apparently subjected Korotkov to an hour of insults and impreca-
tions that brought on a heart attack. Markus Wolf delivered Ko-
rotkov’s eulogy at the funeral.KORZHAKOV, ALEKSANDR (1950– ). As an officer of the KGB’s
Ninth (Leadership Protection) Directorate, Korzhakov was assigned
to protect Boris Yeltsin. As Yeltsin’s personal bodyguard, Korzhakov
played a critical role in the 1991 August putsch, encouraging the
Russian leader to leave his dacha outside Moscow to go the Russian
White House, the parliament building, and rally his supporters.
Korzhakov played a critical role two years later, when communist
parliamentarians tried a putsch. Korzhakov encouraged Yeltsin to re-
sist pressure from communists in the Duma interested in overthrow-
ing the infant Russian republic. Once again, Korzhakov saved Yeltsin
from disgrace or death. Korzhakov was rewarded for his loyalty and
courage by promotion to the head of a new independent guard ser-
vice, the PSB (Prezidentskaya sluzhba bezopasnosti, or Presidential
Security Service). Under Korzhakov, the PSB grew into a paramili-
tary service with a large military component. According to the Rus-
sian media, Korzhakov became a modern Lavrenty Beria with
power over the security establishment. As Yeltsin’s grey eminence,
Korzhakov had tremendous power inside the president’s official
“family.” With his ally, FSBchief Mikhail Bursakov, he dominated
the president, setting political policies in both foreign and domestic
areas. In July 1996 Yeltsin purged Korzhakov and his allies in the in-
ner circle. Korzhakov got even by writing a “tell-all” book about
Yeltsin, and he has since been elected to the Russian Duma.
Korzhakov’s rapid raise and even more rapid fall illustrated both
Yeltsin’s unscrupulous use of the security services and the unbri-
dled way that the Russian president controlled his administration
and Russia. The disintegration of the Soviet Union did not, as Ko-
rzhakov’s career illustrated, mean the rule of law for Russia or her
security institutions.KRIVITSKY, WALTER (1899–1941).Born Samuel Ginsberg in Rus-
sian Poland, Krivitsky joined the Bolshevik Partyin 1917 and en-
tered military intelligence as an illegal. Working first in Eastern Eu-
rope and then in Western Europe, Krivitsky became a senior GRU138 •KORZHAKOV, ALEKSANDR (1950– )06-313 G-P.qxd 7/27/06 7:56 AM Page 138