FITIN, PAVEL MIKHAILOVICH (1907–1971).Fitin was drafted
into the NKVD’s foreign intelligence directorate in 1938, following
the purge of the component. Within months of completing the Soviet
Union’s first course for foreign intelligence officers, he was pro-
moted to general’s rank. At the age of 34, Fitin took over the foreign
intelligence directorate and led it through World War II. While un-
trained and unprepared for the responsibility, Fitin was an exception-
ally effective intelligence chief, supervising the penetration of both
enemy and Allied governments as well as the collection of critical
scientific information on the American and British nuclear weapons
program, codenamed Enormoz.
The KGB’s official history notes that Fitin provided accurate doc-
umentary reporting of German plans to invade the Soviet Union.
Lavrenty Beriaquashed these reports and repeatedly threatened
Fitin with a firing squad for his audacity in contradicting the party
leadership. NKVD cables from the war show that Fitin was a de-
manding but knowledgeable boss. He also appeared to have the
moral courage to intercede with Beria in the case of senior officers
who were recalled unfairly. When Vasily Zarubinand his wife were
hastily brought back from New York on charges of treason, they were
exonerated.
Beria, never one to forgive or forget, moved Fitin out of foreign in-
telligence at the end of the war. As a lieutenant general, Fitin served
first in Germany and then in the provinces. Beria insisted that he be
removed from the service in 1951 for “incompetence.” While never
prosecuted, Fitin lost his rank, medals, and pension. After Beria’s ex-
ecution, work was found for Fitin, but he died in obscurity in 1971.FORCED LABOR CAMPS.SeeGULAG.FOURTH DEPARTMENT OF THE GENERAL STAFF.SeeGRU.FRINOVSKIY, MIKHAIL PETROVICH (1898–1940).Raised in a
middle-class family before the Russian Revolution, Frinovskiy at-
tended a theological seminary for a short period of time, as had Joseph
Stalin. Frinovskiy’s early career was spent in the Border GuardDi-
rectorate. He took part in the repression of peasant risings in the
Kuban, the homeland of the Cossacks, during the collectivizationofFRINOVSKIY, MIKHAIL PETROVICH (1898–1940)•8706-313 A-G.qxd 7/27/06 7:55 AM Page 87