Zaitsev, Vladimir Nikolaevich (Colonel)

Start of Service

Born March 19, 1948 in the Smolensk region in a family of employees. He worked at the plant from 16 years old, in 1967-1969 - a soldier of the GSVG . In 1972, he was called up for service in the state security organs., Graduated in 1979 from the KGB Higher School named after F.E. Dzerzhinsky ^[3] . The USSR master of sports in three sports and the USSR champion in martial arts among the employees of the KGB central apparatus ^[1] .

Operation in Tbilisi

Zaitsev served in the state security system for more than 20 years, of which in 1982-1992 he was one of the leaders of Group A under the Seventh Directorate of the KGB of the USSR. He went from the head of the department to the deputy head of the unit. On the account of Zaitsev, he participated in a number of operations to free hostages, capture spies from Western countries and fight against the Afghan Mujahideen . In particular, he led one of the capture groups during the assault on the Tu-134 aircraft in Tbilisi, captured by 7 terrorists from the Georgian SSR on November 19, 1983 ^[1] . According to open data, Zaitsev was supposed to become a parliamentarian during negotiations with the invaders and at the same time inform his group whether the attack on the plane is possible or not, but in the end the attack became inevitable, and the order to Alpha was personally given by Eduard Shevardnadze . During the operation, with the help of Zaitsev, Soso Tsereteli, the leader of the bandits, was arrested ^[3] .

CIA Spy Arrests

From 1985 to 1992, Zaitsev participated in operations to capture 13 spies of the CIA and other intelligence units of the Western countries. Information about US intelligence was provided by Aldrich Ames , and it was Zaitsev’s group who was considered the most preferable for capturing the latter ^[1] . In particular, Zaitsev participated in 1977 in the arrest of the CIA spy Marta Peterson , officially the vice-consul of the US embassy, ​​and the detention of the recruited CIA Alexander Ogorodnik (Trigon), who committed suicide while trying to arrest ^{[2] [1]} . Zaitsev said that before the operation he dressed in the uniform of a police officer, and during the operation Peterson squeezed his hand and broke his watch bracelet, which contained a microphone connected to a recording device ^[1] . His group also arrested GRU major general Dmitry Polyakov , senior lecturer at the GRU Military Diplomatic Academy (held under the pseudonyms “Tophet” and “Voam”) and about 10 more KGB and GRU staff officers - “moles” recruited at different times by special services the enemy ^[2] .

• In the summer of 1985, Group A detachment led by Zaitsev outside Moscow arrested another CIA spy, engineer Adolf Tolkachev (Sfie), a leading specialist in air navigation systems and a designer of the USSR Ministry of Radioelectronic Industry. Tolkachev was seized in his own car in front of his wife's eyes and managed to handcuff so that he did not even have time to resist ^{[1] [2]} .
• On August 25, 1985, a task force led by Zaitsev arrested near Kazan Colonel Gennady Smetanin , an assistant military attache in Portugal, who was held in the CIA documents under the nickname Million. In the evening, Smetanin was arrested on the Tatarstan train, traveling towards Moscow, together with his wife, and during a search, instructions for contacting the CIA, a cipher block, an ampoule with poison and 44 diamonds were withdrawn from him ^{[4] [5]} .
• In November 1985, external counterintelligence major Sergei Motorin, nicknamed “Goz,” an employee of the Washington KGB residency, was arrested, he was physically athletic and constantly alert, so Zaitsev had to search for fighters for the operation for a long and hard time before they approved after a long debate management of the Office "K" of the First Main Directorate of the KGB of the USSR ^[2] .
• Among the others arrested by Group A under the leadership of Zaitsev were Major Gennady Varenik (employee of the KGB Fitness KGB), colonel of scientific and technical intelligence Valery Martynov (employee of the KGB “Gentil” KGB), foreign intelligence colonel Vladimir Piguzov (“Jogger” ) and Lieutenant Colonel Boris Yuzhin (officer of the KGB residency in San Francisco “Twain”) ^[1] .

By occupation, Zaitsev visited Afghanistan, Algeria, the Federal Republic of Germany, Malta, the USA and Sweden ^[2] .

Retirement

From October 20 to December 20, 1986 Zaitsev served in Afghanistan, where his group did not suffer losses ^[1] . He resigned in 1992 of his own free will, stating that "for moral reasons he does not consider it possible to continue the service." After his resignation, he headed the Anti-Terror Security Fund for Support of Anti-Terrorism Units of the Security Agencies, and was a member of the Council of the International Association of Veterans of the Anti-Terror Unit Alpha. In 2000-2004, he was an assistant to the Chairman of the Government of Russia on security issues ^[1] .

He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner (1984), Red Star (1986), "For Personal Courage" and a number of medals, as well as the title of Honorary Officer of the KGB of the USSR ^[1] .

Married. He is fond of martial arts, hunting and car making. I do not smoke. Favorite drink is kvass ^[2] .