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| Russian Intelligence General Lev Sotskov |
International Military - Retired Russian intelligence officer, Lev Sotskov, was found dead in his Moscow apartment. Police said initial information indicated the 90-year-old retired major general used a gun he received as a gift from his Mongolian comrades to kill himself.
Russian media reported, citing police sources, that Sotskov's body was found by his wife around noon on Wednesday, in the bathroom of their apartment southwest of Moscow.
He had a gunshot wound to his head. "According to preliminary information, the cause of death was suicide," the police told the media as quoted by Russia Today, Thursday (16/6/2022).
Next to Sotskov is a Tokarev TT-30 semi-automatic pistol, along with a note explaining where it came from. “The gun is a relic of the battle on the Khalkhin-Gol River. I received it when I was an envoy for the Mongolian secret service, on the 500th anniversary of Ulan-Bator, in 1989. - L. Sotskov,” the note reads.
The Kommersant newspaper reported the veteran had a number of serious medical conditions and had repeatedly told relatives he was "tired of living." Born in Leningrad in 1932, Sotskov joined the KGB in 1959, spending more than 40 years in foreign and central intelligence of the Soviet Union and later Russia. The KGB's First Main Directorate was replaced by the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) in 1991.
Unfortunately, a major general and a worthy veteran of the Foreign Intelligence Service, has died, said Sergey Ivanov, head of the SVR press office, describing Sotskov's death as a "personal tragedy" for the service. After his retirement, Sotskov dedicated himself to history, combing the SVR archives to write several books on the work of the intelligence services.
He received a special SVR prize in 2006, for his book 'Operation Tarantula' which details Soviet intelligence activities targeting British politicians and spies between 1930 and 1945.
Sotskov has also published documents showing that the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 by Nazi Germany was as unexpected as official history at the time maintains.