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Meet Russian Spy Boss Sergey Naryshkin
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Meet Russian Spy Boss Sergey Naryshkin

The SVR chief pegs his rise to a chance meeting with Putin in the bowels of the KGB’s Leningrad Office

Filip Kovacevic's avatar
Filip Kovacevic
Feb 11, 2022
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Meet Russian Spy Boss Sergey Naryshkin
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On a cool October day in Moscow in 2017, Sergey Naryshkin, the head of the SVR, Russia’s foreign intelligence service, stepped up to the microphone at an outdoor ceremony to unveil a statue honoring a notable predecessor.  

"The name of Pavel Fitin is returning to our history," Naryshkin said of the man who ran the Soviet Union's foreign spying apparatus…

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A guest post by
Filip Kovacevic
Filip Kovacevic (@ChekistMonitor) has more than 20 years of university teaching experience in Russia, the Balkans, and the U.S. He specializes in Soviet/Russian intelligence/counterintelligence history & spy fiction.
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