Historical Dictionary of British Intelligence

REZUN, VLADIMIR• 449

The known illegalrezidentswere Vasili Spiru (1930–31), Yev-

genny P. Mitskevich (1931–32), Ignaty Reif (acting, 1933–34),Alex-

ander N. Orlov(1934 –35),Arnold Deutsch(acting, 1935–36 and

1937),Theodore Mally(1936 –37), and Konon Molody alias ‘‘Gor-

don Lonsdale’’ (1955–61).

REZIDENTURA.The Russian term for the intelligence organization
subordinate to therezident. The rezidentura consisted of representa-
tives from all branches of theKGB’s First Chief Directorate, namely,
Line PR (political reports staff ); Line N (illegal support officers of
Directorate S); Line X (scientific and technical specialists of Direc-
torate T); Line R (counterintelligencepersonnel from Directorate
K); and Line SK (security officers to protect the Soviet colony).
The busiest period for the Londonrezidenturawas during World
War II, when the staff was swamped by the huge quantity of political
andscientific intelligencebeing supplied by ideologically motivated
spies. Under the sheer pressure of work, their numbers were in-
creased in 1941 by the addition of Andre ́Graur, operating under first
secretary cover to work under his own name, and Boris Krotov (later
identified invenonawith the code namebob). The other declared
NKVDofficer in London was Ivan Chichayev, who acted as a liaison
officer toSpecial Operations Executive. In 1943 Konstantin Kukin
was transferred to London, and a year later he took over asrezident
upon the departure to Washington, D.C., in September 1944 ofAna-
toli Gorsky,torunDonald Maclean.

REZUN, VLADIMIR.In June 1978 Major Vladimir Rezun, a 31-year-
oldGRUofficer working under UN cover in Geneva, was smuggled
out of Switzerland to England with his wife and two young children.
A career soldier, he had participated in the invasion of Czechoslova-
kia in 1968 and later had supervised the training of the elite Spetsnaz
special forces. In his memoirs Rezun is deliberately vague about his
career, but he undertook missions in Munich, Rome, Basel, Amster-
dam, Vienna, and Hamburg.
Using the pseudonym ‘‘Viktor Suvorov,’’ he has written several
books about the Soviet military and his experiences. The first was
Inside the Soviet Army, which discussed the relationship between the
KGBand its military counterpart, the GRU. This was followed by