KGB intelligence officers spying abroad in the 1980s typically held diplomatic rank.
the verdict
INSUFFICIENT LEANING
refutedsupported
the weight of evidence
2 sources for · 0 against
AS REPORTEDno primary record reached; this is what the reporting says
Available records show specific examples of KGB intelligence officers serving abroad under diplomatic cover, but lack broad data to fully establish whether this was typical.
# What would be a typical rank for KGB intelligence officers spying abroad in the 1980s?
Tags: military, soviet-union, espionage, kgb, intelligence
- Score: 10
- Views: 11833
- Answers: 2
- Answered: yes
- Asked by: Baard Kopperud (686 rep)
- Asked: 2013-04-19
- Edited: 2023-07-18
- Site: history
## Question
What would be typical ranks of KGB officers spying in the West during the 1980s?
I know some Western spies were recruited by the KGB, that after defecting to the Soviet Union got/had ranks in the KGB (so there were ranks), but what about the typical Russian KGB officers sent to the West for secret and (more or less) independent missions?
What would the likely ranks be for a pair of sleeper-agents under deep-cover posing as a married couple for years in the USA? Entrusted with making their own decisions in a pinch, running both knowing and unknowing informants, and running and recruiting networks of agents?
Of course, I'm not implying such sleeper-cells existed in the USA, just asking for likely ranks. I am asking after watching the TV-show "The Americans", which got me thinking about the likely rank (if any) of Elizabeth and Philip.
## Answers
### Answer by Tom Au (score:
Valery Martynov
Valery Martynov (Russian: Валерий Мартынов) was a Soviet double agent working as a KGB officer as well as an intelligence asset for the United States. While serving as a lieutenant colonel in the KGB, he was stationed in 1980 at the Soviet official offices in Washington, D.C. By 1982, he had become a double agent and was passing intelligence to the CIA and FBI under the code name "Gentile". He was executed in Moscow on May 28, 1987, at the age of 41.
| Valery Martynov | - |
| --- | --- |
| Died | (1987-05-28)May 28, 1987, Moscow, USSR |
| Cause of death | Execution |
| Citizenship | Soviet Union |
| Occupations | KGB operative, double agent |
| Relatives | Edward Coristine (grandson) |
| Motive | Financial gain |
| Criminal charge | Espionage |
| Penalty | Execution |
## Early career and recruitment
Martynov was a lieutenant colonel in the KGB who worked for the First Chief Directorate, responsible for foreign intelligence. He and his wife Natalia arrived in Washington in November 1980, he under the guise as third secretary of the Soviet embassy. He was recruited in 1982 by an FBI- CIA program, and started to feed information to US intelligence.
## Contribution
Everything we examined (2)
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