- Vladimir Putin
President Vladimir Putin said air strikes did nothing to settle the situation around Iraq and urged any action taken against it to be sanctioned by the United Nations.
- Alexander Litvinenko
Alexander Valterovich Litvinenko (30 August 1962 – 23 November 2006) was a lieutenant-colonel in the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation and later a Russian dissident and writer. A son of a physician, Litvinenko was schooled in Nalchik, before being drafted into the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs as a private. After graduating in 1985 from the Kirov Higher Command School, he became a platoon commander in an Internal Troops regiment.
- Andrei Lugovoi
Andrei Lugovoi (Lugovoy) (Born 1966 in Azerbaijan) is a former KGB operative and millionaire who met with Alexander Litvinenko on the day Litvinenko fell ill (1 November, 2006). Litvinenko died later that month from radiation poisoning caused by polonium-210, and on 22 May 2007 British officials charged Lugovoi with Litvinenko's murder, announcing they would seek his extradition from Russia.
- Oleg Gordievsky
Oleg Antonovich Gordievsky, CMG (born 10 October 1938 in Moscow, Russia), was a Colonel of the KGB and KGB Resident-designate ("rezident") and bureau chief in London, who defected to the United Kingdom. He became the highest-ranking KGB defector ever.
- Sergei Ivanov
Sergei Borisovich Ivanov (born January 31, 1953, Leningrad) is a first deputy prime minister of Russia and former minister of defense (March 2001 - February 2007). Previously, as secretary of the Russian Security Council, Ivanov served as an adviser to President Boris Yeltsin and later President Vladimir Putin (November 1999-March 2001) on matters of national security.
- Oleg Kalugin
Oleg Danilovich Kalugin, (born September 6, 1934) is a former KGB spy. He was the longtime head of KGB operations in the United States and later a critic of the agency.
- Vasili Mitrokhin
Vasili Nikitich Mitrokhin (March 3 1922-January 23, 2004) was a Major and senior archivist for the Soviet Union's foreign intelligence service, the First Chief Directorate of the KGB, and co-author with Christopher Andrew of "The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West", a massive account of Soviet intelligence operations based on copies of material from the archive. Work on the second volume, "The Mitrokhin Archive II: The KGB in the World", …
- Nikolai Patrushev
Nikolai Platonovich Patrushev is the current Director of the Russian FSB, the successor organization to the KGB. He was born in Leningrad and graduated from Leningrad Shipbuilding Institute in 1974, where worked as an engineer at his department.
- Victor Cherkashin
Victor Ivanovich Cherkashin, born in 1932 in the village of Krasnoe in the Kursk region south of Moscow was a counter-intelligence officer of the KGB. He joined the KGB in 1952 and retired in 1991. He was the case officer for both Aldrich Ames, a CIA counter-intelligence officer, and Robert Hanssen, an FBI agent, when they spied for the Soviet Union.
- Yuri Andropov
Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov (February 9, 1984) was a Soviet politician and General Secretary of the CPSU from November 12, 1982 until his death just fifteen months later.
- Mikhail Trepashkin
Mikhail Ivanovich Trepashkin, (7 April 1957 -) is a Moscow attorney and former FSB officer who was invited by MP Sergei Kovalev to assist in an independent inquiry of the Russian apartment bombings in September 1999 – the atrocities that provoked the Second Chechen War and skyrocketed Vladimir Putin to presidency.
- Yevgeny Primakov
Yevgeny Maksimovich Primakov is a Russian politician and a former Prime Minister of Russia. He was also the last Speaker of the Soviet of the Union of the Supreme Soviet, and the Russian Foreign Minister responsible for changing the foreign policy from largely unconditional support of the United States to a more nationalist defense of Russia's interests. Primakov was born in Kiev, Ukrainian SSR and grew up in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR.
- Yuri Shvets
Yuri B. Shvets (b. 1952) was a Major in the KGB during the years 1980-1990. From April 1985 to 1987 he worked in the Washington Rezidentura of the KGB. He graduated in International Law from the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia when it was still named the Patrice Lumumba People's Friendship University Shvets recruited two key sources of political intelligence whom he referred to as Sputnitsa and Socrates. Sputnisa is identified as a journalist working in Washington, …
- Yuri Nosenko
Lt. Col. Yuriy Nosenko was a KGB defector who became a figure of significant controversy within the U.S. intelligence community. His case was documented in the Family jewels documents, and handled by CIA officer George Kisevalter.
- Anatoliy Golitsyn
Anatoliy Mikhaylovich Golitsyn CBE (born August 25, 1926 in Piryatin, Ukrainian SSR) is a Soviet KGB defector and author of two books about long-term deception strategy of the KGB leadership. He supplied information about many important Soviet agents working in the West. He is an Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) and is now an American citizen.
- Vladimir Kryuchkov
Vladimir Alexandrovich Kryuchkov is a former Soviet politician and a Communist Party member since 1944. Kryuchkov joined the Soviet diplomatic service, stationed in Hungary until 1959. He then worked for the Communist Party Central Committee for eight years, before joining the KGB in 1967 together with his patron Yuri Andropov. He was appointed head of the First Chief Directorate (FCD) in 1974 (the KGB Foreign Operations) and Deputy Chairman in 1978.
- Viktor Ivanov
Viktor Petrovich Ivanov (Russian: Виктор Петрович Иванов, born May 121950, Novgorod, Soviet Union) is a Russian politician and businessman, former KGB officer, who served in the KGB Directorate of Leningrad and its successors in 1977 - 1994. In 1987 - 1988 as a KGB officer he took part in the Soviet war in Afghanistan.
- Viktor Cherkesov
Viktor Vasilyevich Cherkesov is a Russian security services official. He graduated from the Law Department of Leningrad State University in 1973. In 1975 – 1991 he worked in Leningrad and Leningrad Oblast Directorate of KGB and prosecuted political dissidents, including members of Democratic Union. In 1992 – August 1998, Cherkesov led Saint Petersburg Directorate of MBR/FSK/FSB, successor organization to KGB.
- George Blake
George Blake (born Georg Behar, November 11, 1922) is a former Dutch-British spy who was actually a double agent for the Soviet Union. Born in Rotterdam of mixed parentage; his mother was Dutch and his father was an Egyptian who was a naturalized British citizen.. He was born as George Behar to one of the eminent Jewish families of Amsterdam.
- Sergei Stepashin
Sergei Vadimovich Stepashin is a Russian politician. He was appointed federal security minister by President Boris Yeltsin in 1994, and served in that position until 1995. He later became justice minister, serving from 1997 to March 1998, and interior minister, holding that office from March 1998 to May 1999, when he was appointed and confirmed by parliament as prime minister.
- Vitaly Yurchenko
Vitaly Yurchenko (b. 1936) was a KGB agent in the Soviet Union. In 1985, after twenty-five years of service in the KGB, he defected to the United States during an assignment in Rome. In the following interrogations by the CIA, he accused two American agents of working for the KGB, Ronald Pelton and Edward Lee Howard. While Pelton was later convicted, Howard fled the US before he could be questioned.
- Rashid Nurgaliyev
Rashid Gumarovich Nurgaliyev is the minister of the interior of Russia. He was born in Zhetiqara (Kazakhstan, on October 81956. He is an ethnic Tatar. In 1981-1995 he worked in the KGB Directorate of Karelia and its successor, Security Ministry of Karelia, in 1992-1994 led by Nikolai Patrushev.
- Vladimir Yakunin
Vladimir Ivanovich Yakunin (Russian: Владимир Иванович Якунин; born June 30, 1948 in Vladimir region) is a Russian official, head of state-run Russian Railways company. Vladimir Yakunin is a close ally of the Russian president Vladimir Putin and is considered to be one of the members of his inner circle. His father was a pilot of the USSR Border Troops of KGB. As a child Vladimir Yakunin lived in Estonia.
- Alexander Lebedev
Alexander Lebedev (born 16 December 1959) is a Russian billionaire, referred to as one of the Russian tycoons. In March 2006, he was listed by "Forbes" magazine as one of the richest Russians and as the 194th richest person in the world with an estimated fortune of $3.5 billion. He is a member of the state Duma, a former KGB agent, owns a third of Aeroflot, and is part owner of Novaya Gazeta
- Vadim Bakatin
Vadim Viktorovich Bakatin was a Russian Soviet political figure. He served as the interior minister of the Soviet Union from 1988 to 1990. He was the last chairman of KGB in 1991 before it ceased to exist with the collapse of the Soviet Union. He later served as the first chairman of Interrepublican Security Service between 1991 and 1992. Born: 1937 November 6, Kemerovo oblast. Education: Novosibirsk Construction Engineering Institute. Academy of Social Sciences.
- Sergei Lebedev
Colonel-General Sergei Lebedev (b. April 9, 1948) became director of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, the SVR, on May 20, 2000. He graduated in 1970 from the Chernihiv branch of Kiev's Polytechnical Institute. A 1978 graduate (cum laude) of the Diplomatic Academy of the Soviet Foreign Ministry, Lebedev speaks German and English.
- Leonid Shebarshin
Leonid Vladimirovich Shebarshin (b. Moscow, March 24, 1935) became head of the First Chief Directorate of the KGB in January 1989, when the former FCD chief, Vladimir Kryuchkov was promoted to KGB chief. Prior to that, Shebarshin had served as Kryuchkov's deputy from April 1987. Most of Shebarshin's career had been spent not in Moscow but in the field. He was the first FCD chief with practical experience outside the Soviet Bloc since World War II.
- Heydar Aliyev
Heydər Əlirza oğlu Əliyev (often transliterated "Heydar Alirza oglu Aliyev"; sometimes "Heidar Aliev" or "Geidar Aliev" from the Russian Гейдар Алиев, May 10, 1923 - December 12, 2003) served as president of Azerbaijan for the New Azerbaijan Party from June 1993 to October 2003, when his son İlham Əliyev succeeded him. Əliyev dominated the political life of Azerbaijan for over 30 years, …
- Vladimir Semichastny
Vladimir Yefimovich Semichastny was the head of the KGB from November 1961 to April 1967. Semichastny, like his mentor and predecessor Alexander Shelepin, was involved in a number of embarrassing incidents involving the KGB. For example, he sanctioned the arrest of Professor Frederick Barghoorn of Yale University when he was visiting Moscow in October 1963. Semichastny hoped that by charging Barghoorn as a spy he could induce the United States to release Igor Ivanov, …
- Gennady Timchenko
Gennady Nikolayevich Timchenko is a prominent Russian businessman, citizen of both Russia and Finland, currently living in Geneva, Switzerland. He served in the First Chief Directorate of KGB (Foreign intelligence). In 1987 – 1994 he led the state-owned Kirishineftekhimexport enterprise. He is also believed to have full control over Swiss oil trading company Gunvor. In February 2004, Ivan Rybkin, a contender running for the Russian presidency, …
- Gennady Gudkov
Gennady Vladimirovich Gudkov is a Russian politician and businessman. In 1982 – 1992 he worked for the KGB. Since 2001 he has been a deputy in the State Duma. He has been the Chairman of the People Party of Russia since March 2004.
- Konon Molody
Konon Trofimovich Molody (January 17 1922-September 91970) was a Soviet intelligence officer, better known in the West as Gordon Arnold Lonsdale. He was an illegal resident spy during the Cold War and the mastermind of the Portland Spy Ring.
- Ivan Serov
Ivan Aleksandrovich Serov was the head of KGB from March 13, 1954 until December 8, 1958, Army General. In 1926, Serov became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In 1939, he graduated from the Frunze Military Academy and started his career in the Ministry of Internal Affairs in February of the same year. In 1939-1941, Serov was appointed People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
- Nikolai Leonov
Nikolai Sergeyevich Leonov is a Russian nationalist politician and was a senior KGB officer and Latin America expert in the USSR. In 1953, at the age of 25, Leonov was posted to Mexico City, where he learned Spanish at the Autonomous University. In the course of the sea voyage, he met Raúl Castro, who was returning from the European Youth Festival. On arrival in Mexico he took up a junior post in the Soviet Embassy.
- Alexander Bortnikov
Alexander Vasilyevich Bortnikov is a Russian security services official. In 1975 – 2004 he worked in KGB and its successors in Leningrad/Saint Petersburg. In June 2003 – March 2004 he was the Chief of the St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast FSB Directorate. Since February 242004 he has been the Head of the Economic Security Service of FSB and a Deputy Director of FSB. He is also a member of the board of directors of Sovkomflot.
- Boris Yuzhin
Boris Yuzhin (born February 21, 1942) is a former Soviet spy. He was a mole in the KGB, spying for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the 1970s and 1980s before being caught and imprisoned. Yuzhin was assigned by the KGB to monitor student activities under the cover of a Tass correspondent. In 1978 he began working for the FBI. He revealed the existence of the KGB's Group North, …
- Stanislav Levchenko
Stanislav Alexandrovich Levchenko (born 1941) is a former Russian KGB major who defected to the United States in 1979. He obtained U.S. citizenship in 1989. Levchenko was born in Moscow, and obtained an education at Moscow's Institute of Oriental Studies. His first KGB work came in 1968, after he worked for the GRU for two years. He became fully employed by the agency in 1971.
- Alexander Korzhakov
Alexander Vasilyevich Korzhakov (born january 31 1950 in Moscow), was a KGB general who served as Boris Yeltsin's bodyguard, confidant, and adviser for 11 years. Member of State Duma at 1997. He was the head of the Presidential Security Service (PSB) in 1993-1996, State Duma deputy, and retired Lieutenant-general. Korzhakov had been Yeltsin's bodyguard since 1985, and on August 18, 1991, he stood next to his boss on top of a tank during Yeltsin's historic speech.
- Vsevolod Nikolayevich Merkulov
Vsevolod Nikolayevich Merkulov, was the head of NKGB from February to July 1941, and again from April 1943 to March 1946. He was a member of the so-called "Georgian mafia" of Lavrenti Beria, head of the NKVD. In 1913, Merkulov graduated from the Tiflis Gymnasium with the gold medal and became a student at St. Petersburg University, Department of Physics and Mathematics. From 1921-1922, he worked as a detective at the Transportation Unit of the Cheka in Georgia.
- Yury Zaostrovtsev
Yury Yevgenyevich Zaostrovtsev is a Russian security services official and businessman. He is a son of Yevgeny Zaostrovtsev, former Chief of the Karelian KGB Directorate. Until 1993 Yury Zaostrovtsev also had worked in KGB and its successors. In 1998 – 2004 he served in FSB, in 2000-2004 as a First deputy Director and the Head of the Economic Security Department. Since August 2000 he has been a member of the board of directors of Sovkomflot.