Legendary scout Gevork Vartanyan dies
On the first working day of January, the life path of the legendary scout Gevorg Andreevich Vartanyan was cut short. An experienced intelligence officer, awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, died in one of the chambers of the Botkin Hospital in the capital of Russia. Vartanian’s hard life began in Rostov-on-Don in the distant 1924 year, in mid-February. His father, Andrei Vartanyan, worked for the intelligence services of the USSR, which ultimately influenced the decision of the young Gevorg to become a scout. The professional activities of this great patriot began in Tehran in 16 years without any prior training. The entire science of intelligence activities in the territory of a foreign state Vartanyan comprehended independently, directly in practice. Leadership helped him form his own team of local teens. Thanks to his authority, Gevork Andreevich established the strictest discipline and subordination. Working under the secret pseudonym "Amir", Gevork Andreevich did not expect that after so many years the secret would be made public and the fame would find its hero. During the period of operation, a group of underage patriots exposed more than four hundred foreign saboteurs, spies, and also political enemies of the USSR. I. Agayants had a great influence on the character and views of Vartanian.In many ways, the success of Vartanian was provided by his father, who provided excellent cover. Andrey Vasilyevich had Iranian citizenship and occupied an important place in economic circles, since he supplied the tables of Iranians with traditional sweets. The successful business of the elder Vartanian allowed suspicion to be withdrawn from his son and also finance all intelligence activities. Money from the Center was raised in exceptional cases, since the famous confectioner and the “capitalist” lived according to the principle “everything for the Fatherland”. The entire amount of income was exclusively for the benefit of the Motherland, and only a small part was used to support the family.
It was at the earliest period of his professional career that the elusive Amir met his future wife. Gohar first saw Vartanian in 13 years and, according to her, immediately felt affection for this intelligent, serious and reliable person. As a real loving woman and devoted friend Gohar shared with her husband all the burdens of conspiracy, for which she was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. In an interview with 2009, the correspondent of the newspaper "Krasnaya Zvezda" Goar Levonovna admits that despite the severity of the life of a secret agent that she led from an early age, she does not regret anything and is happy with her Amir. Her reviews about her husband are very respectful and carry a touch of warmth and love. Gohar Vartanian focuses the attention of the journalist on the fact that the marriage was concluded solely by mutual arrangement, and not from a sense of necessity and duty to the Fatherland. A unique married couple for their lives several times registered their relationship. The first marriage of Vartanians took place in Tehran before returning to the USSR, then there were registrations in the Soviet civilian registry offices, as well as in foreign countries in accordance with the legends. The joint life of the spouses of secret agents has an experience of more than 60 years.
The merits of the Vartanyan’s homeland will never be made public, since most of the tasks they performed are under the heading “Top Secret” and are classified as state secrets. The most famous professional achievement of Amir was the prevention of sabotage by the Nazis to disrupt the Tehran meeting of Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill. A landed group of experienced German agents was discovered and arrested thanks to the prompt and competent actions of the group, led by nineteen-year-old Amir. In his memoirs about the famous operation, Goar Levonovna says that, despite the availability of information about the arrival of a group of fascist saboteurs in Tehran, they had to search for them for a very long time. Only the stamina, resourcefulness and perseverance of the members of the Vartanyan team, who explored the streets for 15-16 hours for several days in a row, prevented the breakdown of the conference and saved the lives of the three heads of the great powers. The feat of 1943 was clearly reflected in the feature film "Tehran-43", which was ambiguously evaluated by the hero himself. Vartanyan restrainedly commented on the picture and noted its low reliability, due to the fact that the life of a scout is far from direct skirmishes and chases. The heroism of a true patriot lies in the ability to ensure the adversary’s ignorance of his presence and intentions, and not in heated fights and victories. According to Gevork Andreyevich, a scout ceases to be such from the moment of the first shot, therefore documented reliability and historical the value of the film is not too great.
Among the declassified operations, Vartanian’s work with an English special school in Iran is also interesting. Despite allied relations, during the war, Great Britain did not stop intelligence activities in the USSR, for which a secret unit was created to recruit and train young people in Tehran. The institution attracted Armenians, Tajiks, and Russians to work in the USSR as secret agents in favor of Great Britain, and conducted their high-quality professional training. Vartanyan also performed as a recruited person. During the period of work under the pseudonym Amir, the Russian intelligence officer not only received all the information about graduates, which in itself thwarted British plans to organize a professional intelligence network in the vast Soviet state, but also gained knowledge about the techniques and methods of working undercover. Vartanian turned out to be a very diligent student, using the English experience of the intelligence services, he was never discovered and declassified, and all the operations assigned to him by the leadership of the country were successfully completed. The information provided by Gevork Andreevich was enough to completely block the work of the English special schools in Iran, with the result that the British finally abandoned their perfidious plans.
It is also known that in the early period of their professional activities, the Vartanian group blocked the work of fascist spies in Iran and did not allow for a military coup, which provided the USSR with a significant strategic advantage during the Great Patriotic War. Today, only a few secrets of the secret life of this amazing person are revealed, but even from the published facts it becomes clear what personality the country 10 lost in January of the coming year. The current Russian President D. Medvedev personally expressed his condolences to the widow Vartanyan. Gevork Andreevich devoted his whole life to the Motherland, even being in old age, he passed on his experience to the young generation and collaborated with the foreign intelligence department, and also lectured for students of domestic universities. Many difficulties had to go through this worthy man and he overcame all of them with dignity. The terrible disease that hit Vartanian did not break his will, and did not cloud the mind. He worthily left this life, leaving behind a good memory and deserving the gratitude of contemporaries and descendants.
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