Vadim Kirpichenko

Vadim Kirpichenko
Born	(1922-09-25)25 September 1922 Kursk, Kursk Oblast, Russian SFSR, USSR
Died	3 December 2005(2005-12-03) (aged 83)
Allegiance	Soviet Union  Russia
Service/branch	KGB Foreign Intelligence Service
Rank	General Lieutenant
Commands held	Specialists in Afghanistan in 1979
Battles/wars	Second World War Operation Storm-333
Awards	Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" Fourth Class Order of Lenin Order of the October Revolution Order of the Red Banner (twice) Order of the Patriotic War First Class Order of the Red Star Order of the Badge of Honour Medal "For Courage"
Spouse(s)	Valeriya Kirpichenko
Children	Sergei Kirpichenko

Vadim Alekseyevich Kirpichenko (Russian: Вадим Алексеевич Кирпиченко, 25 September 1922 – 3 December 2005) was a Russian officer of the First Chief Directorate of the KGB and its successor, the Foreign Intelligence Service. He served as resident in various countries and rose to First Deputy Head of the First Chief Directorate with the rank of General Lieutenant.

Born in 1922, Kirpichenko initially trained to be a pilot, but with the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, he enlisted in the Red Army and served in Eastern and Central Europe during the closing stages of the war. Demobilised in 1946, he undertook studies at the Arab branch of the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies, and was then recruited into intelligence work with the KGB's First Chief Directorate. He began his overseas postings with a period in Egypt as the KGB's deputy resident. This came during the early administration of Gamal Abdel Nasser, and Kirpichenko worked to gather information on its intentions. He passed information back to Moscow during the Suez Crisis in 1956, and worked to establish diplomatic relations with Yemen, before being recalled to the USSR in 1960. He returned to overseas postings in 1962 as resident in Tunisia, with a further period in the USSR between 1964 and 1970, serving as head of the African Department of the First Chief Directorate from 1967. Kirpichenko returned to Egypt in 1970 as resident, and served during the Yom Kippur War. He warned Moscow that Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was planning to reorient his foreign policy away from the Soviet Union and towards the USA. His predictions were unwelcome to the Soviet leadership, but were ultimately proved accurate.

On Kirpichenko's return to the USSR in 1974 he was appointed deputy head of the First Chief Directorate and placed in charge of Department "S", illegal KGB intelligence gathering [ru], and in 1979 he became First Deputy Head of the First Chief Directorate, a post he would hold for the remainder of the existence of the Soviet Union. In late 1979 he was sent to Afghanistan to direct KGB operations surrounding Operation Storm-333, and the beginning of Soviet intervention in the country. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Kirpichenko became head of a group of consultants under the director of one of the KGB's successors, the Foreign Intelligence Service. After retiring in 1997, he worked with others on a six-volume history of Russian intelligence, wrote two books of his own, and lectured widely on intelligence matters. Over the course of his career he received 54 awards from the Soviet, Russian and foreign governments. He died in 2005, survived by his wife, Valeriya Nikolaevna, an academic specialising in Arabic literature. Their son, Sergei Vadimovich, was a prominent diplomat in the Arab world, serving as ambassador to several Middle Eastern countries, including to Egypt, where his father had served as KGB resident for a number of years.