Vladimir Vetrov is a member of the KGB of the USSR who was recruited by French intelligence in the 1980s and provided NATO with extremely important information about the plans and actions of the Soviet government. He is considered one of the most famous traitors to the homeland in the history of the USSR.
Early biography
Vladimir Vetrov was born in 1932. Nothing is known about the early years of his life and education. Around the 1950s, he began serving in the KGB of the USSR and was a fairly effective employee, rising to the rank of colonel. In 1965, Vetrov was sent to France for the first time in order to carry out scientific and technical intelligence under cover. For French citizens, he appeared in the form of a Soviet engineer and sales representative.
Vetrov established contacts with the electronic equipment manufacturer Thomson TsSF and gradually began to transmit the information he received to the Soviet side. Over time, Vladimir came to the attention of the French intelligence, which established surveillance over him. Once a spy, while intoxicated, crashed a company car. A tense situation arose. Representatives of French intelligence took advantage of this, offering to keep the incident secret in exchange for some information.
Betrayal and espionage
In the mid-70s, Vladimir Vetrov was removed from the operational service in the KGB for unknown reasons, but retained his position with access to secret scientific and technical data of the Soviet government. In 1981, the idea came to him to make money on information, and he contacted old French acquaintances from the intelligence, offering already long-term cooperation.
Vetrov began to actively "drain" NATO information, acting under the secret nickname "Farewell". In total, they were given about 4,000 documents, including data on 250 Soviet spy officers operating around the world; 450 intelligence officers collecting scientific and technical information; tasks and achievements of the Soviet government scientific and technical program.
Disclosure and further fate
Vetrov had a rather windy personal life: he did not have a wife, and he also did not strive to create a family. With money, the criminal preferred to change women like gloves. In 1982, he lost his guard and accidentally killed his mistress while drinking alcohol with her in the car. The sounds of the struggle were heard by a police officer who happened to be nearby. The spy had to kill him too to get rid of the witness and not be arrested. The police launched an investigation and soon went to Vetrov, after which he was detained. Initially, the criminal was tried exclusively for murder, he was stripped of all military ranks and imprisoned in a strict regime colony for 15 years.
Already in 1984, the involvement of Vladimir Vetrov in international espionage was revealed, and KGB officers got involved in the case. A second trial took place, and this time the offender was sentenced to death. On February 23, 1985, he was shot. The name of the spy figured in popular culture for a long time, and in 2009 the French film Farewell was released, in which the role of Vetrov was played by Emir Kusturica.
