Soviet Leaders and Spies

General Knowledge

Aldrich Ames

CIA officer who spied for the Soviet Union; his betrayal led to the compromise of numerous U.S. operations.

Yuri Andropov

Soviet leader (1982-1984); former KGB head who initiated reforms before his death.

Lavrenti Beria

Head of Soviet secret police under Stalin; executed in 1953 during power struggles after Stalin’s death.

George Blake

British MI6 officer who spied for the Soviet Union; escaped prison and fled to the USSR.

Leonid Brezhnev

Soviet leader (1964-1982); known for Brezhnev Doctrine and a period of detente with the West.

Konstantin Chernenko

Soviet leader (1984-1985); his short tenure was marked by a return to conservative policies.

Anatoly Dobrynin

Long-serving Soviet ambassador to the U.S.; key figure in U.S.-Soviet relations.

Klaus Fuchs

German-born physicist who passed atomic secrets to the USSR; convicted of espionage.

Mikhail Gorbachev

Last leader of the Soviet Union; implemented glasnost and perestroika, leading to the Cold War’s end.

Andrei Gromyko

Long-serving Soviet Foreign Minister; invovled in major Cold War negotiations.

Nikita Khrushchev

Soviet leader after Stalin; known for de-Stalinization and the Cuban Missle Crisis.

Alexei Kosygin

Soviet Premier; advocated for economic reforms and improved U.S.-Soviet relations.

Georgi Malenkov

Soviet Premier after Stalin; attempted reforms but was quickly ousted.

Vyacheslav Molotov

Soviet Foreign Minister; known for the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and post-war diplomacy.

Stanislav Petrov

Soviet officer who correctly judged a 1983 U.S. missle warning to be a false alarm, potentially preventing nuclear war.