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ARMENIAN INTELLIGENCE AGENT, HERO OF THE SOVIET UNION GEVORG VARDANIAN PASSED AWAY
ARMENPRESS
JANUARY 10, 2011
YEREVAN
Armenian intelligence agent, hero of the Soviet Union Gevorg Vartanian
passed away hours ago in Botkin Hospital, Moscow. Journalist Gurgen
Khazhakyan told Armenpress that the cancer was the cause of his death.
Gevorg Vartanian is the only intelligence agent of the soviet foreign
intelligence service, who has been awarded with the Hero of the Soviet
Union Medal when he was still alive. His name is listed among the best
100 intelligence agents of all times and peoples. Gevorg Vartanian was
born February 17, 1924 in Nor Nakhichevan (currently Rostov-on-Don).
His father was a Soviet intelligence agent as well and was sent
to Persia (presently Iran) on 1930, where he worked for 23 years
under a cover of a wealthy merchant. Gevork Vartanian was not even
16 when he went into intelligence. In 1955, he graduated from the
Institute of Foreign Languages, Yerevan. He is primarily responsible
for thwarting Operation Long Jump, concocted byAdolf Hitler, headed by
Ernst Kaltenbrunner, and led by Otto Skorzeny, which was an attempt to
assassinate Stalin,Churchill, and Roosevelt at the Tehran conference
in 1943.
In 1942, Adolf Hitler decided to set the operation in motion. After
careful planning and deliberation under the personal supervision of
Security Police Chief Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Hitler sent his special
commando agent, Otto Skorzeny, along with six other men to rendezvous
at Tehran,Iran and spearhead the operation. The plan entailed the
capture and/or assassination of Josef Stalin, Winston Churchill,
and Franklin Roosevelt.
The first tip-off about the planned attempt came from Soviet
intelligence agent Nikolai Kuznetsov, under the alias of Wermacht
Oberleutnant Paul Siebert, from Nazi-occupied Ukraine. Kuznetsov got a
drunk SS officer named Ulrich von Ortel to tell him about the attempt.
Although the scheduled date of the operation was not known, the fact
that it would take place was confirmed.
According to Vartanian, he had been assigned to recruit agents
beginning in 1940. He and his seven recruits had identified Nazi
spies. However, in the autumn of 1943, they were given a different
task, security for the upcoming conference. Six German radio operators
had been sent to Tehran as an advance team for the assassination.
Eventually, Vartanian and his men managed to find where the commando
unit was hiding.
>From then on, the radio messages to Berlin were intercepted by Soviet
and British intelligence. However, one of the Germans managed to send
a coded message "we are under surveillance". The operation was getting
off track and the main group led by Skorzeny never went to Tehran.
Gevorg Vartanian has met with Churchill's granddaughter and been
congratulated for his great service to the Allies. It was revealed
that his identity was kept secret until the year 2000, when he finally
received full credit for putting a stop to the assassination plot.
ARMENPRESS
JANUARY 10, 2011
YEREVAN
Armenian intelligence agent, hero of the Soviet Union Gevorg Vartanian
passed away hours ago in Botkin Hospital, Moscow. Journalist Gurgen
Khazhakyan told Armenpress that the cancer was the cause of his death.
Gevorg Vartanian is the only intelligence agent of the soviet foreign
intelligence service, who has been awarded with the Hero of the Soviet
Union Medal when he was still alive. His name is listed among the best
100 intelligence agents of all times and peoples. Gevorg Vartanian was
born February 17, 1924 in Nor Nakhichevan (currently Rostov-on-Don).
His father was a Soviet intelligence agent as well and was sent
to Persia (presently Iran) on 1930, where he worked for 23 years
under a cover of a wealthy merchant. Gevork Vartanian was not even
16 when he went into intelligence. In 1955, he graduated from the
Institute of Foreign Languages, Yerevan. He is primarily responsible
for thwarting Operation Long Jump, concocted byAdolf Hitler, headed by
Ernst Kaltenbrunner, and led by Otto Skorzeny, which was an attempt to
assassinate Stalin,Churchill, and Roosevelt at the Tehran conference
in 1943.
In 1942, Adolf Hitler decided to set the operation in motion. After
careful planning and deliberation under the personal supervision of
Security Police Chief Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Hitler sent his special
commando agent, Otto Skorzeny, along with six other men to rendezvous
at Tehran,Iran and spearhead the operation. The plan entailed the
capture and/or assassination of Josef Stalin, Winston Churchill,
and Franklin Roosevelt.
The first tip-off about the planned attempt came from Soviet
intelligence agent Nikolai Kuznetsov, under the alias of Wermacht
Oberleutnant Paul Siebert, from Nazi-occupied Ukraine. Kuznetsov got a
drunk SS officer named Ulrich von Ortel to tell him about the attempt.
Although the scheduled date of the operation was not known, the fact
that it would take place was confirmed.
According to Vartanian, he had been assigned to recruit agents
beginning in 1940. He and his seven recruits had identified Nazi
spies. However, in the autumn of 1943, they were given a different
task, security for the upcoming conference. Six German radio operators
had been sent to Tehran as an advance team for the assassination.
Eventually, Vartanian and his men managed to find where the commando
unit was hiding.
>From then on, the radio messages to Berlin were intercepted by Soviet
and British intelligence. However, one of the Germans managed to send
a coded message "we are under surveillance". The operation was getting
off track and the main group led by Skorzeny never went to Tehran.
Gevorg Vartanian has met with Churchill's granddaughter and been
congratulated for his great service to the Allies. It was revealed
that his identity was kept secret until the year 2000, when he finally
received full credit for putting a stop to the assassination plot.