Arkady Nikolayevich Shevchenko (Ukrainian: Аркадій Миколайович Шевченко October 11, 1930 – February 28, 1998), a Soviet diplomat,
was the highest-ranking Soviet official to defect to the West.
Shevchenko joined the diplomatic service of theSoviet Union as a young man and
rose through the ranks of the Soviet Foreign Ministry, becoming advisor to Andre
Gromyko, Minister for Foreign Affairs. In 1973 he was appointed Under Secretary
General (USG) of the United Nations. During his assignment at the UN headquarters
in New York City Shevchenko began passing Soviet secrets to the CIA. In 1978 he
cut his ties to the Soviet Union and defected to the United States
In 1956 Shevchenko joined the Soviet foreign service as an attaché and was assigned to the OMO (Russian: Отдел Международных Организаций Министерства Иностранных Дел СССР, Department of International Organizations at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the USSR), a branch of the Foreign Ministry dealing with the United Nations and NGOs. In 1958 he was sent toNew York
City on a three month assignment to represent the Soviet
Union at the annual United Nations General Assembly as a
disarmament specialist.
Shevchenko attended the 1962 Geneva Committee on Disarmament Negotiations as a member of the Soviet delegation. The next year he accepted an assignment as Chief of the Soviet Mission's Security Council and Political Affairs Division at the United Nations. This being a permanent posting, his family accompanied him to NYC. He continued in this post until 1970 when he was appointed advisor to Andrei Gromyko. His duties covered a broad range of Soviet foreign policy initiatives.
In 1973 Shevchenko was promoted and became an Under Secretary General of the United Nations. Although he was nominally employed by the United Nations and owed his allegiance to that international organization, in practice he was expected to support and promote the aims and policies of theSoviet Union . He
eventually became resentful of the restrictions that his Soviet superiors
subjected him to which prevented him from carrying out his duties as an Under
Secretary in an unbiased manner.
The early 1970s were a time of détente between the Eastern Bloc and NATO nations. SALT I, the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the Helsinki Accords, and other international agreements were negotiated during this time. According to Shevchenko's memoirs, he became increasingly disillusioned with Soviet compliance with these international agreements. He had immediate access to the inner workings of the Soviet foreign policy establishment and felt that the Soviet government was cheating on the intent of the agreements for short term political gain, ultimately to its own disadvantage. He also came to believe that Soviet internal economic policies and insistence on hard-line Communist centralization of power were depriving the Russian people of their freedom and ability to better themselves and their country. His long years of exposure to Western democracies convinced him that the Soviets were "taking the wrong path", economically and politically. He briefly considered resigning his position with the UN and returning to theSoviet Union in an attempt to
change the system from within, but he soon came to the realization that it
would have been an impossible task. He had neither the power nor the influence
to effect any significant change.
By 1975 he had decided to defect. He made contact with the United States Central Intelligence Agency seeking political asylum. But the CIA pressured him to continue at his post with the United Nations and to supply them with inside information on Soviet political plans. Although fearful of the consequences if he were to be found out by the KGB, he reluctantly agreed. For the next three years, he became in effect a "triple agent". Outwardly, a dedicated servant of the United Nations but covertly promoting the political aims of the USSR and, on top of that, secretly reporting the Soviets’ hidden political agenda to the CIA.
In early 1978 he became aware of increased KGB surveillance of his movements. Then suddenly in March he received a cable fromMoscow summoning him to return to
the Soviet Union for
"consultations". Suspicious of the demand and realizing that if he
flew to Moscow he may never be permitted to
return to his UN duties or even leave the Soviet Union ,
he called his CIA contact and demanded that they fulfill their promise of
political asylum.
Unfortunately for Shevchenko, his wife Leongina, who up until that point knew nothing of his plans to defect, refused to accompany him. She was immediately whisked back toMoscow
From 1978 until his death twenty years later inBethesda , Maryland ,
Shevchenko lived in the United
States
Shevchenko died of cirrhosis of the liver on February 28, 1998, and was buried inWashington , DC
Shevchenko joined the diplomatic service of the
Foreign Service Career
In 1956 Shevchenko joined the Soviet foreign service as an attaché and was assigned to the OMO (Russian: Отдел Международных Организаций Министерства Иностранных Дел СССР, Department of International Organizations at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the USSR), a branch of the Foreign Ministry dealing with the United Nations and NGOs. In 1958 he was sent to
Shevchenko attended the 1962 Geneva Committee on Disarmament Negotiations as a member of the Soviet delegation. The next year he accepted an assignment as Chief of the Soviet Mission's Security Council and Political Affairs Division at the United Nations. This being a permanent posting, his family accompanied him to NYC. He continued in this post until 1970 when he was appointed advisor to Andrei Gromyko. His duties covered a broad range of Soviet foreign policy initiatives.
In 1973 Shevchenko was promoted and became an Under Secretary General of the United Nations. Although he was nominally employed by the United Nations and owed his allegiance to that international organization, in practice he was expected to support and promote the aims and policies of the
Espionage and Defection
The early 1970s were a time of détente between the Eastern Bloc and NATO nations. SALT I, the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the Helsinki Accords, and other international agreements were negotiated during this time. According to Shevchenko's memoirs, he became increasingly disillusioned with Soviet compliance with these international agreements. He had immediate access to the inner workings of the Soviet foreign policy establishment and felt that the Soviet government was cheating on the intent of the agreements for short term political gain, ultimately to its own disadvantage. He also came to believe that Soviet internal economic policies and insistence on hard-line Communist centralization of power were depriving the Russian people of their freedom and ability to better themselves and their country. His long years of exposure to Western democracies convinced him that the Soviets were "taking the wrong path", economically and politically. He briefly considered resigning his position with the UN and returning to the
By 1975 he had decided to defect. He made contact with the United States Central Intelligence Agency seeking political asylum. But the CIA pressured him to continue at his post with the United Nations and to supply them with inside information on Soviet political plans. Although fearful of the consequences if he were to be found out by the KGB, he reluctantly agreed. For the next three years, he became in effect a "triple agent". Outwardly, a dedicated servant of the United Nations but covertly promoting the political aims of the USSR and, on top of that, secretly reporting the Soviets’ hidden political agenda to the CIA.
In early 1978 he became aware of increased KGB surveillance of his movements. Then suddenly in March he received a cable from
Aftermath
Unfortunately for Shevchenko, his wife Leongina, who up until that point knew nothing of his plans to defect, refused to accompany him. She was immediately whisked back to
From 1978 until his death twenty years later in
Shevchenko died of cirrhosis of the liver on February 28, 1998, and was buried in
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