14 Facts About Yuri Bezmenov

In 1970, as a member of the Soviet mission in New Delhi, India, Bezmenov defected to the West and was re-settled in Canada pursuant to an arrangement between American and Canadian security agencies.

Yuri Bezmenov is best remembered for his anti-Marxist, anti-Soviet, and anti-atheist lectures and books published in the 1980s.

Yuri Bezmenov was born in 1939 in Mytishchi, near Moscow, to Russian parents.

In 1965, Yuri Bezmenov was recalled to Moscow and began to work for Novosti Press Agency as an apprentice for their classified department of Political Publications.

Rapid promotion followed, and Yuri Bezmenov was assigned to India in 1969, this time as a Soviet press-officer.

Yuri Bezmenov's defection was reported in the United States, with Soviet sources stating he was "not important" and did "clerical work", and American intelligence openly stating they believed him to be an agent of the KGB.

In 1976, Yuri Bezmenov was fired from the CBC at the request of then Prime Minister, Pierre Elliot Trudeau.

In 1983, at a lecture in Los Angeles, Yuri Bezmenov expressed the opinion that he "wouldn't be surprised" if the Soviet Union had shot down Korean Air Lines Flight 007 in order to kill Larry McDonald, an anti-communist Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives.

In 1984, the Washington Post reported Yuri Bezmenov publicly denounced admission of a Soviet cruise ship to Los Angeles during the 1984 Summer Olympics, stating that they were placed there under the guise of entertainment, but maintained electronic surveillance equipment aboard to monitor radio and telephone communications.

In late December 1992, Yuri Bezmenov visited Tess and their children in Montreal for Christmas.

Two weeks later, Yuri Bezmenov's death was reported on January 6,1993.

Yuri Bezmenov's work has been cited by senior director of UPenn's Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Michael R Carpenter.

Yuri Bezmenov's lectures have been used by Yale senior lecturer Asha Rangappa, to illustrate the concept of active measures in the Soviet Union's disinformation campaigns in the United States.

Yuri Bezmenov's audiences have included American far-right and anti-communist movements, to whom he often gave speeches and lectures on their platforms.