Died legendary Soviet spy Yuri Drozdov
In Moscow on the 92-th year of life died the former head of an illegal intelligence, the KGB and the founder of the special forces “Vympel” major-General Yuri Drozdov party many of the key operations of the Soviet foreign intelligence abroad. British novelist Frederick Forsyth was called Drozdova “the most significant representative masters of Russian espionage.”
Yuri Drozdov was born in Minsk in 1925. At the end of the great Patriotic war he graduated from the Leningrad artillery school. He came in exploration in 1956 after graduating from the famous Military Institute of foreign languages. His first direction in the work of the KGB was Germany — one of the main European centres of espionage against the Soviet Union. In Berlin Drozdov sent after the first year of service in the state security Committee.
“Yuri Ivanovich was a true Russian officer, sincere man, a wise commander” — said TASS in the foreign intelligence Service of Russia (SVR).
As told in the RAF, Drozdov took part in many operations of intelligence, including operations for the exchange of Soviet spy Rudolf Abel for downed in the Soviet-American pilot Francis Gary powers. According to legend, Soviet spies, Drozdov was a cousin of Abel.
He Drozdov was a wide educated person knew several languages and read a lot. True, he laughed at first did not want to accept the offer to become “illegals” because of the “flashy appearance” and early baldness.
However, the “non-Soviet” appearance and natural gentility helped Drozdov easily find contacts with people from the upper strata of Western society.
Might have helped and received in childhood acting skills — he was engaged in the theatrical circle. Drozdov himself recalls in his memoirs “notes of a chief of illegal intelligence” that was quite a sickly child.
“Saying things like pneumonia and various complications. This was the final straw for the parents, especially the father, and they “threw me to the bottom” in the harsh camp conditions of the military unit,” recalled thrush.
Working in the KGB, he led the work with the “illegals” — spies who live in another country under false names and fictional biographies. This work was one of the most important and dangerous in the intelligence Department of the USSR. As told Drozdov in an interview to “Rossiyskaya Gazeta”, in the illegal exploration were the representatives of 32 nationalities — there were recruited the young people who knew the languages and communicative.
This is a common phenomenon: the younger the person, the more prone to courage and determination.Yuri Drozdov
In 1979, he became one of the key participants of the storming of the residence of the Afghan President Hafizullah Amin dictator who carried out a small group of KGB officers with the support of army units. This operation, in which the amine was eliminated, entered the history of Soviet intelligence. “We knew how many of them and how much little of us. We were suicide bombers,” said “Газете.Ru” one of the participants of those events.
As he recalled Drozdov, after this operation at the suggestion of the then head of the KGB Yuri Andropov was created by the KGB spetsnaz group “Vympel”.
Drozdov with respect to Andropov, and even co-wrote a book which compared the late head of the KGB with the current Russian President and former spy Vladimir Putin, seeing a similarity in the two political figures.
Drozdov was head of the KGB rezidentura in new York, where he worked efficiently. It should be noted that thrush several times reported that the Deputy head of the UN Arkady Shevchenko linked with the CIA: “We need to do something, otherwise it will grow into a big scandal”.
Considerations Drozdov was transferred to the political Bureau, but no action was taken, but Drozdov was right.
In 1975 Shevchenko sought asylum in the United States. “I think the betrayal Shevchenko is a consequence of the slowness of the political leadership with the decision by the signal intelligence that is timely warned for a long time and was informed of the possibility of such scenario of events and the severity of the consequences,” Drozdov wrote in his book.
Highly of Drozdov spoke of his opponents during the cold war. The Western press called him a “legendary spy”. Famous writer and former intelligence officer Frederick Forsythe in his book “Icon” Drozdov calls “the most significant representative of the masters of Russian espionage.”
However, Drozdov himself was quite skeptical about the fact that Russia and the United States can become affiliate powers.
The world has entered the most dangerous phase of confrontation — civilized. The price of defeat in this confrontation — complete disappearance from the face of the Earth one of the civilizations.Yuri Drozdov
After retirement in 1991 charismatic charismatic thrushes were active in front of scouts, politicians and public figures. For many years he maintained friendly relations with the late intelligence of the GDR Markus wolf.