Vadim Viktorovich Bakatin (russian: link=no, Вадим Викторович Бакатин; 6 November 1937 – 31 July 2022) was a Russian politician who served as the last chairman of the
KGB
The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
in 1991. He was the last surviving former chairman of this organization. He was appointed to dismantle the KGB, but he was unable to control this organization and to fulfill the task
Yevgenia Albats
Yevgenia Markovna Albats (russian: Евге́ния Ма́рковна Альба́ц, born 5 September 1958J. Michael Waller. Ibid. He ran for the Russian presidency as an independent candidate in June 1991.
Early life and education
Vadim Bakatin was born in
Kiselyovsk
Kiselyovsk (russian: Киселёвск) is a town in Kemerovo Oblast, Russia, located in the foothill belt of the Salair Ridge, at the source of the Aba River, south of Kemerovo. Population:
The Kuzbass region, where Kiselyovsk is located, s ...
,
Kemerovo Oblast
Kemerovo Oblast — Kuzbass (russian: Ке́меровская о́бласть — Кузба́сс, translit=Kemerovskaya oblast — Kuzbass, ), also known simply as Kemerovo Oblast (russian: Ке́меровская о́бласть, label=non ...
From 1960 to 1971, Bakatin was supervisor, chief engineer, and director of construction works. From 1964 to 1991, he was the member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. From 1986 to 1990, he served as the member of CPSU Central Committee. Bakatin was appointed Minister of Interior of the Soviet Union in 1988, replacing Alexander Vlasov. Bakatin's tenure lasted until 1990. In 1991, he was made the head of KGB. Eventually, he was able to disintegrate the KGB, dismiss Fourth Department of the Chief Directorate "З", Fifth Chief Directorate, the actual political police apparatus that ran the secret informants, political dossiers, and dissident-hunting machinery.
After the disintegration of the KGB, he served as head of the Inter-republican Security Service of the Soviet Union.
Bakatin had been put forth as a candidate for the Communist Party's nomination for the 1990 Soviet Union presidential election. However, he decided not to compete.
In 1991, Vadim Bakatin as Chief of the KGB revealed to the U.S. ambassador
Robert Schwarz Strauss
Robert Schwarz Strauss (October 19, 1918 – March 19, 2014) was an influential figure in American politics, diplomacy, and law whose service dated back to future President Lyndon Johnson's first congressional campaign in 1937. By the 1950s, he ...
to the Soviet Union the methods that had been used to install
covert listening device
A covert listening device, more commonly known as a bug or a wire, is usually a combination of a miniature radio transmitter with a microphone. The use of bugs, called bugging, or wiretapping is a common technique in surveillance, espionage and ...
s in the building that had been intended to replace
Spaso House
Spaso House is a listed Neoclassical Revival building at No. 10 Spasopeskovskaya Square in Moscow. It was originally built in 1913 as the mansion of the textile industrialist Nikolay Vtorov. Since 1933, it has been the residence of the ...
as the American embassy in Moscow. Strauss reported that this revelation was made out of a sense of cooperation and goodwill, with "no strings attached". Bakatin's action was met with harsh criticism, including allegations of treason which were eventually retracted.
In 1992, Bakatin was appointed vice-president and director of the department of political and international relations of the international "Reforma" fund. From 1997 on, Bakatin was a director/advisor of
Baring Vostok
Baring Vostok Capital Partners is the largest independent private equity firm focused on investments in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. The Baring Vostok Private Equity Funds invest across a broad range of industries including ...
Ramazan Abdulatipov
Ramazan Gadzhimuradovich Abdulatipov ( av, Рамазан ГІабдулатІипов; russian: Рамазан Гаджимурадович Абдулатипов; born 4 August 1946) is a Russian politician and professor of Avar heritage. He s ...
. He ultimately placed last in the election out of six candidates, receiving 2,719,757 votes (3.5% of the votes cast).
Personal life
Vadim Bakatin, his grandson, (born 24 June 1998) is an International football player and plays for
AS Monaco FC
Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Frenc ...
.
Bakatin died on 31 July 2022 at a hospital in Moscow, Russia, at the age of 84.