Vladimir Semichastny
Vladimir Semichastny | |
---|---|
Владимир Семичастный | |
Chairman of the Committee for State Security (KGB) | |
In office November 13, 1961 – May 18, 1967 | |
Premier | Nikita Khrushchev Alexei Kosygin |
Preceded by | Alexander Shelepin |
Succeeded by | Yuri Andropov |
Personal details | |
Born | Vladimir Yefimovich Semichastny 15 January 1924 village Hryhorivka, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union |
Died | 12 January 2001 Moscow, Russia | (aged 76)
Citizenship | Soviet (until 1991) and Russian |
Nationality | Russian |
Political party | Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1941–1991) |
Signature | |
Vladimir Yefimovich Semichastny (
Early life
Semichastny was born in January 1924 in the village of Hryhorivka, near Grishino (today
In the Communist Youth League
After the end of the war, Semichastny became a full-time employee of the Communist Youth League (Komsomol), working in the fields of propaganda and administration. From 1947 to 1950 he was First Secretary of the Ukrainian Komsomol.[1] In 1950 he was brought to Moscow to work in the central apparatus of the Komsomol, where he met and befriended Alexander Shelepin, forging very close ties with him and eventually succeeding him as First Secretary of the All-Union Komsomol, on 28 March 1958.[1] On 29 October [2] 1958, speaking to an audience of thousands at a rally to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the founding of Komsomol, he launched a tirade against Boris Pasternak, who had just been awarded the Nobel Prize for his novel, Doctor Zhivago, which had been published abroad after being suppressed in the USSR. Comparing him with "a pig that shits in its own sty", he called for Pasternak to be deported. It was this threat that made Pasternak decide to renounce the prize.
In Azerbaijan
In 1959, Semichastny was sent by the Soviet leadership to the politically sensitive and oil-rich
Chairman of the KGB
Semichastny was appointed chairman of the
Semichastny was surprised when Khrushchev informed him of his appointment as KGB Chairman, commenting that he did not have any experience in intelligence and counterintelligence; Khrushchev, however, told him that the KGB needed, above all, a deft political hand.[3] Semichastny's young age and his lack of professional experience in intelligence and counterintelligence led him to rely heavily on senior department heads within the KGB; he was always respectful towards intelligence veterans, but he was also determined to be in charge and leave his mark on the agency.[3]
Semichastny's first decision as KGB Chairman, on November 22, 1961, (after nine days in office) was to approve the creation of a "sabotage and terrorism" group (as the KGB itself called it) within the Sandinista National Liberation Front in Nicaragua; the Sandinistas would eventually manage to seize power in that country in 1979.[4]
Despite Khrushchev's fondness and esteem, Semichastny never became part of the Soviet leader's inner circle.
Undoubtedly, however, the KGB and its chairman retained their relevance and importance; every morning, a large grayish blue file containing intelligence reports and analyses, selected and reviewed by Semichastny, was placed on Khrushchev's personal desk by one of his secretaries, and Khrushchev always read them avidly.[3]
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, Semichastny was responsible for coordinating all information received from abroad. His chosen crisis team oversaw intelligence from the Foreign Ministry, the GRU (Military Intelligence) and, of course, the KGB. The team met every day in his office at KGB Headquarters in Lubyanka Square.[3]
During his tenure Semichasnty attempted to create a new, more positive public image for the KGB, permitting an article to appear in the newspaper Izvestia that included an interview with an unnamed "senior KGB officer" (himself); he stated
many young
Communist Youth League workers have joined the KGB, and none of the people who, during the time of Joseph Stalin's cult of personality, took part in the repressions against innocent Soviet people, is now in the Service.
More articles, books and films on the security organs appeared, and Soviet spies became heroes in print and cinema —
.In October 1963, Semichastny sanctioned the arrest of Professor
Subsequently, Semichastny and his mentor Shelepin participated in the successful coup against Khrushchev in October 1964, an act that undoubtedly led to his being initially retained as KGB chief by the new, more hard-line Soviet leadership. There are some indications that Leonid Brezhnev, who led the coup against Khrushchev, wanted to assassinate him, but Semichastny, while participating in the ouster of Khrushchev, categorically refused to allow any bloodshed.[5]
Semichastny was in fact the one who informed Khrushchev of his removal from power, "by order of the Politburo"; as Khrushchev was returning to Moscow from a holiday at the Black Sea, Semichastny waited for him at the airport flanked by KGB security guards, informed him of his ouster and told him not to resist. Khrushchev did not resist, and the hardliners' coup went off smoothly; Khrushchev felt betrayed by Semichastny, as he considered him a friend and ally until that very moment, not suspecting that he had joined his enemies within the Party.[6]
In March 1967, Stalin's daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva, defected to the USA - an embarrassment for the Soviet Union, but not a security threat of any kind, yet Semichastny ordered the KGB to kidnap her and bring her back. The attempt failed, and led to the exposure of several KGB agents, who were arrested.
The blunder gave Shelepin's enemies a pretext to sack Semichastny. Shelepin was able to protect him for a few weeks. but in May, he was hospitalised for eight days after an operation, and in his absence, on 18 May 1967, the Politburo held a ten-minute discussion in which they decided to appoint Yuri Andropov, who was ten years older than Semichastny, as his replacement.[7] Shelepin was removed from positions of influence soon afterwards.
Later career
From 1967 until 1981 Semichastny was a Deputy Prime Minister of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, although he did not have any significant influence in the political affairs of the Republic, which was tightly controlled by Brezhnevites. In 1981 he was removed from that position as well, and retired to private life.
Semichastny died in Moscow at the age of 76, on January 12, 2001, after suffering a stroke.[5]
Kennedy assassination
After U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, Semichastny investigated the background of Lee Harvey Oswald, who was arrested for the murder and was himself shot dead. Oswald had spent some time in the Soviet Union but, according to Semichastny's investigations, had never worked for any Soviet intelligence agency; Semichastny's verdict, that there was definitely "something fishy" in the whole affair, is shared by many.[6]
Assessment
Markus Wolf, the intelligence chief of East Germany, who worked closely with Semichastny, described him as follows:
"He was as kind and friendly as might be expected from a former leader of the Komsomol, the party's youth wing. Though affable, Semichastny was a sharp-minded, ideologically severe man. Semichastny's personal obsession was the pollution of the system from within by Soviet artists and writers; it was he who masterminded the vilification of Boris Pasternak and his novel Dr. Zhivago. He had little interest in foreign intelligence, which he left to Aleksandr Sakharovsky, who was highly respected by many members of his staff, as well as by me".[8]
References
- ^ ISBN 9781134772131.
- ISBN 0-674-07905-1.
- ^ a b c d e f g Aleksandr Fursenko, Timothy Naftali: "One Hell of a Gamble": Krushchev, Castro, and Kennedy, 1958-1964, page 262
- ^ Christopher Andrew, The Mitrokhin Archive II: The KGB in the World, 2008, page Ixxiii
- ^ a b Ron Popeski (January 16, 2001). "Ex-KGB Head Semichastny Dies at 77". No. 636. The Saint Petersburg Times. Reuters. Retrieved January 21, 2014.
- ^ a b "Vladimir Semichastny | The Economist". The Economist.
- ISBN 0-631-13401-8.
- ^ Markus Wolf, Anne McElvoy, Man Without a Face: The Autobiography of Communism's Greatest Spymaster, p. 209, 1997, Jonathan Cape Ltd