Nikolai Leonov

Nikolai Leonov was a KGB officer in the USSR. Leonov is fluent in Spanish and was an interpreter to Fidel Castro when Castro visited the USSR in 1963. Between 1983 and January 1991, Leonov was Sub-Director of the State Security Committee (KGB) of the Soviet Union, the second most important post within the KGB structure. Previously he was Sub-Director of the KGB’s Analysis and Information Department (1973-1982) and Sub-Director of its Latin American Department (1968-1972). Leonov has a Doctorate in Latin American History, from the USSR Academy of Sciences, and is author of the book “Essays on Contemporary Central American History” (Moscow: Academy of Sciences, 1973). In 1985 he published his memoirs under the title “Difficult Times”. As of 1998 he was a professor at the Institute of International Relations in Moscow.