Anatoly Trofimov

Anatoly Vasilyevich Trofimov (Russian: Анато́лий Васи́льевич Трофи́мов; July 14, 1940 – April 10, 2005) was a head of the Soviet KGB investigation department. He personally supervised all Soviet dissident cases including Sergei Kovalyov, Gleb Yakunin, Alexey Smirnov, and Yuri Orlov. He was later a deputy director of the Russian Federal Security Service and became a mentor and supervisor of Alexander Litvinenko. He was assassinated in April 2005 by unidentified gunmen in Moscow.

Career

Soviet Union

As a deputy head of the investigation department of the Moscow branch of the Soviet KGB secret service, Trofimov supervised all cases of dissidents including Sergei Kovalyov, Gleb Yakunin, Alexey Smirnov, and Yuri Orlov.[1]

Russia

Trofimov was regarded as an incorruptible serviceman loyal to Boris Yeltsin. He arrested several top politicians opposing Boris Yeltsin during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis.[2] Later he held offices of the Deputy Director of the Russian Counter-Intelligence cervice (FSK), and head of the FSB secret service for the Moscow region until February 1997 when he was fired.

His comments
  • "A retired army general and a leader of Communist parliamentary opposition Lev Rokhlin was killed by the Russian secret services, and Putin will have to cover this up", according to Trofimov.
  • According to Marina Litvinenko, he said to Alexander Litvinenko: "Don't you see? They killed Rokhlin; surely that was a Kontora job. Now the guy who came in [Putin] will have to cover that up. He cannot afford to solve the case. It is like an insurance policy".[3]

Romano Prodi
Main article: Mitrokhin Commission

In October 1999 a scandal broke out in Italy about the alleged KGB connection of Romano Prodi, the Italian centre-left leader, former Prime Minister of Italy and former President of the European Commission. The information about Prodi was provided by Soviet defector Vasili Mitrokhin. Litvinenko claims he was given this information by Trofimov, whom allegedly described Prodi as "our man in Italy". The EU Reporter, a Brussels-based organisation, on 3 April 2006, claimed that "another high-level source, a former KGB operative in London, has confirmed the story".[4]

Assassination

On April 10, 2005, Trofimov was gunned down in Moscow while driving a car, together with his wife.[5] His four-year-old daughter survived the assassination.

Litvinenko, who knew Trofimov personally, told the media that he believed Trofimov's killing was a political assassination, and that Trofimov had opposed both the Second Chechen War and the earlier appointment of Vladimir Putin as FSB chief.[6]

References
  1. Bullet for General (Russian)
  2. Death of a Dissident, page 73
  3. "Death of a Dissident", page 137
  4. Donnelly, Cillian (2006-04-03). "Prodi Accused Of Being Former Soviet Agent". EU Reporter. Archived from the original on May 24, 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-21.
  5. Alex Goldfarb and Marina Litvinenko. Death of a Dissident: The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the Return of the KGB, The Free Press (2007) ISBN 1-4165-5165-4, page 137.
  6. "Newsline - April 11, 2005". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
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