KGB colonels: who they were, what they did and was Putin one of them

Updated October 2026 · Volkov Protocol

In the KGB, colonel was the highest rank below general. The KGB used military ranks (lieutenant, captain, major, lieutenant colonel, colonel and general), and a colonel usually headed a department, a station abroad or a group of agents. Some of the most famous spies of the Cold War held this rank.

What did a KGB colonel do?

It depended on the branch. There were analyst colonels, colonels who ran the station inside an embassy, counterintelligence colonels and colonels who handled the illegals of Directorate S. What they shared was long service and access to state secrets.

Who was Colonel Rudolf Abel?

Abel, real name William Fisher, was an illegal who lived in New York as a photographer. Arrested in 1957 and sentenced to 30 years, he was traded in 1962 for the American pilot Francis Gary Powers. He became known worldwide as Colonel Abel and died in Moscow in 1971 (Britannica).

Who was Colonel Oleg Gordievsky?

Gordievsky was a KGB colonel who secretly passed information to British intelligence from 1974 to 1985. In 1985 he was promoted to head of the KGB station in London, but soon fell under suspicion. On 19 July 1985 he slipped his surveillance and was driven out of the Soviet Union in the boot of a car, across the Finnish border, in Operation Pimlico. He died in March 2025, aged 86.

Who was Vitaly Yurchenko?

Yurchenko, a colonel with about 25 years in the KGB, defected to the United States in August 1985, in Rome. Three months later he walked out of a restaurant in Washington, slipped away from his CIA guards and went back to the Soviet Union. People still argue whether the defection was real or staged.

Was Putin a KGB colonel?

No. Vladimir Putin reached lieutenant colonel. He served with the KGB in Dresden, East Germany, from 1985 to 1990, was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1987 and left the KGB in 1991 with that rank.

Who was above the colonels who ran the illegals?

Major General Yuri Drozdov led Directorate S from 1979 to 1991, the last years of the KGB. He stood above the officers who handled the illegals spread across the West.

Who is the colonel of the Volkov Protocol?

Volkov is the codename of a colonel who trained men on the other side of the Iron Curtain, according to the story of the Volkov Protocol. The real names were never revealed, to protect the family. The protocol is on the home page.