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Vladimir Kryuchkov | |
|---|---|
Владимир Крючков | |
_(cropped).jpg) Kryuchkov in 1993 | |
| 7thChairman of theCommittee for State Security | |
| In office 1 October 1988 – 28 August 1991 | |
| Premier | Nikolai Ryzhkov Valentin Pavlov |
| Preceded by | Viktor Chebrikov |
| Succeeded by | Vadim Bakatin |
| Head of theFirst Chief Directorate of the KGB | |
| In office January 13 1974 – October 1 1988 | |
| Preceded by | Fyodor Mortin |
| Succeeded by | Vadim Kirpichenko |
| Full member of the27thPolitburo | |
| In office 20 September 1989 – 14 July 1990 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1924-02-29)29 February 1924 Tsaritsyn,Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Died | 23 November 2007(2007-11-23) (aged 83) Moscow, Russia |
| Resting place | Troyekurovskoye Cemetery |
| Party | CPSU (1944–1991) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Soviet Union |
| Branch/service | KGB |
| Years of service | 1967-1991 |
| Rank | Army General |
| Battles/wars | Soviet–Afghan War |
Vladimir Aleksandrovich Kryuchkov (Russian:Влади́мир Алекса́ндрович Крючко́в; 29 February 1924 – 23 November 2007) was a Soviet lawyer, diplomat, and head of theKGB, member of thePolitburo of theCentral Committee of theCPSU.
Initially working in the Soviet justice system as a prosecutor's assistant, Kryuchkov then graduated from the Diplomatic Academy of theSoviet Foreign Ministry and became a diplomat. During his years in the foreign service, he metYuri Andropov, who became his main patron. From 1974 until 1988, Kryuchkov headed the foreign intelligence branch of the KGB, theFirst Chief Directorate (PGU). During these years, the Directorate was involved in funding and supporting various communist, socialist, and anti-colonial movements across the world, some of which came to power in their countries and established pro-Soviet governments; in addition, under Kryuchkov's leadership the Directorate had major triumphs in penetratingWestern intelligence agencies, acquiring valuablescientific and technical intelligence and perfecting the techniques ofdisinformation andactive measures.[1] At the same time, during his tenure the Directorate became plagued with defectors and had the major responsibility for encouraging the Soviet government toinvade Afghanistan, and its ability to influence Western European communist parties diminished even further.[1]
From 1988 to 1991, Kryuchkov served as the 7thChairman of the KGB. He was the leader of the abortiveAugust coup and itsgoverning committee.
Kryuchkov was born in February 1924 in Tsaritsyn (later called Stalingrad, nowVolgograd),[2] to a working-class family. His parents were strong supporters ofJoseph Stalin. He joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1944 and became a full-time employee of the Communist Youth League (Komsomol). After earning a law degree, Kryuchkov embarked on a career in theSoviet justice system, working as an investigator for the prosecutor's office in his home city of Stalingrad.[3]
Kryuchkov then[when?] joined the Soviet diplomatic service, stationed inHungary until 1959. He next worked for theCommunist Party Central Committee for eight years, before joining theKGB in 1967 together with his patronYuri Andropov. He was appointed head of theFirst Chief Directorate in the summer of 1971, upon the order of Andropov, and deputy chairman in 1978.[according to whom?] In June 1978, he traveled toAfghanistan, and in July 1978 became the KGBrezident in Kabul where he took a very active part in theoverthrow of its government at the beginning of theSoviet–Afghan War.[4] In 1988, he was promoted to the rank ofGeneral of the Army and became KGB Chairman.[5] In 1989–1990, he was a member of thePolitburo.[citation needed]
A political hard-liner, Kryuchkov was among the members of the Soviet intelligence community whomisinterpreted the 1983NATO exerciseAble Archer 83 as a prelude to apre-emptive nuclear strike. Many historians, such asRobert Cowley andJohn Lewis Gaddis, believe the Able Archer incident was the closest the world has come tonuclear war since theCuban Missile Crisis of 1962.[citation needed]
After KGB ChairmanViktor Chebrikov sided with General SecretaryMikhail Gorbachev's rivalYegor Ligachev in opposition toglasnost andperestroika, he was replaced by Kryuchkov in October 1988.[6] Kryuchkov also opposed Gorbachev's reforms, and in his memoirs defendedStalinism and condemned most reforms to the Soviet political system since the rule ofNikita Khrushchev. His appointment by Gorbachev despite this was because he had specialized primarily in foreign intelligence rather than domestic services. Kryuchkov had also been recommended by Gorbachev's predecessor and mentor Andropov and his reformist colleagueAlexander Yakovlev.[7]
After the 1990 Soviet constitutional reforms, Kryuchkov began working with other hardline officials in the new presidential cabinet such asBoris Pugo,Valentin Pavlov, andGennady Yanayev to undermine Gorbachev's rule.[8] This group of eight ministers eventually became theState Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP).[citation needed]
Gorbachev attempted to appease Kryuchkov with a presidential decree expanding the powers of the KGB, and ordered him to keep the anti-Communist RSFSR PresidentBoris Yeltsin and the dissident leaderAndrei Sakharov under surveillance.[9][10][11] Kryuchkov's intelligence may have deceived Gorbachev into underestimating the risk to his rule and distancing himself from his reformist colleagues in favor of the hardliners.[12][clarification needed]
According toSergei Tretyakov, Kryuchkov secretly sent US$50 billion worth of Communist Party funds to an unknown location in the lead up to thecollapse of the Soviet Union.[13]
Kryuchkov's strategy eventually shifted to acoup d'état in which a state of emergency would enable the KGB to restore the Soviet Union's hardline Communist political system.[14][15]
During the August coup of 1991, Kryuchkov was the initiator of creation of theGKChP which arrested President Gorbachev. However, the coup failed because of the indecisiveness of Kryuchkov and the other conspirators. Kryuchkov notably mobilized theAlpha Group to arrest Yeltsin but then refused to give it the order to do so.[16] Kryuchkov had also allowed theRussian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic to assume control of domestic KGB activity under its jurisdiction after Chairman Yeltsin'sDeclaration of State Sovereignty of Russia. Many Russian KGB agents had demonstrated their loyalty to the new government by defying Kryuchkov's order to vote against Yeltsin in the1991 Russian presidential election.[17] After the defeat of the committee, Kryuchkov was imprisoned for his participation. Kryuchkov was replaced as chairman of the KGB byVadim Bakatin, released on recognizance not to leave in January 1993.[18]
Many analysts of the Soviet Union at the time and since, including former U.S. AmbassadorJack F. Matlock Jr., have held that Kryuchkov was inadvertently responsible for thecollapse of the Soviet Union by staging the coup and destroying the Communist Party's authority. Matlock wrote in his memoir "People do make a difference, and Vladimir Kryuchkov made a big difference. The Soviet Union might exist in some modified form today if another person had been running the KGB in 1990 and 1991."[19][7]
Immediately after the collapse of the coup Kryuchkov unsuccessfully requested a pardon for himself and his co-conspirators on the basis of their old age.[7] On 3 July 1992, Kryuchkov appealed to Russian president Boris Yeltsin,[20] accusing him of laying the blame for the dissolution of the Soviet Union on members of the State Committee on the State of Emergency.[21] Kryuchkov was finally freed in 1994 with a pardon by theState Duma. He subsequently returned to public life with writings condemning Gorbachev's rule. His writings improved his reputation with the Russian public, with a 2007Levada Center poll revealing that only 12 percent of respondents would have actively opposed his coup.[7] On 7 May 2000, Kryuchkov attended thefirst inauguration ofVladimir Putin asPresident of Russia.[22]
Kryuchkov's son was a resident ofSwitzerland in the 1990s where very large sums were transiting during the1990s looting of Russia.Yevgeny Primakov blocked the Duma's Ponomarev investigative commission from accessing KGB, FCD, andSVR documents.[23]
Kryuchkov died at the age of 83 on 23 November 2007.[5] His body is buried at theTroyekurovskoye Cemetery inMoscow.
| Government offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Head ofSoviet Committee of State Security 1988–1991 | Succeeded by Leonid Shebarshin (Acting) |
| Cheka (1917–1922) |
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| GPU /OGPU (1922–1934) |
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| NKVD (1934–1941) |
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| NKGB (1941) | ||
| NKVD (1941–1943) | ||
| NKGB (1943–1946) | ||
| MGB (1946–1953) |
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| MVD (1953–1954) |
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| KGB (1954–1991) |
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*Acting | ||
