Yuri Shvets

Yuri Shvets
Юрій Швець
Born	(1953-05-16) 16 May 1953 (age 71) Kharkiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine)[1]
Citizenship	American
Alma mater	Patrice Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University Academy of Foreign Intelligence
Espionage activity
Allegiance	Soviet Union
Agency	KGB
Service years	1980–1990
Rank	Major
Other work	His YouTube channel

Yuri Borysovych Shvets^[a] (born 16 May 1953) is a former Soviet intelligence officer of Ukrainian origin. He was a Major in the KGB between 1980 and 1990. From April 1985 to 1987, he was a resident spy in Washington, D.C.^[2] While there, he held a cover job as a correspondent for TASS, a Soviet state-owned news agency.^[3] He headed the KGB counterintelligence department for countries in North America and he left the KGB in September 1990.^[4]

Shvets graduated in international law from the Patrice Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University (now the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia). He also graduated from the Academy of Foreign Intelligence,^[5] where he purportedly studied alongside Vladimir Putin,^[4] a fact that is disputed.^[6]

In his book, Shvets alleges he had recruited two key sources of political intelligence — "Socrates", a former aide to President Jimmy Carter with strong ties to Greece, and his wife "Sputnitsa" (Russian: Спутница, lit. 'companion'), a journalist working in Washington.^[7] Some of these details were called into question.^[7] Later, on "60 Minutes", Shvets had identified Socrates as John Helmer, an Australian-born journalist, who denied being Socrates.^[7]

Victor Cherkashin, in his 2005 book Spy Handler: Memoir of a KGB Officer, disputed Shvets' account, saying that he took Shvet off the case of trying to recruit John Helmer early on because of complaints from informants and Helmer himself about Shvets' drunken, rude, and "out of control" behavior. Although attempts to recruit Helmer continued with another agent, they were soon called off because Helmer was deemed "not a good prospect for recruitment". Cherkashin further reports that the revelation in Shvets' book greatly upset Helmer, whom he later personally assured that he was never considered an agent or a target.^[8]

The book goes on to say that Shvets had previously faced dismissal for his alcohol problems before he tried to recruit John Helmer. However, he was given another opportunity by Cherkashin, who became his handler. Shvets' subsequent alcohol-related incidents, both during his attempt to recruit Helmer and in a later incident, ultimately led Cherkashin to recommend that Shvets resign from the KGB, which he did shortly thereafter.^[8]

After publishing a book describing his exploits and ultimate falling out with the KGB, Shvets was banned from foreign travel. In 1993, he moved permanently to the United States, where he later gained citizenship.^[3]

Shvets was a key source for the 2021 book American Kompromat by Craig Unger,^[3][9] which details Shvets' accusation that Donald Trump is a Soviet, and later Russian, asset.^[10]

In 2006, Shvets emerged as a potentially key witness in the poisoning of ex-Federal Security Service officer Alexander Litvinenko. In an interview with the BBC, broadcast on 16 December 2006, Shvets said that he and Litvinenko had compiled a report investigating the activities of senior Kremlin officials on behalf of a British company looking to invest "dozens of millions of dollars" in a project in Russia. Shvets said the dossier about Sergei Ivanov was so incriminating, it was likely that Litvinenko was murdered because of it.^[11] He said that Litvinenko had shown the dossier to another business associate, Andrei Lugovoi, who had worked for the FSB and had passed the dossier to his superiors in Moscow. Shvets was interviewed about it by Scotland Yard detectives investigating Litvinenko's murder.^[12]

• His YouTube channel
• Booknotes interview with Shvets on Washington Station: My Life as a KGB Spy in America, 18 June 1995.