Vladimir Kryuchkov, former KGB chief

MOSCOW – Vladimir Kryuchkov, the former KGB chief who spearheaded a failed coup against Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, has died, officials said yesterday.

He was 83. Kryuchkov died on Friday in Moscow of an unspecified illness, said a spokesman for the Federal Security Service, the agency that succeeded the KGB.Kryuchkov owed his swift career rise to Soviet leader Yuri Andropov.He worked alongside Andropov when he served as the Soviet ambassador to Hungary, and oversaw a brutal suppression of anti-Communist uprising in Budapest in 1956.When Andropov became KGB chief in 1967, he took Kryuchkov along and helped him rise through the ranks.In 1974, Kryuchkov was named chief of the KGB’s First Main Directorate in charge of spying abroad.In 1988, Gorbachev appointed Kryuchkov as KGB chief.In August 1991, Kryuchkov joined other hard-line members of the Communist Party leadership who ousted Gorbachev and declared a nationwide state of emergency in an attempt to roll back liberal reforms.The coup collapsed after three days, and helped precipitate the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991.Kryuchkov and other coup plotters were jailed but freed on an amnesty in early 1994.When Vladimir Putin, a 16-year KGB veteran, was elected president in 2000, he invited Kryuchkov to his inauguration ceremony.In the following years, Kryuchkov had taken a higher public profile in recent years, giving numerous interviews in which he praised Putin and accused the West of plots to weaken Russia.Kryuchkov also published his memoirs, in which he sharply criticised Gorbachev and alleged that the CIA helped break up the Soviet Union by planting their “agents of influence” in the Communist Party leadership.Last month, Kryuchkov warned of “big trouble” if a turf battle between Russia’s security agencies continues to fester.He and other KGB veterans called on the feuding forces to unite behind Putin for the country’s sake.Kryuchkov’s funeral is planned for tomorrow.There was no immediate word on survivors.Nampa-APKryuchkov died on Friday in Moscow of an unspecified illness, said a spokesman for the Federal Security Service, the agency that succeeded the KGB.Kryuchkov owed his swift career rise to Soviet leader Yuri Andropov.He worked alongside Andropov when he served as the Soviet ambassador to Hungary, and oversaw a brutal suppression of anti-Communist uprising in Budapest in 1956.When Andropov became KGB chief in 1967, he took Kryuchkov along and helped him rise through the ranks.In 1974, Kryuchkov was named chief of the KGB’s First Main Directorate in charge of spying abroad.In 1988, Gorbachev appointed Kryuchkov as KGB chief.In August 1991, Kryuchkov joined other hard-line members of the Communist Party leadership who ousted Gorbachev and declared a nationwide state of emergency in an attempt to roll back liberal reforms.The coup collapsed after three days, and helped precipitate the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991.Kryuchkov and other coup plotters were jailed but freed on an amnesty in early 1994.When Vladimir Putin, a 16-year KGB veteran, was elected president in 2000, he invited Kryuchkov to his inauguration ceremony.In the following years, Kryuchkov had taken a higher public profile in recent years, giving numerous interviews in which he praised Putin and accused the West of plots to weaken Russia.Kryuchkov also published his memoirs, in which he sharply criticised Gorbachev and alleged that the CIA helped break up the Soviet Union by planting their “agents of influence” in the Communist Party leadership.Last month, Kryuchkov warned of “big trouble” if a turf battle between Russia’s security agencies continues to fester.He and other KGB veterans called on the feuding forces to unite behind Putin for the country’s sake.Kryuchkov’s funeral is planned for tomorrow.There was no immediate word on survivors.Nampa-AP

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