Alexandre Feklisov
Encyclopedia
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
spy, the NKGB Case Officer who received information from Julius Rosenberg and Klaus Fuchs
Klaus Fuchs
Klaus Emil Julius Fuchs was a German theoretical physicist and atomic spy who in 1950 was convicted of supplying information from the American, British and Canadian atomic bomb research to the USSR during and shortly after World War II...
, among others.
Biography
Feklisov worked out of the SovietSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
consulate office in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
from 1940 to 1946. His supervisor was Senior NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
Case Officer Anatoli Yatskov
Anatoli Yatskov
Anatoli A. Yakovlev was General Consul of the Soviet Union's delegation in New York City in the 1940s...
(alias Yakovlev). Part of Feklisov's duties included recruiting espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
agent prospects from those sympathetic to the Communist Party of the United States
Communist Party USA
The Communist Party USA is a Marxist political party in the United States, established in 1919. It has a long, complex history that is closely related to the histories of similar communist parties worldwide and the U.S. labor movement....
and its auxiliary secret apparatus.
Rosenberg was among these recruits. In the period from 1943 to 1946, Feklisov reported at least 50 meetings with Rosenberg. He stated that Rosenberg provided important top secret information about electronics and helped organize an industrial espionage ring for Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, but "didn't understand anything about the atom bomb." Feklisov stated that Ethel Rosenberg, as a "probationer", did not meet directly with her Soviet agent handler. He also said she "had nothing to do with this" and was "completely innocent." Feklisov once wrote that Julius Rosenberg was the only agent that he viewed as a close friend. He, in response, told Feklisov that their meetings were “among the happiest moments of my life.” Feklisov was also the Case Officer for Joel Barr
Joel Barr
Joel Barr , also Iozef Veniaminovich Berg and Joseph Berg, was part of the Soviet Atomic Spy Ring...
and Alfred Sarant
Alfred Sarant
Alfred Epaminondas Sarant, also known as Filipp Georgievich Staros and Philip Georgievich Staros , was an engineer and a member of the Communist party in New York City in 1944. He was part of the Rosenberg spy ring that reported to Soviet intelligence...
, two other members of the Soviet Atomic Spy Ring
Atomic Spies
Atomic Spies and Atom Spies are terms that refer to various people in the United States, Great Britain, and Canada who are thought to have illicitly given information about nuclear weapons production or design to the Soviet Union during World War II and the early Cold War...
. In August 1946, Feklisov returned to the USSR. By the late 1940s, he was transferred to the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
Rezidentura.
Feklisov was transferred back to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and became the Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
Rezident, or KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
Station Chief, from 1960 to 1964. His cover name at that time was Aleksandr Fomin. As KGB Rezident, Feklisov (Fomin) proposed what became the basis for resolving the Cuban Missile Crisis
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation among the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States in October 1962, during the Cold War...
: removing missile
Missile
Though a missile may be any thrown or launched object, it colloquially almost always refers to a self-propelled guided weapon system.-Etymology:The word missile comes from the Latin verb mittere, meaning "to send"...
s from Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
in exchange for a promise that the United States would not invade the island nation.
Alexandre Feklisov died on October 26, 2007 in Russia at the age of 93.
Legacy
Feklisov was portrayed by Harris YulinHarris Yulin
Harris Yulin is an American actor who has appeared in dozens of Hollywood and television films.-Life and career:Yulin was born in...
in the 1974 film The Missiles of October
The Missiles of October
The Missiles of October is a 1974 docudrama made-for-television play about the Cuban missile crisis. The title evokes the book The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman about the missteps among the great powers and the failed chances to give an opponent a graceful way out, which led to the First...
, and by Boris Lee Krutonog in the 2000 film Thirteen Days
Thirteen Days (film)
Thirteen Days is a 2000 docudrama directed by Roger Donaldson about the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, seen from the perspective of the US political leadership. Kevin Costner stars, with Bruce Greenwood featured as John F. Kennedy....
.
External links
Further reading
- Feklisov, Alexandre, The Man Behind the Rosenbergs: Memoirs of the KGB Spymaster Who Also Controlled Klaus Fuchs and Helped Resolve the Cuban Missile Crisis, New York: Enigma Books, 2001. ISBN 1-929631-08-1
- Trahair, Richard C.S. and Robert Miller, Encyclopedia of Cold War Espionage, Spies, and Secret Operations, New York: Enigma Books, 2009. ISBN 978-1-929631-75-9