KGB officer turned first Soviet ambassador to Cuba who won Castro's trust and warned Khrushchev against the missile deployment
In the Kremlin in May 1962, Khrushchev asked: 'Would Castro accept nuclear missiles?' Alexeyev recalled: 'Overcoming my embarrassment with difficulty, I nevertheless expressed doubt that Fidel would agree to such a proposal.'
Born Alexander Shitov, he graduated from Moscow State University's history faculty and joined the NKVD in 1939, serving as an intelligence officer in Iran, France, and Argentina. He arrived in Cuba in 1959 as a TASS correspondent and built close personal trust with Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, leading to his appointment as the first Soviet ambassador to Cuba in May 1962. Immediately after his appointment he warned Khrushchev that Castro would not accept the deployment of nuclear missiles, but Khrushchev disregarded this and Alexeyev was dispatched with Rashidov and Biryuzov to secure Castro's consent. During the Cuban Missile Crisis he served as the key intermediary between Moscow and Havana, calming Castro's calls for a preemptive nuclear strike.
Career Timeline
- 1938–1939Interpreter, Soviet military advisers in Spain
- 1941–1943NKVD intelligence officer, Iran
- 1944–1951NKVD/KI resident, Paris (cover: embassy attaché)
- 1954–1958KGB resident and First Secretary, Soviet Embassy, Argentina
- 1959–1960TASS correspondent and KGB resident, Cuba
- 1960–1962Cultural adviser, Soviet Embassy, Cuba
- 1962–1968Soviet Ambassador to Cuba
- 1974–1980Soviet Ambassador to Madagascar