15 Facts About Vladimir Semichastny

Vladimir Yefimovich Semichastny was a Soviet politician, who served as Chairman of the KGB from November 1961 to May 1967.

In 1959, Vladimir Semichastny was sent by the Soviet leadership to the politically sensitive and oil-rich Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan, as Second Secretary of the ruling Communist Party of Azerbaijan, a position he held for two years, until 1961, serving under the Republic's leader Vali Akhundov.

Vladimir Semichastny was appointed chairman of the KGB by Nikita Khrushchev in November 1961, again succeeding his friend and mentor Shelepin, who had been KGB Chairman since 1958.

Vladimir Semichastny put much emphasis on developing the security and intelligence services of the Soviet satellite states, and on assisting the communist forces in the Vietnam War.

Vladimir 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 told him that the KGB needed, above all, a deft political hand.

Undoubtedly 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 Vladimir Semichastny, was placed on Khrushchev's personal desk by one of his secretaries, and Khrushchev always read them avidly.

Vladimir Semichastny's chosen crisis team oversaw intelligence from the Foreign Ministry, the GRU and, of course, the KGB.

In October 1963, Vladimir Semichastny sanctioned the arrest of Frederick Barghoorn of Yale University when he was visiting Moscow.

Vladimir Semichastny hoped that by charging Barghoorn as a spy he could induce the United States to release Igor Ivanov, arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that month for espionage.

Vladimir Semichastny was 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, Vladimir Semichastny waited for him at the airport flanked by KGB security guards, informed him of his ouster and told him not to resist.

In March 1967, Stalin's daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva, defected to the USA; Vladimir Semichastny ordered the KGB to kidnap her and bring her back.

From 1967 until 1981 Vladimir 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 Brezhnevists.

Vladimir Semichastny died in Moscow at the age of 76, on January 12,2001, after suffering a stroke.

Oswald had spent some time in the Soviet Union but, according to Vladimir Semichastny's investigations, had never worked for any Soviet intelligence agency; Vladimir Semichastny's verdict, that there was definitely "something fishy" in the whole affair, is shared by many.

Markus Wolf, the intelligence chief of East Germany, who worked closely with Vladimir Semichastny, described him as follows:.