{{Short description|Russian author, former GRU officer (born 1947)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}} {{family name hatnote|Bogdanovich|Rezun|lang=Eastern Slavic}} {{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] --> | name = Viktor Suvorov | native_name = {{ubl|Владимир Богданович Резун|Виктор Суворов}} | image = Suworow Wiktor.jpg | caption = Suvorov in 2007 | birth_name = Vladimir Bogdanovich Rezun | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1947|4|20}} | birth_place = [[Barabash (rural locality)|Barabash]], Primorsky Krai, Russian SFSR, USSR | occupation = | notableworks = ''[[Aquarium (Suvorov)|Aquarium]]'', ''[[Icebreaker (Suvorov)|Icebreaker]]'' | awards = | spouse = Tatiana Korzh | relatives = }}
'''Vladimir Bogdanovich Rezun''' ({{langx|ru|link=no|Владимир Богданович Резун}}; {{langx|uk|link=no|Володи́мир Богда́нович Рєзу́н}}; born 20 April 1947), known by his pseudonym of '''Viktor Suvorov''' ({{lang|ru|Виктор Суворов}}), is a former [[GRU (Soviet Union)|Soviet GRU]] officer who is the author of [[Nonfiction|non-fiction]] books about [[World War II]], the GRU and the [[Soviet Army]], as well as fictional books about the same and related subjects.
After defecting to the United Kingdom in 1978, Suvorov began his writing career, publishing his first books in the 1980s about his own experiences and the structure of the [[Soviet Armed Forces|Soviet military]], [[Military intelligence|intelligence]], and [[secret police]]. He writes in Russian with a number of his books translated into English, including his semi-autobiographical ''[[The Liberators (Suvorov book)|The Liberators]]'' (1981). In the [[Soviet Union|USSR]], according to Suvorov and according to an [[interview]] with the former head of the GRU, he was [[Capital punishment|sentenced to death]] in absentia.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lurie|first=V. M.|title=GRU: dela i lyudi (GRU: affairs and people)|date=2002|publisher=Neva|others=Kochik V. Ya.|isbn=5-7654-1499-0|location=Sankt-Peterburg|pages=597, 605–606|language=ru|oclc=52074202}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Harding|first=Luke|date=2018-12-29|title='Will they forgive me? No': ex-Soviet spy Viktor Suvorov speaks out|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/29/ex-soviet-spy-viktor-suvorov|access-date=2021-06-15|work=[[The Guardian]]|language=en}}</ref>
In his [[military history]] books, he offers an alternative view of the role of the [[Soviet Union in World War II|USSR in World War II]]; the first and most well-known book on this topic being ''[[Icebreaker (non-fiction book)|Icebreaker: Who started the Second World War?]]''. The proposed concept and the methods of its substantiation have caused [[Soviet offensive plans controversy|numerous discussions and criticism]] in historical and social circles. In ''Icebreaker'', ''M Day'' and several follow-up books Suvorov argued that [[Joseph Stalin]] planned to use [[Nazi Germany]] as a [[Proxy war|proxy]] (the "Icebreaker") against the [[Western world|West]].<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|last=Putintsyeva|first=Alla|date=1 September 2006|title=Виктор Суворов: "За идеи в России сейчас не убивают" (Viktor Suvorov: "People don't kill for ideas in Russia now")|url=http://www.newizv.ru/news/2006-09-01/53116/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070610125823/http://www.newizv.ru/news/2006-09-01/53116/|archive-date=2007-06-10|url-status=live|access-date=15 June 2021|website=Novye Izvestia|language=ru}}</ref> The books are based on his personal analysis of Soviet [[Military budget|military investments]], [[Diplomacy|diplomatic]] maneuvers, [[Politburo]] speeches and other [[circumstantial evidence]].
Suvorov also wrote a number of fiction books about the Soviet Army, military intelligence and the pre-war history of the USSR. The trilogy ''Control'', ''Choice'' and ''Snake-eater'' was a bestseller and was approached for [[Film adaptation|movie adaptations]]. According to ''[[Novye Izvestia]]'', an online newspaper, the circulation of some of Suvorov's books exceeds a million copies.<ref name=":5" />
==Early years== [[File:Барабаш.JPG|thumb|Administration building in [[Barabash (rural locality)|Barabash]].]] Suvorov, born Vladimir Bogdanovich Rezun, comes from a military family of mixed Ukrainian-Russian descent; his father, Bogdan Vasilyevich Rezun, was a veteran of [[Eastern Front (World War II)|WWII]] and a Ukrainian, while his mother Vera Spiridonovna Rezun (Gorevalova) is Russian. According to his own statements, Suvorov considers himself, his wife and children to be Ukrainians. He was born in the village of [[Barabash (rural locality)|Barabash]], Primorsky Krai; raised in Ukraine's [[Cherkasy]], where his father served. The family subsequently settled in [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic]] after his father's retirement.
According to Suvorov, he went to first grade in the village of [[Slavyanka, Primorsky Krai|Slavyanka (Primorsky Territory)]], then studied in the village of Barabash. In 1957, after graduating on four classes, at the age of 11 he entered the [[Suvorov Military School]] in [[Voronezh]] (from 1958 to 1963). In 1963, the school was disbanded, and the students, including Rezun, were transferred to the Kalinin (now [[Tver]]) Suvorov Military School (from 1963 to 1965).<ref name="suvorovrezun" /> In 1965, Rezun graduated from said school and was admitted without examinations to the second year of the Kyiv Higher Combined Arms Command School then named after General [[Mikhail Frunze]] (now [[Odesa Military Academy]]).
== Prague Spring invasion == [[File:10 Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia - Flickr - The Central Intelligence Agency.jpg|thumb|Czechoslovaks carry their national flag past a burning Soviet tank in Prague, August 1968.]] In 1968, Suvorov graduated with honours from the Frunze Red Banner Higher Military Command School in Kyiv. At the same year, he served in [[Chernivtsi]] as a tank platoon commander with the 145th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment, [[22nd Mechanised Brigade (Ukraine)|66th Guards Training Motor Rifle Division]], of the [[Carpathian Military District]] in Ukraine, participating in the [[Warsaw Pact]] invasion of [[Czechoslovakia]], [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia|Operation Danube]]. This experience is narrated in his 1981 book ''The Liberators: My Life in the Soviet Army''.
The book was Suvorov's first after his defection and in it he narrates his eyewitness account of the invasion, recounting the daily life within the [[Soviet Army]]. He points to deficiencies in readiness and in mindset.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Varhall|first1=Gregory|last2=Kenneth M.|first2=Currie|date=1983|title=An Insider's Warning to the West|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lpo_ZclRfhIC&q=Reviews+of+Suvorov+The+Liberators+%281981%29&pg=RA5-PA102|journal=Air University Review|publisher=[[United States Department of the Air Force|US Department of the Air Force]]|volume=35|pages=101–107}}</ref> Suvorov mentions that [[Junior commissioned officer|middle-ranking officers]] struggled to impress their superiors, something that does not contribute to military effectiveness or [[discipline]] – instead fostering on officers a behavior of cunning and [[Deception|deceit]] in order to climb the ranks.
At the age of 19 he was admitted to the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] (CPSU). From 1970 to 1971 he was an [[Intelligence officer|officer in the intelligence]] department of the [[headquarters]] of the [[Volga Military District]] (in the city of [[Samara|Kuibyshev]]), and later with the 808th Independent Army [[Reconnaissance]] Company (''[[Special Forces of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces|Spetsnaz]]''). In 1970 he became a member of the nomenclature ([[nomenklatura]]) of the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Central Committee of the CPSU]]. In this position he came under the [[patronage]] of the commander of the Carpathian Military District, Lieutenant General of Tank Forces (later [[Army General (Soviet rank)|General of the Army]]) [[Gennady Obaturov]]. This general was known for suppressing anti-communist uprisings in [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956|Hungary]] in 1956 and later Czechoslovakia in 1968 with ruthless efficiency, for which Obaturov received the [[Order of the Red Banner]].
== Espionage in Geneva and defection ==
=== Geneva station === From 1971 to 1974, Suvorov studied at the Military Diplomatic Academy,<ref>{{Cite web|script-title=ru:Разведчик – предателю |trans-title=From scout to the traitor|url=http://aravidze.narod.ru/s8/bezr3335.htm|access-date=2021-06-15|website=aravidze.narod.ru|language=ru}}</ref> known as "the Conservatory", located in Moscow. The Academy trained officers for work abroad as intelligence operatives or "scouts" ({{lang|ru-Latn|razvedchiki}} in the Russian language). These worked often "under diplomatic cover" ("jackets", in the jargon of Soviet intelligence operatives), and also as "illegals", meaning intelligence operatives not under diplomatic cover or (quasi-declared) commercial cover.
For four years, Suvorov worked in the Geneva [[GRU (Soviet Union)|GRU]] as an employee of the legal residency of military intelligence under the cover of the Permanent Mission of the USSR at the European [[United Nations Office at Geneva]]. According to the autobiographical book ''[[Aquarium (Suvorov)|Aquarium]]'', he received the rank of major while working in residency. The same title was named in an interview of 1992 with the newspaper {{lang|ru-Latn|[[Krasnaya Zvezda]]}} by then head of the GRU, Colonel general Yevgeny Timokhin.
=== Defection === On 10 June 1978 he disappeared from his Geneva apartment with his wife and two children. According to Suvorov himself, he made contact with [[Secret Intelligence Service|British intelligence]] because the Geneva station wanted to make him a "scapegoat" of a major failure. On 28 June 1978 British newspapers{{which?|date=August 2024}} reported that Rezun was in England with his family. At the time, he was married to Tatiana Korzh. The couple had a son, Aleksandr, and a daughter, Oksana. They were smuggled out of Switzerland to Britain by British intelligence. There Suvorov worked as an [[intelligence (information gathering)|intelligence]] analyst for the government and as a lecturer.<ref name="suvorovrezun">[https://web.archive.org/web/20130627164424/http://suvorovrezun.com/biography.html "Виктор Суворов, Биография"]. Internet Archive.</ref><ref>{{cite news |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120912131659/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/3227310/Sir-Dick-Franks.html |archive-date=12 September 2012 |title=Sir Dick Franks: Saboteur with the Special Operations Executive who went on to become Chief of MI6 during the Cold War |type=obituary |newspaper=[[Daily Telegraph]] |date=October 20, 2008 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/3227310/Sir-Dick-Franks.html}} See also: [[Dick Franks]].</ref>
Since 1981, he has been writing under the pseudonym Viktor Suvorov, having written his first three books in English: ''The Liberators'', ''Inside the Soviet Army'', and ''Inside Soviet Military Intelligence''. The author explains the choice of pseudonym by the fact that his publisher recommended that he choose a Russian surname of three syllables, evoking a slight "military" association among Western readers. According to Viktor himself, he teaches [[Military tactics|tactics]] and [[military history]] at a British military academy and lives in [[Bristol]]. He supports [[Ukraine]] in the [[Russo-Ukrainian war]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://rufabula.com/news/2014/08/09/suvorov/|title=Виктор Суворов: Война против Украины — предсмертные судороги тоталитарной империи |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140811162630/http://rufabula.com/news/2014/08/09/suvorov/ |archive-date=11 August 2014 }}</ref>
== Publications == === Non-fiction === Suvorov drew on his experience and research to write non-fiction books in Russian about the Soviet Army, [[GRU (Soviet Union)|military intelligence]], and [[Spetsnaz|special forces]]. He publishes these works under the pseudonym "Viktor Suvorov."
*''[[The Liberators (Suvorov book)|The Liberators]]'',<ref>''[[The Liberators (Suvorov book)|The Liberators]]'', 1981, Hamish Hamilton Ltd, {{ISBN|0-241-10675-3}}</ref> includes his eyewitness account about the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by Soviet forces *''[[Inside the Soviet Army (Suvorov)|Inside the Soviet Army]]'',<ref>''[[Inside the Soviet Army (Suvorov)|Inside the Soviet Army]],'' 1982, Macmillan Publishing Co.</ref> *''Inside Soviet Military Intelligence''<ref>''[http://militera.lib.ru/research/suvorov8/index.html Inside Soviet Military Intelligence]'', 1984, {{ISBN|0-02-615510-9}}</ref> *''[[Aquarium (Suvorov)|Aquarium]]'',<ref>''[[Aquarium (Suvorov)|Aquarium]]'' ({{lang|ru|Аквариум}}), 1985, Hamish Hamilton Ltd, {{ISBN|0-241-11545-0}}</ref> his memoir, and *''Spetsnaz'',<ref>''[http://militera.lib.ru/research/suvorov6/index.html Spetsnaz]. The Story Behind the Soviet SAS'', 1987, Hamish Hamilton Ltd, {{ISBN|0-241-11961-8}}</ref> about Special Forces units
=== Novels === Suvorov also wrote several fiction books set in the pre-World War II era in the Soviet Union. * ''Control'' * ''Choice'' * ''Snake-eater'' (2010) === Movies === Suvorov was in participant the movie [[The Soviet Story]] (2008).
== Works about World War II == {{main|Soviet offensive plans controversy}} Suvorov has written ten books about the outbreak of the Nazi-Soviet War in 1941 and the circumstances related to it. The first such work was ''[[Icebreaker (Suvorov)|Icebreaker]]'' (1989), followed by ''[[M-Day (book)|M Day]]'', ''The Last Republic'', ''Cleansing'', ''[[Suicide (Viktor Suvorov book)|Suicide]]'', ''The Shadow of Victory'', ''I Take it Back'', ''The Last Republic II'', ''The Chief Culprit'', and ''Defeat''.
In the ''Icebreaker'', ''M Day'' and several follow-up books Suvorov argued that [[Stalin]] planned to use [[Nazi Germany]] as a proxy (the “Icebreaker”) against the West. For this reason, Stalin provided significant material and political support to [[Adolf Hitler]], while at the same time preparing the [[Red Army]] to "liberate" the whole of Europe from Nazi occupation. Suvorov argued that Hitler had lost [[World War II]] from the time when he attacked Poland: not only was he going to war with the powerful [[Allies of World War II|Allies]], but it was only a matter of time before the [[Soviet Union]] would seize the opportune moment to attack him from the rear. According to Suvorov, Hitler decided to direct a preemptive strike at the Soviet Union, while Stalin's forces were redeploying from a defensive to an offensive posture in June 1941. Although Hitler had an important initial tactical advantage, that was strategically hopeless because he subjected the Nazis to having to fight on two fronts. At the end of the war, Stalin achieved only some of his initial objectives by establishing Communist regimes in [[Eastern Europe]], China and [[North Korea]]. According to Suvorov, this made Stalin the primary winner of World War II, even though he was not satisfied by the outcome, having intended to establish Soviet domination over the whole continent of Europe.
Most historians agreed that the geopolitical differences between the Soviet Union and the Axis made war inevitable, and that Stalin had made extensive preparations for war and exploited the military conflict in Europe to his advantage. However, there was [[Soviet offensive plans controversy|a debate among historians]] as to whether Joseph Stalin planned to attack Axis forces in Eastern Europe in the summer of 1941. A number of historians, such as [[Gabriel Gorodetsky]] and [[David Glantz]] disputed or rejected this claim.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Pavlova IV Search for the truth about the eve of World War II. // Pravda Viktor Suvorov. Yauza, 2006 352 pp. ISBN 5-87849-214-8}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title=[Alexander Hill]. A companion to international history 1900-2001. John Wiley & Sons, 2007. Chapter 20 Stalin and the West}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Gabriel Gorodetsky . "The Icebreaker Myth": On the Eve of the War - M .: Progress-Academy, 1995. - 352 p.}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite book|title=Colonel David M. Glantz . Fact and Fancy: The Soviet Great Patriotic War, 1941-1945 // Peter B. Lane, Ronald E. Marcello . Warriors and scholars: a modern war reader. University of North Texas Press (English) Russian, 2005}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Müller, Rolf-Dieter|title=Hitler's war in the east, 1941-1945 : a critical assessment|date=2009|publisher=Berghahn|isbn=978-1-84545-501-9|oclc=836636715}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Stahel|first=David|title=Operation Barbarossa and Germany's defeat in the East|date=2009|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-32130-4|location=Cambridge, UK|pages=11|oclc=836870454}}</ref> But it received some support from others, such as [[Valeri Danilov]], [[Joachim Hoffmann]], [[Mikhail Meltyukhov]], and [[Vladimir Nevezhin]].
== Other works ==
=== About the Cold War-era Soviet Union === * ''[[The Liberators (Suvorov book)|The Liberators: My Life in the Soviet Army]]'', 1981, Hamish Hamilton, {{ISBN|0-241-10675-3}} * ''[[Inside the Soviet Army (Suvorov)|Inside the Soviet Army]],'' 1982, Macmillan Publishing. * ''[http://militera.lib.ru/research/suvorov8/ Inside Soviet Military Intelligence]'', 1984, {{ISBN |0-02-615510-9}} * ''[[Aquarium (Suvorov)|Aquarium]]'' ({{lang|ru|Аквариум}}), 1985, Hamish Hamilton, {{ISBN|0-241-11545-0}}, memoir * ''[http://militera.lib.ru/research/suvorov6/ Spetsnaz]. The Story Behind the Soviet SAS'', 1987, Hamish Hamilton, {{ISBN|0-241-11961-8}} * ''Devil's Mother'' ({{lang|bg|Майката на дявола}}), 2011, Sofia, Fakel Express, {{ISBN|978-954-9772-76-0}}
=== About the outbreak of the Nazi-Soviet War === * ''[[Icebreaker (Suvorov)|Icebreaker]]'' ({{lang|ru|Ледокол}}) (1980s), Hamish Hamilton Ltd, {{ISBN|0-241-12622-3}} * ''[[Day "M" (Suvorov)|Day "M"]]'' ({{lang |ru|День "М"}}) * ''Suicide''. For what reason did Hitler attack the Soviet Union? ({{lang|ru|Самоубийство}}), Moscow, ACT, 2000, {{ISBN|5-17-003119-X}} * ''[http://militera.lib.ru/research/suvorov3/ The Last Republic]'', ACT, 1997, {{ASIN|B00271256C}} * ''[http://militera.lib.ru/research/suvorov4/index.html Cleansing]'' ({{lang|ru|Очищение}}). Purification. Why did Stalin behead his army?, Moscow, 2002, {{ISBN|5-17-009254-7}} * ''Last Republic II''. Why did the Soviet Union lose the Second World War? ({{lang|bg|Последната република II}}), Sofia, Fakel Express, 2007, {{ISBN|978-954-9772-51-7}} * ''{{cite book |title=The Chief Culprit: Stalin's Grand Design to Start World War II |url=https://archive.org/details/TheChiefCulpritStalinsGrandDesignToStartWorldWarIi-ViktorSuvorov}}''. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2008 (hardcover, {{ISBN|978-1-59114-838-8}}). * ''Defeat''. Why was the "great victory" worse than any defeat? ({{lang|bg|Разгромът}}), Sofia, Fakel Express, 2009, {{ISBN|978-954-9772-68-5}}
=== About Soviet historical figures === * ''[http://militera.lib.ru/research/suvorov7/index.html Shadow of Victory]'' ({{lang|ru|Тень победы}}), 2003. This questions the status and image of General [[Georgy Zhukov]], known for his defense of the Soviet Union and later victory in the [[Battle of Berlin]]. The first book of a trilogy under the same name. * ''[http://militera.lib.ru/research/suvorov11/index.html I Take It Back]'' ({{lang|ru|Беру свои слова обратно}}), is also about Georgy Zhukov. this is the second book of the "Shadow of Victory" trilogy.
=== Fiction === * ''Control'' ({{lang|ru|Контроль}}), novel * ''Choice'' ({{lang|ru|Выбор}}), novel * ''Snake-eater'' ({{lang|ru|Змееед}}), novel (Sofia, Fakel Express, 2010), {{ISBN|978-954977269-2}}
==See also== * [[Causes of World War II]] * [[List of Eastern Bloc defectors]] * [[Soviet offensive plans controversy]] * [[Soviet–German relations before 1941]]
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20101021213618/http://suvorovrezun.com/ Official website (archived)] * [http://suvorov.com/ Official website] * [http://lib.ru/WSUWOROW/ Online books of Viktor Suvorov (mostly in Russian)] * [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1138297/ Viktor Suvorov] at [[IMDb]] * [https://www.c-span.org/person/?victorsuvorov Appearances by Viktor Suvorov] on [[C-SPAN]] *{{Internet Archive author |sname=Viktor Suvorov}} * {{in lang|en}} [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYSy80WlmWY ''Who Started World War II? – Stalin as a Chief Culprit''.] :: Viktor Suvorov's presentation at the [[U.S. Naval Academy]], Eurasia Forum, in Annapolis, Maryland (October 7, 2009). * {{in lang|en}} [http://www.c-span.org/video/?283856-1/book-discussion-chief-culprit "The Chief Culprit: Stalin's Grand Design to Start World War II."] :: Viktor Suvorov speaks at the [[Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars]] in Washington, D.C. via [[C-SPAN|C-SPAN2]] (February 2009). * {{in lang|ru}} [http://lib.ru/WSUWOROW/ Selection of online books] by Viktor Suvorov and links to related online publications at the [http://www.lib.ru/ Maxim Moshkov's Library] * {{in lang|ru}} [http://militera.lib.ru/research/index.html#s Complete up-to-date collection] of Suvorov's online books (some in English), at [http://militera.lib.ru/ Militera Project] * {{in lang|ru}} [http://plgalaxy.co.uk/suvorov/ Viktor Suvorov, ''Ledokol''], audio book
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Suvorov, Viktor}} [[Category:1947 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:People from Khasansky District]] [[Category:Russian people of Ukrainian descent]] [[Category:Soviet intelligence personnel who defected to the United Kingdom]] [[Category:GRU officers]] [[Category:20th-century Russian writers]] [[Category:21st-century Russian writers]] [[Category:Russian military historians]] [[Category:20th-century pseudonymous writers]] [[Category:21st-century pseudonymous writers]] [[Category:Soviet dissidents]] [[Category:Russian dissidents]] [[Category:Russian activists against the Russian invasion of Ukraine]]