The ceremony was held in the framework of International Scientific Conference World War II and the Great Patriotic War: on the 75th Anniversary of Cessation. The event was participated by Sergey Naryshkin, the Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation and the Chairman of the Russian Historical Society; Oleg Dukhovnitskii, the Head of the Federal Communications Agency; and Nikolai Makarov, the Director of the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Academician, Doctor of Historical Sciences.
Starting from 2012, the Federal Communications Agency and JSC Marka have been annually issuing postage stamps devoted to Heroes of the Soviet Union and Russian Federation as a tribute and a token of thanks to Russian soldiers and officers for the accomplished feats. The common features of all these people are great courage, honor, a sense of duty and endless bravery, which forced them to perform a feat in the name of their people and Motherland.
As was stated by the Head of Rossvyaz, during the ceremony, four postal stamps were presented dedicated to Hero of the Soviet Union Gevork A. Vartanyan and Heroes of the Russian Federation Alexey M. Kozlov, Vladimir B. Barkovsky and Alexander S. Feklisov. The everyday work of Intelligence Service officers is intended to protect the security of the society and the state from external threats. The feats of intelligent officers Vartanyan, Barkovsky, Feklisov and Kozlov will always be present to the mind of their families, colleagues and friends, and will be recorded in the history of philately of the Russian Federation.
Undercover agent Gevork Vartanyan in 1940 created a reconnaissance group, which identified about 400 fascist agents and German intelligence officers, and participated in enhancing security of the Tehran Conference. Along with his wife, he was working illegally for more than 30 years in several countries of the world with a complicated operational situation.
Undercover agent Alexey Kozlov starting from 1962 worked in countries that had no diplomatic relations with the USSR. He gained information on secret tests of nuclear weapons in the RSA. In 1980, he was arrested by the South African intelligence agencies. He spent two years in prison, including six months in a death row. After that, he worked abroad for more than 10 years and achieved prominent results. After retirement, he continued his work at the Foreign Intelligence Service of Russia in the field of teaching and analytical activities.
Intelligence officer Vladimir Barkovsky worked in Great Britain in the line of scientific and technical intelligence. His reports played an important role in the implementation of the atomic project of the USSR. He was a candidate of historical sciences, the author of more than 50 scientific papers. After having retired in 1984, he continued his scientific and teaching activities in foreign intelligence bodies.
Intelligence officer Alexander Feklisov worked in New York in the line of scientific and technical intelligence. He acquired classified information in the field of electronics, radar-location, and jet aviation. In the period of 1947-1950, during his mission in London, Feklisov gained important information on the hydrogen bomb design. Feklisov is a graduate of the Moscow University of Communications and Information subordinate to the Federal Communications Agency. In 1939, he finished the Radio Faculty of the Moscow Institute of Communications.
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