38-year Chekist who commanded both counterintelligence and foreign intelligence from Cheka to KGB
In a 1940 directive to the Lithuanian NKVD, he wrote of a suspect: "We intend to arrest him when he attempts to cross the border and, depending on his behavior during the interrogation, decide the question of his recruitment."
Born in St. Petersburg to a tram conductor, Fedotov joined the Cheka in 1921 and spent 38 years in Soviet security, a rare career spanning command of both counterintelligence and foreign intelligence. As NKVD/NKGB counterintelligence chief from 1939 to 1946, he oversaw wartime operations and took part in the Katyn massacre, then briefly led Soviet foreign intelligence as MGB 1st Directorate head and deputy chairman of the Committee of Information (KI). Reappointed KGB counterintelligence chief in 1954, he was removed in 1956 during the Khrushchev Thaw for Stalin-era violations of legality, stripped of rank and expelled from the Party in 1959, and died of natural causes in Moscow in 1963.
Career Timeline
- 1921–1937Served in Cheka/GPU/OGPU/NKVD in North Caucasus, counterintelligence and secret-political departments
- 1937–1939Section chief and deputy head, Secret Political Department (SPO), GUGB NKVD
- 1939–1946Head of NKVD/NKGB 2nd Directorate (counterintelligence) throughout WWII
- 1946–1947Head of MGB 1st Chief Directorate (foreign intelligence) and Deputy Minister of State Security
- 1947–1952Deputy Chairman of the Committee of Information (KI), overseeing all Soviet foreign intelligence
- 1953–1954Head of MVD 1st Chief Directorate (counterintelligence)
- 1954–1956Head of KGB 2nd Chief Directorate (counterintelligence)
- 1956–1959Demoted to deputy at KGB Higher School editorial department; stripped of rank and expelled 1959