YURCHENKO, VITALIY SERGEEVICH (1936– ). One of the
strangest stories of the Cold Warwas the defectionand then rede-
fection of KGB officer Vitaliy Yurchenko. Yurchenko, who had
served as the KGB security officer in Washington for several years in
the 1970s, became disillusioned with the KGB after years of appar-
ently successful service. On 1 August 1985, Yurchenko defected to
the United States. His story was widely covered in the media and her-
alded as a major U.S. intelligence success. Yurchenko was debriefed
by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI), and he identified Edward Lee Howard, a re-
cently dismissed CIA employee, and Ronald Pelton as Soviet
agents. Then, only weeks after coming to Washington, he marched
out of a French restaurant in Georgetown and into the Soviet em-
bassy. He returned to Moscow to tell a story of drugging and kidnap-
ping, and a thrilling escape from the CIA. He was subsequently dec-
orated by the KGB and retired in 1991.
The KGB chose to “believe” Yurchenko’s story, apparently to in-
dicate to other defectors that they could return to the Soviet Union af-
ter defecting to the West without fear of punishment. Some observers
of the contest between the KGB and CIA saw Yurchenko as a false
defector sent to confuse the West. A more likely explanation is that it
was he rather than the KGB who was confused.- Z –
ZABOTIN, NIKOLAI (c. 1910– ). As GRU rezidentin Ottawa from
1943 to 1945, Zabotin had a successful career, managing a staff of 14
officers and running important agents in the Canadian and British
governments and within the Anglo-American nuclear weapons pro-
gram. His rezidentura’s most important agent was Allan Nunn May,
a Canadian nuclear physicist. But when Igor Gouzenko, one of
Zabotin’s code clerks with whom he had very good relations, de-
fected in September 1945, Zabotin’s career and life changed forever.
His agents were exposed and several went to prison. Zabotin was
blamed for Gouzenko’s treachery and recalled to Moscow. A special
commission headed by Lavrenty Beriaand Viktor Abakumovwas
created by Joseph Stalinto investigate Zabotin’s rezidentura. He296 •YURCHENKO, VITALIY SERGEEVICH (1936– )06-313 P-Z.qxd 7/27/06 7:57 AM Page 296