Yuri Shvets
{{short description|Former intelligence officer (born 1953)}}
{{about|the KGB officer|the cinematic artist|Yuri Pavlovich Shvets}}
{{Family name hatnote|Borysovych|Shvets|lang=Eastern Slavic}}
{{use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox spy
|name= Yuri Shvets
|image=
|native_name_lang=uk
|native_name={{nobold|Юрій Швець}}
|birth_date={{birth date and age|1953|5|16|df=yes}}
|birth_place= Kharkiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine)YouTube: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9txphm4EYVc Розмова за участю Юрія Швеця, Тараса Березовця і Пітера Залмаєва]. 05.04.2022
|alma_mater=Patrice Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University
Academy of Foreign Intelligence
|allegiance={{flag|Soviet Union}}
|agency=KGB
|rank=Major
|citizenship=American
|serviceyears=1980{{endash}}1990
|other=[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb2oej0JtxlnywlqoSiHHVQ His YouTube channel]
}}
Yuri Borysovych Shvets{{efn|{{langx|uk|Юрій Борисович Швець|{{transliteration|uk|ukrainian|Yurii Borysovych Shvets}}}}; {{langx|ru|Юрий Борисович Швец|{{transliteration|ru|Yury Borisovich Shvets}}}}}} (born 16 May 1953) is a former Soviet intelligence officer of Ukrainian origin. He was a Major in the KGB between 1980 and 1990. From April 1985 to 1987, he was a resident spy in Washington, D.C.{{cite web|date=14 April 1995|title=Book Discussion on Washington Station: My Life as a KGB Spy|url=http://www.c-span.org/video/?64553-1/book-discussion-washington-station-life-kgb-spy|access-date=16 November 2015|website=C-SPAN}} While there, he held a cover job as a correspondent for TASS, a Soviet state-owned news agency.{{Cite web|last=Smith|first=David|author-link=David Smith (journalist)|date=2021-01-29|title='The perfect target': Russia cultivated Trump as asset for 40 years – ex-KGB spy|url=http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/29/trump-russia-asset-claims-former-kgb-spy-new-book|access-date=2021-01-29|work=The Guardian|language=en}} He left the KGB in September 1990.{{cite news |last=Бонини |first=Карло (Bonini, Carlo) |url=http://www.inopressa.ru/details.htm?id=773 |title=Скандалы: "Путин может наказать Соединенные Штаты" |trans-title=Scandals: "Putin can punish the United States" |language=ru |work=Corriere della Sera |date=January 19, 1999 |access-date=September 13, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010721063442/http://www.inopressa.ru/details.htm?id=773 |archive-date=July 21, 2001}} This is a Russian translation of an article originally published in Italian. The [http://www.corriere.it/hermes original website] is a dead link.
Biography
Shvets graduated in international law from the Patrice Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University (now the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia). He also graduated from the Academy of Foreign Intelligence,{{Cite web |url=https://gordonua.com/publications/sokursnik-putina-eks-razvedchik-kgb-vy-serezno-dumaete-chto-putin-delayushchiy-podtyazhku-lica-razvyazhet-yadernuyu-voynu-u-nego-ot-straha-botoks-potechet-77899.html |title=Сокурсник Путина, экс-разведчик КГБ: Вы серьезно думаете, что Путин, делающий подтяжку лица, развяжет ядерную войну? У него от страха ботокс потечет |last=Dvali |first=Natalia |date=28 April 2015 |website=Gordon |publisher= |language=Russian |trans-title=Putin's classmate, ex-KGB spy: Do you seriously think that Putin doing a facelift will unleash a nuclear war? He will have botox flow from fear |access-date=2 June 2015 |quote=}} where he purportedly studied alongside Vladimir Putin, a claim that is disputed.{{Cite web|date=2015-05-28|title=Интервью сокурсника Путина украинскому изданию раскрыло неудобные факты из жизни главы Кремля|trans-title=An interview with Putin's classmate to a Ukrainian journal revealed uncomfortable facts from the life of the head of the Kremlin|url=https://nv.ua/ukr/world/geopolitics/intervyu-sokursnika-putina-ukrainskomu-izdaniyu-vzbudorazhilo-socialnye-seti-46235.html|access-date=2022-01-28|website=nv.ua|language=ru}}
= Career in the KGB =
In his 1995 book, Washington Station, Shvets alleges he had recruited two key sources of political intelligence — "Socrates", a former aide to President Jimmy Carter with strong ties to Greece, and his wife "Sputnitsa" ({{Langx|ru|Спутница|lit=companion}}), a journalist working in Washington.{{cite web |last=Wick |first=Daniel L. |date=12 March 1995 |title=Another Ex-KGB Spy Spills the Beans / Yuri B. Shvets claims he recruited a former Carter adviser |url=http://www.sfgate.com/books/article/Another-Ex-KGB-Spy-Spills-the-Beans-Yuri-B-3041643.php |access-date=16 November 2015 |work=SFGate}} Some of these details were called into question. Later, on "60 Minutes", Shvets had identified Socrates as John Helmer, an Australian-born journalist, who denied being Socrates.
= Move to America =
After publishing a book describing his exploits and ultimate falling-out with the KGB, Shvets was banned from foreign travel. In 1993, he moved permanently to the United States, where he later gained citizenship.
Shvets was a key source for the 2021 book American Kompromat by Craig Unger,{{cite news |url=https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/how-stop-russia-recruiting-next-trump-n1256331 |title=How to stop Russia from recruiting the next Trump |first=Frank |last=Figliuzzi |author1-link=Frank Figliuzzi |work=MSNBC |date=2 February 2021}} which details claims that Donald Trump is a Soviet, and later Russian, asset.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/29/trump-russia-asset-claims-former-kgb-spy-new-book |title='The perfect target': Russia cultivated Trump as asset for 40 years – ex-KGB spy |newspaper=The Guardian |date=29 January 2021 |last1=Smith |first1=David }}
=Involvement with Alexander Litvinenko=
In 2006, Shvets emerged as a potentially key witness in the poisoning of ex-Federal Security Service officer Alexander Litvinenko. In an interview with the BBC, broadcast on 16 December 2006, Shvets said that he and Litvinenko had compiled a report investigating the activities of senior Kremlin officials on behalf of a British company looking to invest "dozens of millions of dollars" in a project in Russia. Shvets said the dossier about Sergei Ivanov was so incriminating, it was likely that Litvinenko was murdered because of it.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj-iuWFwU10 Юрий Швец: Путин отмывал деньги наркокартеля. Дело Литвиненко / Видео №5.], Jun 16, 2021 He said that Litvinenko had shown the dossier to another business associate, Andrei Lugovoi, who had worked for the FSB and had passed the dossier to his superiors in Moscow. Shvets was interviewed about it by Scotland Yard detectives investigating Litvinenko's murder.{{cite news|date=16 December 2006|title=Litvinenko 'killed over dossier'|work=BBC News|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6184919.stm}}
Notes
{{notelist}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb2oej0JtxlnywlqoSiHHVQ His YouTube channel]
- [https://www.c-span.org/video/?64553-1/washington-station-life-kgb-spy Booknotes interview with Shvets on Washington Station: My Life as a KGB Spy in America, 18 June 1995.]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shvets, Yuri}}
Category:Peoples' Friendship University of Russia alumni