Viktor Suvorov

Early life

Rezun comes from a military family of mixed Ukrainian-Russian descent, having been either born or raised in Ukraine's Cherkasy, where his father served. The family subsequently settled in Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic after his retirement. According to Rezun, he studied in a Suvorov Military School: the one based in Voronezh (from 1958 to 1963) and later transferred to Kalinin (from 1963/to 1965).

From 1965 to 1968, Rezun finished the Frunze Kiev Red Banner Higher Military Command School. In 1968, he served in the 145th Motorized Rifles Regiment of the Carpathian Military District in Ukraine, participating in the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. In 1970 and 1971, he served in the Volga Military District Headquarters, and later with the 808th Independent Army Reconnaissance Company (Spetsnaz).

After attending the Military Diplomatic Academy from 1971 to 1974, Rezun joined the Soviet mission to the United Nations Office at Geneva, working undercover for the Soviet military intelligence service (GRU) and achieving a rank of Captain.

Defection

On June 10, 1978, Rezun defected to the United Kingdom. He was smuggled out of Switzerland to England with his wife and two young children, and he worked as an intelligence analyst and lecturer.

Later life

After perestroika, his identity was revealed in the Soviet Union and confirmed by authorities. Since then, Suvorov continuously interacts with his readers and critics in Russia and Ukraine, including the instance of bridge discussion organized by a Ukrainian television channel. Suvorov is also an occasional columnist for the Ukrainian UNIAN news agency's web site However, he states that he has never visited the countries of the former Soviet Union, fearing a pending search warrant and Soviet court conviction in absentia.

Private life

At the time of his defection, Vladimir Rezun was married to Tatiana Korzh, the couple had a son, Aleksandr, and a daughter, Oksana. The family was successfully smuggled to England with Rezun.

Publications

Suvorov made his name writing books about the Soviet Army, military intelligence, and special forces, including The Liberators, Aquarium, Inside the Soviet Army, Inside Soviet Military Intelligence and Spetsnaz, which were partly based on his personal experience. He also joined the team led by the British General Sir John Hackett in writing the book The Third World War: The Untold Story. Published in 1982, this book was the sequel to the 1978 original The Third World War, in which Hackett and his team had speculated about the possible course of a Soviet/NATO war in Germany.

Historical works about World War II

Suvorov has written ten books so far about the outbreak of the Nazi-Soviet War in 1941 and the circumstances that led to it. The first such work was Icebreaker, followed by M Day, The Last Republic, Cleansing, Suicide, The Shadow of Victory, I Take it Back, The Last Republic II, The Chief Culprit, Defeat.

According to Suvorov, 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 very moment he attacked Poland: not only was he going to war with the powerful Allies, but it was only a matter of time before the Soviet Union would seize the opportune moment to attack him from the rear. This left Hitler with no choice but 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, providing Hitler with an important initial tactical advantage. But this was strategically hopeless because the Nazis now had to fight on two fronts, a mistake Hitler himself had identified as Germany's undoing in the previous war. At the end of the war, Stalin was able to achieve 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 Stalin was not satisfied by the outcome, as he intended to bring Soviet domination to the whole continent of Europe.

The works by Suvorov remain a matter of debate among historians. While most agree that Stalin made extensive preparations for an upcoming war and exploited the military conflict in Europe to his advantage, the assertions that Stalin planned to attack Nazi Germany in the summer of 1941, and that Operation Barbarossa was a preemptive strike by Hitler, are disputed.

Viktor Suvorov also wrote fiction books set in the pre-World War II era in the Soviet Union. The first one, Control, was followed by Choice, and the last and most recent title was Snake-eater. He has also written a film script based on these books.