The Soviet spy who once saved the lives of Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt has died in Moscow aged 87.
Born in February 1924, Gevork Vartanyan worked as an intelligence officer from the age of 16. Coming from an intelligence officer’s family residing in Tehran, he helped to unmask over 400 German spies across the Iranian capital and surrounding province.
In 1942, Vartanyan entered a UK intelligence school, went through training and then converted UK agents into working for the USSR.
In 1943, Vartanyan’s intelligence group prevented a terror attack aimed at the Big Three leaders, Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, who were participating in the Tehran Conference
Listen to RT’s interview with Vartanyan on the legendary conference and the planned attack.
After World War II, Vartanyan continued his work as an intelligence officer. Together with his wife, who was also an agent, he travelled all over the world for more than 30 years, while on different missions.
In 1992, Vartanyan retired from operative work, but took an active part in the training of intelligence officers, sharing his vast experience with students.
For his input, Vartanyan was awarded the honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union. He was the third USSR intelligence officer to receive such an award following Richard Zorge and Nikolay Kuznetsov.
President Dmitry Medvedev expressed his condolences to Vartanyan’s friends and relatives.
“Gevork Vartanyan was a legendary intelligence agent, a genuine patriot of his country, a bright and extraordinary person,” Medvedev said. “He took part in splendid operations, which went down in the history of the Russian foreign intelligence service. His death is an irretrievable loss to his family and all those who knew and highly appreciated the legendary man.”