Agayants, Ivan Ivanovich (1911-1968)

Soviet intelligence operative and leader. Born in Azerbaijan to the family of a teacher of Armenian descent, Agayants moved to Moscow in 1930 to join his brothers at OGPU, where he worked at the economic directorate. In 1936, he joined Soviet foreign intelligence, and in 1937 he was sent to its Paris residency as an operative. In 1940, Agayants returned to Moscow, where he was soon promoted to assistant department head of the NKVD First Directorate, then the name of the Soviet foreign intelligence service. Agayants was fluent in French, Persian, Turkish and Spanish and also spoke good English and Italian.

After the Nazi attack against the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, Agayants was posted as the NKGB resident in Iran, where he supervised the location and liquidation of the Nazis’ agent network. In August 1943, Agayants was dispatched to Algiers to establish confidential relations with General de Gaulle.