Viktor Mikhailovich Chebrikov was a Soviet public official and security administrator and head of the KGB from December 1982 to October 1988.
Occupation
politician, engineer
Position held
deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, Member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, Candidate member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, Chairman of the KGB
Viktor Mikhailovich Chebrikov (; 27 April 1923 – 2 July 1999) was a Soviet public official and security administrator and head of the KGB from December 1982 to October 1988.
Life and career
Born in the industrial city of Yekaterinoslav in eastern Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Dnipro, Ukraine) on 27 April 1923, he finished military school in 1942 and served in World War II as a battalion commander. From July 1942, he commanded a platoon of a cadet rifle regiment in the 64th Army on the Stalingrad Front, but on August 14, 1942, he was seriously wounded. After his recovery, he was deputy platoon commander and commander of a mortar platoon in the 262nd Infantry Regiment of the 184th Infantry Division on the Southwestern and Stalingrad fronts. From 1943 until the end of the war he fought in the ranks of the 575th Infantry Regiment of the 161st Infantry Division on Stepnoye, from August 1943 - on Voronezh, from October 1943 - on the 1st Ukrainian, from August 1944 - on the 4th Ukrainian fronts. His contemporaries describe him as having fought bravely and selflessly. At the front, he was wounded three times (one severe wound and two medium ones), shell-shocked and frostbitten, but each time he returned to duty.
After the war Chebrikov wanted to continue his military career, but was refused by the prestigious Frunze Military Academy because of his bad eyesight; abandoning his military ambitions, he earned an engineering degree, joined the Communist Party in 1950, and embarked on a political-administrative career, rising through the Ukrainian party ranks until he became First Secretary of the Dnipropetrovsk Party Committee in 1961. In 1967, he was brought to Moscow as personnel manager for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He was Deputy chairman of the KGB under Yuri Andropov from 1968-1982. They began an anti-corruption drive that continued until Andropov's death.
Following a brief period under Konstantin Chernenko, Chebrikov was appointed Chairman of the KGB under Mikhail Gorbachev. Through information supplied by American spy Aldrich Ames, Chebrikov was able to dismantle the network of CIA operatives in his country. Chebrikov was highly respected for his skills among his American counterparts; according to Kenneth E.
