German Ugryumov
Encyclopedia
Astrakhan
Astrakhan is a major city in southern European Russia and the administrative center of Astrakhan Oblast. The city lies on the left bank of the Volga River, close to where it discharges into the Caspian Sea at an altitude of below the sea level. Population:...
, Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
– May 31, 2001, Khankala
Khankala
Khankala is a settlement in Groznensky District of the Chechen Republic, Russia, located to the east of Grozny, the republic's capital. Population:...
, Chechnya
Chechnya
The Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
) was a Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and Russian navy and security services official. During his childhood he lived in Chelyabinsk Oblast
Chelyabinsk Oblast
-External links:*...
.
Naval counterintelligence career
Ugryumov graduated in 1972 from the Caspian Navy Higher School in BakuBaku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
, and in 1975 he joined the KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
. In 1976, he graduated from the Counterintelligence Higher School in Novosibirsk
Novosibirsk
Novosibirsk is the third-largest city in Russia, after Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and the largest city of Siberia, with a population of 1,473,737 . It is the administrative center of Novosibirsk Oblast as well as of the Siberian Federal District...
. He worked for the Caspian Fleet counterintelligence unit in Baku until 1992, and worked in Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
during the Black January
Black January
Black January , also known as Black Saturday or the January Massacre, was a violent crackdown of the Azerbaijani independence movement in Baku on January 19–20, 1990, pursuant to a state of emergency during the dissolution of the Soviet Union....
of 1990. From 1992 to 1993 he led the Black Sea Fleet
Black Sea Fleet
The Black Sea Fleet is a large operational-strategic sub-unit of the Russian Navy, operating in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea since the late 18th century. It is based in various harbors of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov....
counterintelligence unit in Novorossiysk
Novorossiysk
Novorossiysk is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia. It is the country's main port on the Black Sea and the leading Russian port for importing grain. It is one of the few cities honored with the title of the Hero City. Population: -History:...
.
In 1993, he became the chief of Pacific Fleet FSB counterintelligence. While in this post, he initiated the prosecution of journalist Captain Grigory Pasko
Grigory Pasko
Grigory Mikhailovich Pasko is a Russian journalist and publisher of an environmental magazine.-Life:Pasko was born in the village Kreshchenovka of the Kherson Oblast, currently Ukraine, to a teacher's family...
on charges of the collection and storage of allegedly classified documents of the Pacific Fleet, as well as their transfer to the Japanese NHK
NHK
NHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee....
TV company and Asahi Shimbun
Asahi Shimbun
The is the second most circulated out of the five national newspapers in Japan. Its circulation, which was 7.96 million for its morning edition and 3.1 million for its evening edition as of June 2010, was second behind that of Yomiuri Shimbun...
newspaper. Pasko was arrested in Vladivostok
Vladivostok
The city is located in the southern extremity of Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, which is about 30 km long and approximately 12 km wide.The highest point is Mount Kholodilnik, the height of which is 257 m...
on November 20, 1997, as soon as he had returned from a trip to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Pasko insisted that he had only transferred public documents on ecology and that the case had been fabricated by the FSB. He was found not guilty by a court in 2000, but the decision was later overturned and on December 25, 2001, Pasko was sentenced to four years imprisonment. Ugryumov had already died by the time of Pasko's sentence.
Second Chechen War
In 1998, the new FSB Director, Vladimir PutinVladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
, promoted Ugryumov to deputy chief of the Military Counterintelligence Directorate of the FSB for the Navy. In 1999, he was appointed first deputy chief of the FSB Department for Protection of the Constitutional System and the Fight against Terrorism. From November 1999 until his death he led the department and supervised the FSB Special-Purpose Center that included the Alpha Group
Alpha Group
The Alpha Group , is an elite component of Russia's Spetsnaz as well as the dedicated counter-terrorism unit of the Federal Security Service...
and Vympel
Vympel
Vympel , also known as KGB Directorate "B" ,Vega Group or Spetsgruppa V, Group B is a Russian special forces unit....
spetsnaz
Spetsnaz
Spetsnaz, Specnaz tr: Voyska specialnogo naznacheniya; ) is an umbrella term for any special forces in Russian, literally "force of special purpose"...
units. Ugryumov masterminded the arrest of Chechen warlord Salman Raduev in March 2000. In September 2000, Ugryumov and Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Kozlov managed the resolution of a hostage crisis in Lazarevskoye near Sochi
Sochi
Sochi is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated just north of Russia's border with the de facto independent republic of Abkhazia, on the Black Sea coast. Greater Sochi sprawls for along the shores of the Black Sea near the Caucasus Mountains...
. On December 20, 2000, President Putin awarded Ugryumov the Hero of Russia title for his leadership of a series of special operations conducted during the Second Chechen War
Second Chechen War
The Second Chechen War, in a later phase better known as the War in the North Caucasus, was launched by the Russian Federation starting 26 August 1999, in response to the Invasion of Dagestan by the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade ....
.
On January 21, 2001, Putin transferred the supervision of military operations in Chechnya
Chechnya
The Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...
from the Interior Ministry and military to the FSB, and placed Ugryumov in charge of the "liquidation of the leaders of terrorist groups" as head of the regional counter-terrorist staff. According to the St Petersburg Times, this wasthe first time in the history of Russia that the security services had been given control of a military operation. In spring 2001, Ugryumov was promoted from rear admiral
Rear Admiral
Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. It is generally regarded as the lowest of the "admiral" ranks, which are also sometimes referred to as "flag officers" or "flag ranks"...
to admiral
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...
.
Death and legacy
Khankala
Khankala is a settlement in Groznensky District of the Chechen Republic, Russia, located to the east of Grozny, the republic's capital. Population:...
, the main Russian military base in Chechnya. According to the official version, he died of acute heart failure. He was a seriously overweight
Obesity
Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...
man, reportedly weighting 140 kilograms, which had probably contributed greatly to his health deterioration. However, Grigory Pasko speculated that Ugryumov's death might have been murder, and some undisclosed FSB sources informed Alexander Korzhakov
Alexander Korzhakov
Alexander Vasilyevich Korzhakov , was a KGB general who served as Boris Yeltsin's bodyguard, confidant, and adviser for 11 years. Member of State Duma at 1997. He was the head of the Presidential Security Service in 1993-1996, State Duma deputy, and retired Lieutenant-general...
's "Stringer" website that Ugryumov had shot himself.
On September 5, 2001, the Yakhont/Sonya class minesweeper
Minesweeper (ship)
A minesweeper is a small naval warship designed to counter the threat posed by naval mines. Minesweepers generally detect then neutralize mines in advance of other naval operations.-History:...
BT 244 of the Russian Caspian
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of and a volume of...
Fleet was renamed in his honor. Vyacheslav Morozov, a friend and colleague of Ugryumov, subsequently published a biography of Ugryumov entitled The FSB Admiral.
On December 9, 2002, Novaya Gazeta
Novaya Gazeta
Novaya Gazeta is a Russian newspaper well known in the country for its critical and investigative coverage of Russian political and social affairs....
published an open letter from Yusuf Krymshamkhalov and Timur Batchaev, Karachai suspects in the 1999 apartment blocks bombings
Russian apartment bombings
The Russian apartment bombings were a series of explosions that hit four apartment blocks in the Russian cities of Buynaksk, Moscow, and Volgodonsk in September 1999, killing 293 people and injuring 651. The explosions occurred in Buynaksk on 4 September, Moscow on 9 and 13 September, and...
in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
and Volgodonsk
Volgodonsk
Volgodonsk is a city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located in the eastern part of the oblast on the west bank of the Tsimlyansk Reservoir. Population: 28,000 .-History:...
, to the commission for investigation of this event. In the letter, they claimed that Ugryumov had supervised the bombing campaign on behalf of the FSB, and included an interview with one of main proponents of this theory, historian Yury Felshtinsky. Felshtinsky had passed the letter to the newspaper, and alleged that Ugryumov had committed suicide, possibly under pressure from the FSB.