Sakharovsky's 13-year right hand and the short-lived PGU chief of early détente
Someone tipped off a Swiss resident that his phone was being tapped. The trace led to one man: PGU chief Mortin himself. He left for vacation that year and never returned to the Lubyanka.
A Soviet intelligence general who ran the day-to-day machinery of Cold War espionage as Aleksandr Sakharovsky's right hand for 13 years before becoming chief of the KGB First Chief Directorate in 1971. As chief he moved the PGU into the Yasenevo complex and expanded scientific-technical intelligence, overseeing Soviet foreign operations in early détente and the secret channel to Willy Brandt's government, until a single phone call warning a subordinate about a wiretap cost him his post within two and a half years and cleared the way for Vladimir Kryuchkov.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1937–1939Physics and mathematics teacher at a rural school
- 1939–1940Secretary of the district Komsomol committee
- 1940–1941Director of the district high school
- 1941–1942Head of the organizational department, district party committee
- 1942–1945Political officer in the active army; participated in the defense of Leningrad
- 1945–1947Studied Chinese and English at the Military-Diplomatic Academy of the Soviet Army
- 1947–1950Foreign intelligence officer on long-term posting abroad
- 1950–1954Worked in the CPSU Central Committee apparatus
- 1954–1958Deputy Head of the KGB First Chief Directorate (PGU)
- 1958–1971First Deputy Head of the KGB First Chief Directorate (PGU)
- 1966–1967Concurrently headed KGB School No. 101 (Higher Intelligence School)
- 1971–1974Head of the KGB First Chief Directorate (PGU)
- 1974–1975Head of the Directorate for Scientific-Technical Cooperation, State Committee on Science and Technology of the USSR Council of Ministers
- 1975–1982Senior Consultant, Group of Consultants under the Chairman of the KGB
- 1982Retired by age
Related historical events
As PGU chief: the Yasenevo move and the secret channel, 1971-1974
Taking over the First Chief Directorate in July 1971 after Sakharovsky's departure, Mortin presided over a period of physical and institutional reorganisation. During his tenure the directorate left its old quarters on the Lubyanka for the newly built complex at Yasenevo outside Moscow; for cover, Mortin ordered a sign reading 'Scientific Research Centre' hung on the guard booth, and the name stuck. Drawing on his years concurrently heading the intelligence school in 1966-1967, he took an interest in modernising training and expanding scientific-technical intelligence, and subordinates remembered him as an idea-filled, energetic chief. In these years the directorate took part in contacts with the West German government of Willy Brandt. In the secret channel behind the Ostpolitik that led to the Moscow Treaty of August 1970, the Soviet counterpart was Egon Bahr, state secretary in the chancellor's office, while East German intelligence had planted listening devices in Bahr's home and followed the talks. Mortin's tenure was short. In January 1974, after going on leave, he did not return to the directorate. Accounts variously attribute the dismissal to an intrigue by his successor Kryuchkov or to a phone call warning a Swiss resident that his line was being tapped. He then headed the scientific-technical cooperation directorate of the State Committee for Science and Technology and from 1975 served in the group of consultants to the KGB chairman, retiring in 1982.