21 Facts About Alexander Vassiliev

Alexander Yuryevich Vassiliev is a Russian-British journalist, writer and espionage historian living in London who is a subject matter expert in the Soviet KGB and Russian SVR.

Alexander Vassiliev was born in Moscow, Russian SFSR on May 1,1962.

Alexander Vassiliev graduated from MGU with a degree in journalism in 1984.

Alexander Vassiliev worked in the international department of Komsomolskaya Pravda from 1984 to 1985.

Alexander Vassiliev worked as an operative of the First Department of the First Chief Directorate of the KGB from 1987 to 1990.

In February 1990, Alexander Vassiliev resigned from the KGB for political and moral reasons.

Alexander Vassiliev resigned from the Communist Party in that same year.

Alexander Vassiliev returned to the editorial staff of Komsomolskaya Pravda, where he worked as a reporter and then columnist, writing mostly about international issues and espionage from 1990 to 1996.

Alexander Vassiliev worked as an author and presenter of several political shows on the Ostankino Channel One from 1991 to 1993.

Kobaladze asked Alexander Vassiliev to participate in a book project with Crown Publishers, a division of Random House, which had arranged for a five book series based upon KGB archival documents, each edited by one Russian and one American editor.

Alexander Vassiliev quit his television job and in early 1994 began to work on the book project in earnest, working with archival documents provided at the press bureau of the SVR.

Alexander Vassiliev later recalled that he attempted to transcribe as many documents as possible verbatim and painstakingly noted archival file and document numbers for each.

Alexander Vassiliev was unable to name Americans who assisted Soviet intelligence in his draft chapters owing to SVR regulations which forbid the "outing" of agents and sources, so cover names were used in Alexander Vassiliev's draft.

In January 1996, Alexander Vassiliev was informed that he would be receiving no new files from the archives.

Alexander Vassiliev managed to recover his original notebooks with transcriptions and summaries of secret Soviet foreign intelligence archival documents, and these served as the core of a second publication.

Alexander Vassiliev worked in the BBC Russian Service as an online producer from 2000 to 2009.

Alexander Vassiliev served as a co-publisher, editor, and designer of The Hyde Park, a Russian magazine in London, from 2004 to 2006.

In 2009, Alexander Vassiliev published his first novel, an espionage thriller called Russian Sector in both Russian-language and English-language editions.

Alexander Vassiliev continues to work in publishing as designer, editor, producer, and publisher.

Alexander Vassiliev launched two lawsuits in association with The Haunted Wood, representing himself as a litigant in person in both cases.

Alexander Vassiliev was married in 1983 and fathered a son in 1986.