Gaik Ovakimian
Encyclopedia
Haik Badalovich Ovakimian (Hayk Hovakimyan), Major General, USSR (11 August 1898, Nakhchivan - 1967), better known as "the puppetmaster" in intelligence circles, was a leading Soviet NKVD
spy in the United States
.
Of Armenian
descent, he joined the NKVD
in 1931 while a graduate student at Moscow's Bauman Higher Technical School and went immediately into foreign intelligence.
Ovakimian was sent to Germany
on an assignment emphasizing scientific-technical espionage. In 1932 he returned to the Soviet Union for advanced technical training at the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army Military-Chemical Academy. In 1933 he was sent to the United States as deputy head of the NKVD's scientific-technical intelligence section, operating under the cover of being an engineer for Amtorg. While in the United States, Ovakimian ran the Golos spy ring and is credited with facilitating the assassination of Leon Trotsky
. He was Jacob Golos
primary contact. Ovakimian also received material from Klaus Fuchs
through Harry Gold
. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
were recruited by Ovakimian in 1938.
In 1939 Ovakimian became chief of scientific intelligence in the United States while at the same time began studying for a doctorate in chemistry at a New York University
.
Ovakimian was arrested during a meeting on 5 May 1941 with an agent who had been turned by the FBI. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, he was traded back to Moscow for the release of several Americans and left the United States 23 July 1941.
Ovakimian then became head of the NKVD's American desk in Moscow, responsible for espionage activities of Soviet agents within the United States and Canada. He was promoted to deputy chief of the NKVD's foreign intelligence in 1943 and attained the rank of major-general. A hitherto unknown memo from Ovakimian, head of the KGB's American desk, notes that "following our instructions," Harry Dexter White
"attained the positive decision of the US Treasury Department to provide the Soviet side with the plates for engraving German occupation marks."
In 1946 Ovakimian left the NKVD to engage in full-time scientific work, as a chemical engineer. Possessing prodigious talent in mathematics as well as in chemistry, Ovakimian was responsible for the rapid development of the Soviet chemical arsenal in the 1950s as well as the application of agricultural chemistry for civilian purposes.
Ovakimian is identified in the Venona project
decrypts as "Gennady".
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....
spy in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Of Armenian
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
descent, he joined the 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....
in 1931 while a graduate student at Moscow's Bauman Higher Technical School and went immediately into foreign intelligence.
Ovakimian was sent to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
on an assignment emphasizing scientific-technical espionage. In 1932 he returned to the Soviet Union for advanced technical training at the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army Military-Chemical Academy. In 1933 he was sent to the United States as deputy head of the NKVD's scientific-technical intelligence section, operating under the cover of being an engineer for Amtorg. While in the United States, Ovakimian ran the Golos spy ring and is credited with facilitating the assassination of Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
. He was Jacob Golos
Jacob Golos
Jacob Golos, , was a Ukrainian-born Bolshevik revolutionary of ethnic Jewish heritage who became a secret police operative on behalf of the USSR in the United States...
primary contact. Ovakimian also received material from 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...
through Harry Gold
Harry Gold
Harry Gold was a laboratory chemist who was convicted of being the “courier” for a number of Soviet spy rings during the Manhattan Project.-Early life:Gold was born in Switzerland to poor Russian Jewish immigrants...
. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg and Julius Rosenberg were American communists who were convicted and executed in 1953 for conspiracy to commit espionage during a time of war. The charges related to their passing information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union...
were recruited by Ovakimian in 1938.
In 1939 Ovakimian became chief of scientific intelligence in the United States while at the same time began studying for a doctorate in chemistry at a New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
.
Ovakimian was arrested during a meeting on 5 May 1941 with an agent who had been turned by the FBI. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, he was traded back to Moscow for the release of several Americans and left the United States 23 July 1941.
Ovakimian then became head of the NKVD's American desk in Moscow, responsible for espionage activities of Soviet agents within the United States and Canada. He was promoted to deputy chief of the NKVD's foreign intelligence in 1943 and attained the rank of major-general. A hitherto unknown memo from Ovakimian, head of the KGB's American desk, notes that "following our instructions," Harry Dexter White
Harry Dexter White
Harry Dexter White was an American economist, and senior U.S. Treasury department official, participating in the Bretton Woods conference...
"attained the positive decision of the US Treasury Department to provide the Soviet side with the plates for engraving German occupation marks."
In 1946 Ovakimian left the NKVD to engage in full-time scientific work, as a chemical engineer. Possessing prodigious talent in mathematics as well as in chemistry, Ovakimian was responsible for the rapid development of the Soviet chemical arsenal in the 1950s as well as the application of agricultural chemistry for civilian purposes.
Ovakimian is identified in the Venona project
Venona project
The VENONA project was a long-running secret collaboration of the United States and United Kingdom intelligence agencies involving cryptanalysis of messages sent by intelligence agencies of the Soviet Union, the majority during World War II...
decrypts as "Gennady".
External links
- The Cold War International History Project (CWIHP) has the full text of former KGB agent Alexander Vassiliev's Notebooks containing revelations on Soviet espionage in the United States