''Aquarium'' (Russian title ''Аквариум'') is a partly-autobiographical description by

Viktor Suvorov Vladimir Bogdanovich Rezun (; ; born 20 April 1947), known by his pseudonym of Viktor Suvorov (), is a former Soviet GRU officer who is the author of non-fiction books about World War II, the GRU and the Soviet Army, as well as fictional books ...

of the

GRU Gru is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the ''Despicable Me'' film series. Gru or GRU may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * Gru (rapper), Serbian rapper * Gru, an antagonist in '' The Kine Saga'' Organizations Georgia (c ...

(Soviet military intelligence directorate). The book was initially released on June 1, 1985, by

Hamish Hamilton Hamish Hamilton Limited is a publishing imprint and originally a British publishing house, founded in 1931 eponymously by the half- Scot half- American Jamie Hamilton (''Hamish'' is the vocative form of the Gaelic Seumas eaning James ''Jame ...

Overview

The account starts in 1969, when Suvorov, as an ordinary tank company commander, is recruited into intelligence analysis by an up-and-coming lieutenant colonel. From there, he transfers to

Spetsnaz SpetsnazThe term is borrowed from rus, спецназ, p=spʲɪtsˈnas; abbreviation for or 'Special Purpose Military Units'; or () are special forces in many post-Soviet states. Historically, this term referred to the Soviet Union's Spet ...

and, from there, into the

. A combination of circumstances leads to his eventual defection to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The "Aquarium" of the title is the nickname given to GRU headquarters in Moscow by those who work there. "What sort of fish are there swimming there?" asks Suvorov of his boss when he learns about it. "There's only one kind there—piranhas." Suvorov admits that some details of his career have been altered; for example, he portrays himself as being posted to Austria when, in fact, he was in Switzerland. The reasons given are to hide his identity while the Soviet Union still existed and to protect from retaliation against friends and relatives.

Film

A film and four-part television series based on the book were made by a Polish-Ukrainian-German team in 1996. The film, entitled ''The Aquarium'' (''Akwarium''), was directed by Antoni Krauze and stars Jurij Smolskij as Suvorov (with his Polish voice track dubbed by Zbigniew Suszyński), with

Janusz Gajos Janusz Gajos (; born 23 September 1939) is a Polish film, television and theatre actor as well as pedagogue and photographer. Professor of Theatre Arts and an Honorary Doctor of the National Film School in Łódź, he is considered one of the ...

Witold Pyrkosz Witold Pyrkosz (24 December 1926 – 22 April 2017) was a Polish actor. He was best known as Lucjan Mostowiak in Polish TV series "M jak miłość", as Pyzdra in "Janosik", as Wichura in "Czterej pancerni i pies", as Balcerek in " Alternatyw ...

and

Henryk Bista Henryk Bista (12 March 1934 – 8 October 1997) was a Polish actor. He appeared in over 110 films between 1961 and 1997. He starred in the 1977 film ''Death of a President (1977 film), Death of a President'', which was entered into the 28th Berl ...

. It is available in Polish with English subtitles. The film was a condensed version of the television series, which consisted of four episodes, and was titled: ''Akwarium, czyli samotność szpiega'' (''Aquarium, or: The Loneliness of the Spy''.)

Publication details

*Original English translation: Hamish Hamilton, 1985; *United States publication (as ''Inside the Aquarium''): Macmillan, 1985; *''Akwarium'', first publication in Poland (following earlier episodic printing in newspapers, and an

underground press The terms underground press or clandestine press refer to periodicals and publications that are produced without official approval, illegally or against the wishes of a dominant (governmental, religious, or institutional) group. In specific rece ...

printing in 1988), vastly expanded in comparison to the English version, and with Suvorov's new afterword: Editions Spotkania, 1990;

External links

*https://archive.org/details/ViktorSuvorovAquariumTheCareerAndDefectibOk.xyz/page/n1 copy of book on the Internet Archive 1985 books Russian intelligence agencies {{mil-bio-book-stub