Intelligence Service.

What happened after the publication of the manuscript?

Despite the public's expectation of a sensation, nothing like this happened. No military secrets were revealed in the book. There was nothing scandalous or unusual on the pages, although some points are of interest.

Despite the desire of Yuri Shvets, his work was not published in Russia. At home, the former intelligence officer is considered a traitor, and no one wants to mess with him.

What is the former spy doing today?

At the moment, the plans of the former KGB officer for the future include the development of his own business outside the United States. Shvets sees the prospect of promoting his business in post-socialist countries, Latin America, Asia or Africa.

Formerthe agent is currently working as a financial analyst. He is the head of a data collection and business risk assessment company.