Table Of ContentRussia (cid:129) Military / Security
Historical Dictionaries of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, No. 5 PRINGLE
At its peak, the KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti) was the largest HISTORICAL
DICTIONARY
secret police and espionage organization in the world. It became so influential
OF
in Soviet politics that several of its directors moved on to become premiers of
the Soviet Union. In fact, Russian president Vladimir V. Putin is a former head
of the KGB. The GRU (Glavnoe Razvedvitelnoe Upravleniye) is the principal
intelligence unit of the Russian armed forces, having been established in 1920
by Leon Trotsky during the Russian civil war. It was the first subordinate to
the KGB, and although the KGB broke up with the dissolution of the Soviet
Union in 1991, the GRU remains intact, cohesive, highly efficient, and with far
greater resources than its civilian counterparts.
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The KGB and GRU are just two of the many Russian and Soviet intelli-
gence agencies covered in Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Intelligence. H I S T O R I C A L D I C T I O N A R Y O F
Through a list of acronyms and abbreviations, a chronology, an introductory RUSSIAN
essay, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries, a
clear picture of this subject is presented. Entries also cover Russian and Soviet
leaders, leading intelligence and security officers, the Lenin and Stalin purges,
the gulag, and noted espionage cases.
I && SOVIET
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Robert W. Pringle is a former foreign service officer and intelligence analyst
T
with a lifelong interest in Russian security. He has served as a diplomat and
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intelligence professional in Africa, the former Soviet Union, and Eastern L
Europe. L
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For orders and information please contact the publisher INTELLIGENCE
Scarecrow Press, Inc. C
A wholly owned subsidiary of E
The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. ISBN-13: 978-0-8108-4942-6
ISBN-10: 0-8108-4942-9
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200
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1-800-462-6420 (cid:129) fax 717-794-3803
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ROBERT W. PRIN GL E
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Historical Dictionaries of Intelligence
and Counterintelligence Series
Jon Woronoff, Series Editor
1. British Intelligence, by Nigel West, 2005.
2. United States Intelligence,by Michael A. Turner, 2006.
3. Israeli Intelligence,by Ephraim Kahana, 2006.
4. International Intelligence,by Nigel West, 2006.
5. Russian and Soviet Intelligence,by Robert W. Pringle, 2006.
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Historical Dictionary
of Russian and
Soviet Intelligence
Robert W. Pringle
Historical Dictionaries of Intelligence
and Counterintelligence, No. 5
The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Lanham, Maryland • Toronto • Oxford
2006
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SCARECROWPRESS,INC.
Published in the United States of America
by Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Awholly owned subsidiary of
The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200
Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.scarecrowpress.com
PO Box 317
Oxford
OX2 9RU, UK
Copyright ©2006 by Robert W. Pringle
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission
of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Pringle, Robert W.
Historical dictionary of Russian and Soviet intelligence / Robert W. Pringle.
p. cm. — (Historical dictionaries of intelligence and counterintelligence;
no. 5)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8108-4942-6 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8108-4942-9 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Intelligence service—Russia—Dictionaries. 2. Military intelligence—Russia—
Dictionaries. 3. Spies—Russia—Biography—Dictionaries. 4. Intelligence
service—Soviet Union—Dictionaries. 5. Military intelligence—Soviet Union—
Dictionaries. 6. Spies—Soviet Union—Biography—Dictionaries. 7. Intelligence
service—Russia (Federation)—Dictionaries. 8. Military intelligence—Russia
(Federation)—Dictionaries. 9. Spies—Russia (Federation)—Biography—
Dictionaries. I. Title. II. Series.
UB252.R8P75 2006
327.1247—dc22 2006010486
(cid:2)™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
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Contents
Editor’s Foreword Jon Woronoff vii
List of Abbreviations and Acronyms ix
Chronology xiii
Introduction xxiii
THE DICTIONARY 1
Appendixes
A The Evolution of Soviet State Security, 1917–1991 305
B KGB Chairs, 1917–1991 307
C Russian Foreign Intelligence Organizations, 1920– 309
D Chiefs of Soviet and Russian Foreign Intelligence, 1920– 311
E Russian Security Services, 1991– 313
F Heads of Military Intelligence (GRU), 1918– 315
G Venona Code Names and Encryption 317
H Loss of Life in the Stalin Era 321
I Agents and Programs Betrayed by Aldrich Ames,
Robert Hanssen, and Edward Lee Howard 325
J Maskirovka: Deception on Nuclear Weapons Programs 327
Bibliography 329
About the Author 365
v
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Editor’s Foreword
Nowhere has intelligence and counterintelligence played quite as
prominent a role as in tsarist Russia and its successor the Union of So-
viet Socialist Republics or Soviet Union, since replaced by the Russian
Federation. Decades, indeed sometimes centuries, before intelligence
gathering became a serious concern in most other parts of Europe, let
alone the United States, the Russian state formed agencies to spy on en-
emies abroad and even more thoroughly on those at home, real or imag-
ined. These agencies expanded exponentially, drawing in ever more
agents and informers, arresting ever more suspects, and executing many
of them or more leniently sending them into exile or slave labor camps.
Although among the most fervent supporters of the regime, the intelli-
gence agencies often subverted the regime and came to dominate it. No
history of Russia can ignore them, and this series would not be complete
without mention of the Oprichnina, Okhrana, GPU, NKVD, KGB,
Smersh, and others. Although considerably tamer, and held on a tighter
leash, there is no doubt that the activities of the Russian Federation’s
SVR and FSB will also be of interest.
This Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Intelligence covers
the field admirably. Historically, it reaches back to the time of Ivan “the
Terrible” and includes his sometimes even more destructive successors
during the Soviet period, finally reaching the relative normality of the
present day. It covers the numerous services that emerged during this
long period: those of the tsars, those of the communist regime, and also
the considerably tamer, but nonetheless vast and efficient agencies of to-
day. The services all have major entries, as do the top leaders who cre-
ated and managed them, the intelligence chiefs, prominent national
agents, and foreign spies as well as dissidents, defectors, and traitors.
Most of this is provided by hundreds of dictionary entries, while the in-
troduction puts them in a more comprehensible context. The chronology
vii
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viii • EDITOR’S FOREWORD
is particularly revealing, starting in the 16th century and still continuing,
albeit more discreetly. Readers who are intrigued by one aspect or an-
other can then find further reading through the bibliography.
This volume was written by Robert W. Pringle, whose experience in
this area is substantial and varied. After first studying Russian history,
he went into government service, working for the Department of State
and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for 25 years. During his ca-
reer, he focused frequently on the Soviet Union, serving as senior ana-
lyst and branch chief in analytical components responsible for Soviet/
Russian security policies. Among his postings abroad was his service
from 1977 to 1979 as consular and human rights officer at the U.S. Em-
bassy in Moscow. After retiring from government service, he taught his-
tory and political science at the Patterson School of Diplomacy and In-
ternational Commerce at the University of Kentucky, where he lectured
on intelligence and counterintelligence, terrorism and counterterrorism,
with an emphasis on the Soviet Union and Russia. He has also written
a number of papers and articles on these topics. At present he is teach-
ing in Williamsburg, Virginia. This book, the result of decades of prac-
tical experience topped off by teaching, is not only informative but also
gripping as the story unfolds.
Jon Woronoff
Series Editor
