Alexander Feklisov

Life and work

Feklisov worked out of the Soviet consulate office in New York City from 1940 to 1946. His supervisor was Senior NKVD Case officer Anatoli Yatskov (alias Yakovlev). Part of Feklisov's duties included recruiting espionage agent prospects from those sympathetic to the Communist Party of the United States and its auxiliary secret apparatus.

Rosenberg was among these recruits. In the period from 1943 to 1946, Feklisov reported at least 50 meetings with Rosenberg. He stated that Rosenberg provided important top secret information about electronics and helped organize an industrial espionage ring for Moscow, but "didn't understand anything about the atom bomb." Feklisov stated that Ethel Rosenberg, as a "probationer", did not meet directly with her Soviet agent handler. He also said she "had nothing to do with this" and was "completely innocent." Feklisov once wrote that Julius Rosenberg was the only agent that he viewed as a close friend. He, in response, told Feklisov that their meetings were “among the happiest moments of my life.” Feklisov was also the Case Officer for Joel Barr and Alfred Sarant, two other members of the Soviet Atomic Spy Ring. In August 1946, Feklisov returned to the USSR. By the late 1940s, he was transferred to the London Rezidentura.

Feklisov was transferred back to the United States and became the Washington, D.C. Rezident, or KGB Station Chief, from 1960 to 1964. His cover name at that time was Aleksandr Fomin. As PGU KGB Rezident, Feklisov (Fomin) proposed what became the basis for resolving the Cuban Missile Crisis: removing missiles from Cuba in exchange for a promise that the United States would not invade the island nation.

Alexander Feklisov died on October 26, 2007 in Russia at the age of 93.

Legacy

Feklisov was portrayed by Harris Yulin in the 1974 film The Missiles of October, and by Boris Lee Krutonog in the 2000 film Thirteen Days.