Yuri Borysovych Shvets (Russian: Юрий Борисович Швец, Ukrainian: Юрій Борисович Швець, 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]
Shvets reportedly recruited two key sources of political intelligence whom he referred to as "Sputnitsa", a journalist working in Washington, and "Socrates", a former aide to President Jimmy Carter with strong ties to Greece. In his 2005 book Spy Handler: Memoir of a KGB Officer, Victor Cherkashin alleges that "Socrates" was John Helmer[6] and Sputnitsa the late New Statesman journalist Claudia Wright.[7]
Move to America
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 book American Kompromat by Craig Unger.[3][8]
Involvement with Alexander Litvinenko
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.[9] 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.[10]
Soviet Union