Aleksandr Semyonovich Feklisov (Russian: Александр Семёнович Феклисов; 9 March 1914 – 26 October 2007) was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

spy, the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

Case Officer who handled Julius Rosenberg and

Klaus Fuchs Klaus Emil Julius Fuchs (29 December 1911 – 28 January 1988) was a German theoretical physicist and atomic spy who supplied information from the American, British, and Canadian Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union during and shortly a ...

, among others.

Life and work

Feklisov was born in a family of railway workers. In 1939 he graduated from the Radio Faculty of the Moscow Institute of Communications, and shortly after that was sent to a training school of the

Main Directorate of State Security The Main Directorate of State Security (, Главное управление государственной безопасности, ГУГБ, GUGB) was the name of the Soviet Union, Soviet Union's most important security body within the People ...

, where he specialized in the United States. From 1941 to 1946 Feklisov worked out of the

consulate A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth countries, a ...

office in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, first as a radio operator and then as a field officer. His supervisor was Senior

Case officer Anatoli Yatskov (alias Yakovlev). Part of Feklisov's duties included recruiting

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...

agent prospects from those sympathetic to the Communist Party of the United States and its auxiliary secret apparatus. Rosenberg was among these recruits. In the period from 1943 to 1946, Feklisov reported at least 50 meetings with Rosenberg. He stated that Rosenberg provided important top secret information about electronics and helped organize an industrial espionage ring for

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, but "didn't understand anything about the atom bomb." Feklisov stated that Ethel Rosenberg, as a "probationer", did not meet directly with her Soviet agent handler. He also said she "had nothing to do with this" and was "completely innocent." Feklisov once wrote that Julius Rosenberg was the only agent that he viewed as a close friend. He, in response, told Feklisov that their meetings were “among the happiest moments of my life.” Feklisov was also the Case Officer for Joel Barr and Alfred Sarant, two other members of the Soviet Atomic Spy Ring. In April 1950 Feklisov returned to the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Feklisov was transferred back to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and became the

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Rezident A resident spy in the world of espionage is an agent operating within a foreign country for extended periods of time. A base of operations within a foreign country with which a resident spy may liaise is known as a "station" in English and a (, 'r ...

'', or

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

Station Chief, from 1960 to 1964. His cover name at that time was Aleksandr Fomin. As PGU KGB ''Rezident'', Feklisov (Fomin) proposed what became the basis for resolving the

Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis () in Cuba, or the Caribbean Crisis (), was a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of Nuclear weapons d ...

: removing

missile A missile is an airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight aided usually by a propellant, jet engine or rocket motor. Historically, 'missile' referred to any projectile that is thrown, shot or propelled towards a target; this ...

s from

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

in exchange for a promise that the United States would not invade the island nation. Feklisov died on 26 October 2007 in Moscow at the age of 93.

Legacy

Feklisov was portrayed by

Harris Yulin Harris Bart Goldberg (November 5, 1937 – June 10, 2025), known professionally as Harris Yulin, was an American actor who appeared in over a hundred film and television series roles, such as '' Night Moves'' (1975; filmed in 1973) with Gene Hack ...

in the 1974 film '' The Missiles of October'', and by Boris Krutonog in the 2000 film '' Thirteen Days''.

Notes

References

External links

An Interactive Rosenberg Espionage Ring Timeline and Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Feklisov, Aleksandr 1914 births 2007 deaths Espionage in the United States Heroes of the Russian Federation Julius and Ethel Rosenberg KGB officers NKVD officers Soviet spies against the United States Burials in Troyekurovskoye Cemetery

Life and work

Legacy

Notes

See also

References

Further reading

External links