Soviet Espionage Gevork Vartanian Legend Dies

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Legendary Soviet spy Gevork Vartanian, who helped foil a Nazi plot to kill Allied leaders in Tehran during World War II, has died in Moscow aged 87.

Operating in Tehran during World War II, he tracked German commandos who had arrived to attack a summit attended by Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill.

Realizing they were being followed, the Germans called off the attack.

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Audio at
http://www.theworld.org/2012/01/sovi...e-legend-dies/

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Gevork Vartanian was a true patriot and a bright personality, Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev stated when commemorating the legendary Soviet intelligence officer who died on January 11, aged 87.

Vartanian was responsible for a number of successful intelligence operations some of which still remain classified. Even the list of the countries where he worked remains top secret.

However, one of Vartanian’s operations is a living legend. He helped prevent a Nazi assassination plot on the leaders of the US, the UK and the USSR in Tehran in 1943. The 19-year old Vartanian’s opponent was Nazi number 1 spy Otto Skorzeny who was personally controlled by Hitler.

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http://english.ruvr.ru/2012/01/11/63677165.html

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Vartanian was born on 17 February 1924 in the south Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, into the family of an Iranian national of Armenian extraction. In 1930, the family moved to Tehran where the father, Andrei, served as a Soviet agent under a business cover.Following his father, Gevork became a Soviet agent in 1940 at the age of 16.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16515914

Somewhere in my book collection is a very different story about the Three Power meeting in Tehran. IIRC One night the British infantry guard at Churchill's residence (British Embassy) were disturbed by shouting and banging on a side gate. Standing outside was Churchill and another, "worse for wear".