Russian spy agency reveals identities of undercover officers in rare move
January 29, 2020 5 Comments
In an extremely rare move, the head of Russia’s spy agency has disclosed the identities of several undercover officers during an event marking the centenary of the KGB and its modern-day successor, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, or SVR.
The identities of the officers —most of whom are now retired or dead— were disclosed on Tuesday by Sergei Naryshkin, head of the SVR. Speaking at a press conference in Moscow, Naryshkin revealed the names and read the brief biographical notes of seven non-official-cover officers, referred to in Russian as “pазведчики-нелегалы”, or ‘illegals’. The term refers to undercover intelligence officers who are secretly posted abroad without diplomatic cover. Accordingly, they have no official connection to a Russian diplomatic facility, while some even pose as citizens of third countries.
Since 1922, illegals have operated out of the KGB’s and (after 1991) the SVR’s “S” Directorate, whose formal title is First Main Directorate or First Chief Directorate. It is customary to keep the identities of illegals secret following their retirement and even after death. However, in December of last year Naryshkin surprised many by announcing that he would soon disclose the identities of a number of former members of what he described as the “special reserve staff”, at an event to mark the centenary of the KGB and SVR.
He did so on Tuesday, when he disclosed the names of seven individuals and described their work in broad terms. The names disclosed by Naryshkin were: Yury Anatolievich Shevchenko (born 1939), Yevgeny Ivanovich Kim (1932-1998), Mikhail Anatolyevich Vasenkov (born 1942), Vitaly Viacheslavovich Netyksa (1946-2011) and his spouse Tamara Ivanovna Netyksa (born 1949), Vladimir Iosifovich Lokhov (1924-2002) and Vitaly Alekseyevich Nuykin (1939-1998).
The accompanying biographies released by the SVR disclose no specifics about the countries in which these illegals operated, the type of work they carried out, and the specific dates in which they were active. Most of them operated between the late 1960s and the early 1990s.
► Author: Ian Allen | Date: 29 January 2020 | Permalink
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Russian sleeper agent Mikhail Vasenkov reportedly dead at 79
April 22, 2022 by Joseph Fitsanakis Leave a comment
In 1979, Lazaro applied for, and was granted, Peruvian citizenship. A few years later, he met and married Peruvian journalist Vicky Pelaez, with whom he had a son. In 1985, the Lazaros moved to New York, along with their child and a son Pelaez had from a previous relationship. The couple were arrested by the FBI in 2010, and later admitted being in the service of Russian intelligence. They were among 10 Russian non-official-cover intelligence officers, who were swapped for a number of Western-handled intelligence agents held in Russian prisons.
In January of 2020, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), which is one of the KGB’s successor agencies, admitted for the first time that Vasenkov had been an intelligence officer. This unusual announcement directly contradicted Vasenkov’s own claims 10 years earlier: the spy had allegedly said that he was not Russian, did not understand or speak Russian, and wanted to move to Peru.
On April 6 of this this month, the SVR announced Vasenkov’s death, saying he was 79 years old. The announcement gave no cause of death. It added that Vasenkov had served in the so-called “special reserve staff” of the organization, which refers to spies who do not operate under diplomatic cover abroad. The obituary noted that Vasenkov had “created and headed an illegal residency”, which “obtained valuable political information, that was highly appreciated” by Russian decision-makers. It also said that Vasenkov had acquired the rank of colonel in 2005.
► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 22 April 2022 | Permalink
Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with KGB, Mikhail Vasenkov, non-official-cover, obituaries, Russia, Russian illegals program spy ring, sleeper agents, SVR (Russia), Vicky Pelaez