A Russian spy posing as an artist stole hundreds of volumes of top-secret information from NATO and passed them along to Russian operatives, the Kremlin said Tuesday.
Yuri Shevchenko, who died last week at age 82, also stole top-secret information from the White House, FBI, and CIA in a career spanning 32 years.
While working in the West, he was “assigned to control espionage operations at the US president's administration, CIA and FBI, the State Department, and Nato headquarters,” Russian state media channel Sputnik claimed.
Shevchenko also worked in Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
"Shevchenko, indeed, painted beautifully, and understood the history of painting,” reported TV station Zvezda, according to The Sun.
“After all, since school, he had dreamed of building and painting houses and palaces. He graduated from the Moscow Architectural Institute with honors, receiving the Stalin Prize. But he changed his life abruptly in the early 60s, when he met Yuri Drozdov, the future creator of the Vympel special unit and deputy chairman of the KGB.
“Then he realized there was no more important profession than defending the Motherland.”
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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