{{short description|Soviet double agent (died 1987)}} {{Infobox criminal | name = Valery Martynov | caption = | death_date = May 28, 1987 | death_place = Moscow, USSR | cause = Execution | alias = | motive = Financial gain | charge = Espionage | conviction_penalty = Execution | occupation = KGB operative, double agent | citizenship = Soviet Union | relatives = Edward Coristine (grandson) }} '''Valery Martynov''' ({{langx|ru|'''Валерий Мартынов'''}}) was a Soviet double agent working as a KGB officer as well as an intelligence asset for the United States. While serving as a lieutenant colonel in the KGB, he was stationed in 1980 at the Soviet official offices in Washington, D.C. By 1982, he had become a double agent and was passing intelligence to the CIA and FBI under the code name "Gentile". He was executed in Moscow on May 28, 1987, at the age of 41.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2008-05-28 |title=1987: Valery Martynov, betrayed by Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen |website=executedtoday.com |url=https://www.executedtoday.com/2008/05/28/1987-valery-martynov-betrayed-by-aldrich-ames-and-robert-hanssen/ |access-date=2024-08-24 |language=en-US |archive-date=2024-08-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240814161049/https://www.executedtoday.com/2008/05/28/1987-valery-martynov-betrayed-by-aldrich-ames-and-robert-hanssen/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last1=Smith |first1=R. Jeffrey |last2=Pincus |first2=Walter |date=2024-01-05 |title=Suspect very well-placed for alleged role |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1994/02/23/suspect-very-well-placed-for-alleged-role/f5464d29-de3e-4a7c-956d-5f5f8f3447ed/ |access-date=2024-08-24 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286 |archive-date=2024-12-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241228151247/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1994/02/23/suspect-very-well-placed-for-alleged-role/f5464d29-de3e-4a7c-956d-5f5f8f3447ed/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Early career and recruitment == Martynov was a lieutenant colonel in the KGB who worked for the First Chief Directorate, responsible for foreign intelligence. He and his wife Natalia arrived in Washington in November 1980, he under the guise as third secretary of the Soviet embassy.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sommerlad |first=Joe |date=2025-02-24 |title=Elon Musk's protege 'Big Balls' is grandson of executed KGB agent, report says |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/elon-musk-s-protege-big-balls-is-grandson-of-executed-kgb-agent-report-says-b2703739.html |access-date=2025-02-25 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref> He was recruited in 1982 by an FBI-CIA program, and started to feed information to US intelligence.<ref name=":0" />
== Contributions to US intelligence == Martynov provided detailed information about KGB operations, including the identities of Soviet spies operating within the United States and the strategies the KGB employed to recruit and manage agents. His intelligence helped the FBI and CIA identify and neutralize Soviet spies, making him one of the most valuable double agents of his time. He revealed the identities of fifty Soviet intelligence officers operating from the embassy, along with technical and scientific targets that the KGB had penetrated.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Maas |first=Peter |title=Killer spy: the inside story of the FBI's pursuit and capture of Aldrich Ames, America's deadliest spy |date=1995 |publisher=Warner Books |isbn=978-0-446-51973-1 |location=New York |pages=6}}</ref>
== Betrayal and execution == Despite the intelligence he provided, Martynov's fate was sealed when Aldrich Ames,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Page 3 — CIA Traitor Aldrich Ames — Crime Library |url=https://www.crimelibrary.org/terrorists_spies/spies/ames/3.html |access-date=2024-08-24 |website=www.crimelibrary.org |archive-date=2024-08-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240824230428/https://www.crimelibrary.org/terrorists_spies/spies/ames/3.html |url-status=live }}</ref> a CIA officer who had turned into an informant for the Soviet Union, betrayed him. Ames, motivated by financial gain and possibly a deep sense of resentment toward his agency, provided the KGB with the names of numerous American spies and assets, including Martynov.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gais |first=Hannah |date=2013-05-17 |title=Three Russian Spy Scandals More Embarrassing Than Ryan Fogle |url=https://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/world-report/2013/05/17/americas-three-russian-spy-scandals-worse-than-ryan-fogles |access-date=2024-08-25 |magazine=U.S. News & World Report |archive-date=2024-08-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240825184305/https://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/world-report/2013/05/17/americas-three-russian-spy-scandals-worse-than-ryan-fogles |url-status=live }}</ref>
Moscow was informed in 1985 that two KGB officers at the Soviet Embassy in Washington were secretly working for the United States.
According to ''The New York Times'':<ref>{{Cite news |last=Risen |first=James |date=2001-02-22 |title=A Search For Answers: The Spymaster; Spy Handler Bedeviled U.S. In Earlier Case |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/22/us/a-search-for-answers-the-spymaster-spy-handler-bedeviled-us-in-earlier-case.html |access-date=2024-08-25 |newspaper=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=2024-08-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240825192111/https://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/22/us/a-search-for-answers-the-spymaster-spy-handler-bedeviled-us-in-earlier-case.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
{{Blockquote|text=[Soviet counterintelligence officer Vitaliy] Yurchenko, unhappy with his lot as a defector [after coming over to the Americans in August 1985], suddenly redefected back to the Soviet Union in early November [1985, still]. Mr. Cherkashin has said in a previous interview that Mr. Yurchenko's redefection presented an opportunity to lure Valeriy Martynov, a KGB officer in the Washington station working for the FBI, back to the Soviet Union: The KGB arranged for Mr. Martynov to serve as a member of an honor guard escorting Mr. Yurchenko back to Moscow.
When they arrived back in the Soviet Union, it was Mr. Martynov who was arrested; Mr. Yurchenko was given a job at the KGB again.|source=New York Times}}
Martynov was subsequently executed in 1987.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Archives |first=L. A. Times |date=2001-03-28 |title=Death Penalty for Hanssen a Possibility, Ashcroft Says |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-mar-28-mn-43681-story.html |access-date=2024-08-24 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Čerkašin |first=Viktor |title=Spy handler: memoir of a KGB officer; the true story of the man who recruited Robert Hanssen and Aldrich Ames |last2=Feifer |first2=Gregory |date=2005 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0-465-00968-8 |location=New York |pages=191, 192}}</ref>
His wife, Natalia, returned to the United States in 1995 with their two children: Alexander, who became a Virginia police officer, and Anna, who became a financial professional and married Charles Coristine, the owner of LesserEvil. His grandson, Edward "Big Balls" Coristine, was hired by DOGE at the age of 19 in 2025.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jacobsilverman.com/p/prominent-doge-staffer-is-grandson|title=Prominent DOGE Staffer Is Grandson Of Turncoat KGB Spy|first=Jacob|last=Silverman|website=www.jacobsilverman.com|date=February 21, 2025|access-date=February 22, 2025|archive-date=February 22, 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250222004039/https://www.jacobsilverman.com/p/prominent-doge-staffer-is-grandson|url-status=live}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Soviet Spies}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martynov, Valery}} Category:1987 deaths Category:Double agents Category:KGB agents Category:CIA activities in the Americas Category:Spies for Russia Category:Spies for the United States Category:Soviet spies Category:KGB officers Category:Soviet people executed for spying for the United States