Gevork Andreevich
Vartanyan
1924-2012
Gevork Andreevich Vartanyan was a Soviet intelligence officer and a colonel in the First Main Directorate of the USSR’s State Security Committee, also known as the Foreign Intelligence Service. He was a participant in the Great Patriotic War and was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Gevork Andreevich Vartanyan was born on February 17, 1924 in Rostov-on-Don (that was the southeastern region of the RSFSR in the USSR, and now it is a part of the Rostov region in the Russian Federation). His father, Andrey Vasilyevich, a citizen of Persia, was the manager of an oil mill, and in 1930 the Vartanyan family emigrated to Persia, or Iran. Gevork’s father made a successful career of a wealthy merchant, actually working for Soviet foreign intelligence, and under his influence, Gevork Andreevich Vartanyan decided to join the NKVD. In February 1940 at the age of 16, he established contact with the NKVD station in Tehran and, under the alias of «Amir», he worked under the direction of resident Ivan Agayants to identify German agents and spies in Iran. Over the course of 1941 and 1943, his group, known as the “Light cavalry,” discovered approximately 400 individuals associated with Nazi intelligence and anti-Soviet organizations. Vartanyan, under the instructions of the сentre, infiltrated a British intelligence school in Tehran, where young Russian speaking people were trained to be sent to the USSR for intelligence purposes. After completing the full course he provided the NKVD station with all the information about the school and its students, which made it possible to neutralize or turn over many of its graduates. In November–December 1943, during the Tehran Conference, Vartanyan’s group participated in providing security for the leaders of the anti-Hitler coalition – Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt. Under the leadership of Gevork Vartanyan scouts assisted in disrupteding of the German operation «Long Jump», aimed at the elimination of the three leaders. In 1951, Gevork Andreevich Vartanyan returned to the USSR, and in 1955 he graduated from the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Yerevan State Pedagogical University named after V.Y. Bryusov. For more than 30 years, Gevork Vartanyan and his wife Gohar Vartanyan performed assignments in more than 100 countries around the world. Their work went unnoticed and the details of their missions are still classified. In the autumn of 1986 they returned to the Soviet Union. Gohar retired from her position, while Gevork continued serving in the KGB until 1992. After retirement, he started helping in recruitment of new generations of intelligence officers, sharing his experience with younger colleagues. In 1984 he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for his work. He was also awarded various orders and medals, including the Orders of the Red Banner and the Patriotic War of the Second Degree, the Red Star, and the Russian Order of Merit for the Fatherland of the Fourth Degree. Additionally, he received medals and awards from foreign countries, such as the Armenian Order of Honor in 2009. A monument has been erected in Moscow to commemorate G.A. Vartanyan, and a street and school have been named in his honor.
Address: Moscow, Scandinavian Boulevard
