Anatoly Vasilyevich Trofimov (Russian: Анато́лий Васи́льевич Трофи́мов, July 14, 1940 — April 10, 2005) was a head of the Soviet KGB investigation department. He personally supervised all Soviet dissident cases including Sergei Kovalyov, Gleb Yakunin, Alexei Smirnov, and Yuri Orlov. He was later a deputy director of the Russian Federal Security Service and became a mentor and supervisor of Alexander Litvinenko. He was assassinated in April 2005 by unidentified gunmen in Moscow.
Career
Soviet Union
As a deputy head of the Soviet KGB investigation department, Trofimov supervised all cases of dissidents including Sergei Kovalyov, Gleb Yakunin, Alexei Smirnov, and Yuri Orlov.[1]
Russia
Trofimov was regarded as an incorruptible serviceman loyal to Boris Yeltsin. He arrested the leaders Russian parliamentary putsch of 1993.[2] He was later FSB deputy director and head of service for the Moscow region until February 1997 when he was fired.
His comments
A retired army general and a leader of Communist parliamentary opposition Lev Rokhlin was killed by the Russian secret services, and Putin will have to cover this up, according to Trofimov. According to Marina Litvinenko, he said to Alexander Litvinenko: "Don't you see? They killed Rokhlin; surely that was a Kontora job. Now the guy who came in [Putin] will have to cover that up. He cannot afford to solve the case. It is like an insurance policy" [3].
Romano Prodi
In October 1999 a scandal broke out in Italy about the alleged KGB connection of Romano Prodi, the Italian centre-left leader, former Prime Minister of Italy and former President of the European Commission. The information about Prodi was provided by Soviet defector Vasili Mitrokhin. According to Alexander Litvinenko, Trofmov also made a similar claim in 2000 He said: "Don’t go to Italy, there are many KGB agents among the politicians. Romano Prodi is our man there",[4] [5] possibly based on publications about the Mitrokhin Commission in newspapers[6]. According to Henry Plater-Zyberk, Trofimov hardly knew anything about the recruitment of Prodi by the KGB because Trofimov never worked for the Soviet foreign intelligence [7]
Assassination
On April 10, 2005, Trofimov was gunned down in Moscow while driving a car, together with his wife [6]. His four-year-old daughter survived the assassination.
Litvinenko, who knew Trofimov personally, told the media that he believed Trofimov's killing was a political assassination, and that Trofimov had opposed both the Second Chechen War and the earlier appointment of Vladimir Putin as FSB chief.[citation needed]
References
- ^ Bullet for General (Russian)
- ^ Death of a Dissident, page 73
- ^ "Death of a Dissident", page 137
- ^ "Gerard Battem, One-minute speeches on matters of political importance". European Parliament, Debates. April 3, 2006. Retrieved 2008-03-13.
- ^ "Former FSB General, Wife Shot Dead in Moscow". Mosnews.com. April 11, 2005. Retrieved 2006-11-21.[dead link]
- ^ a b Alex Goldfarb and Marina Litvinenko. Death of a Dissident: The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the Return of the KGB, The Free Press (2007) ISBN 1-416-55165-4, page 137.
- ^ Monaghan, Dr Andrew (22 May 2007). "Misunderstanding Russia: Alexander Litvinenko". The UK & Russia — A Troubled Relationship Part I (PDF). Conflict Studies Research Centre of the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom. pp. 9–12. ISBN 9781905962150. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) (Archived at WebCite)
External links
- Slain Russian officer's wife dies - BBC News
- Alexander Stille, "The secret life of Mario Scaramella" - Slate.com, Dec. 11, 2006. Alexander Stille is the author of The Sack of Rome: How a Beautiful European Country with a Fabled History and a Storied Culture Was Taken Over by a Man Named Silvio Berlusconi, Penguin Books, 2006.