''Aquarium'' (Russian title ''Аквариум'') is a partly-autobiographical description by

Viktor Suvorov Vladimir Bogdanovich Rezun (russian: link=no, Владимир Богданович Резун; born 20 April 1947), known by his pseudonym of Viktor Suvorov () is a former Soviet GRU officer who is the author of non-fiction books about World ...

of the

GRU The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, rus, Гла́вное управле́ние Генера́льного шта́ба Вооружённых сил Росси́йской Федера́ци ...

(Soviet military intelligence directorate). The book was initially released on June 1, 1985, by

Hamish Hamilton Hamish Hamilton Limited was a British book publishing house, founded in 1931 eponymously by the half-Scot half-American Jamie Hamilton (''Hamish'' is the vocative form of the Gaelic Seumas eaning James ''James'' the English form – which was ...

Overview

The account starts in 1969, when Suvorov, as an ordinary tank company commander, is recruited into intelligence analysis by an up-and-coming lieutenant colonel. From there, he transfers to

Spetsnaz Spetsnaz are special forces in numerous post-Soviet states. (The term is borrowed from rus, спецназ, p=spʲɪtsˈnas; abbreviation for or 'Special Purpose Military Units'; or .) Historically, the term ''spetsnaz'' referred to the So ...

and, from there, into the

. A combination of circumstances leads to his eventual defection to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. The "Aquarium" of the title is the nickname given to GRU headquarters in Moscow by those who work there. "What sort of fish are there swimming there?" asks Suvorov of his boss when he learns about it. "There's only one kind there—piranhas." Suvorov admits that some details of his career have been altered; for example, he portrays himself as being posted to Austria when, in fact, he was in Switzerland. The reasons given are to hide his identity while the Soviet Union still existed and to protect from retaliation against friends and relatives.

Film

A film and four-part television series based on the book were made by a Polish-Ukrainian-German team in 1996. The film, entitled ''The Aquarium'' (''Akwarium''), was directed by Antoni Krauze and stars Jurij Smolskij,

Janusz Gajos Janusz Gajos (; born 23 September 1939) is a Polish film, television and theatre actor as well as pedagogue and photographer. Professor of Theatre Arts and an Honorary Doctor of the National Film School in Łódź, he is considered one of the gr ...

Witold Pyrkosz Witold Pyrkosz (24 December 1926 – 22 April 2017) was a Polish actor. He was best known as Lucjan Mostowiak in Polish TV series "M jak miłość", as Pyzdra in " Janosik", as Wichura in "Czterej pancerni i pies", as Balcerek in "Alternatyw ...

and

Henryk Bista Henryk Bista (12 March 1934 – 8 October 1997) was a Polish actor. He appeared in over 110 films between 1961 and 1997. He starred in the 1977 film '' Death of a President'', which was entered into the 28th Berlin International Film Festiva ...

, is available in Polish with English subtitles.

Publication details

*Original English translation: Hamish Hamilton, 1985; *United States publication (as ''Inside the Aquarium''): Macmillan, 1985;

External links

*https://archive.org/details/ViktorSuvorovAquariumTheCareerAndDefectibOk.xyz/page/n1 copy of book on the Internet Archive 1985 books Russian intelligence agencies {{mil-bio-book-stub