Former head of the GRU Fyodor Ladygin dies

Colonel-General Fyodor Ladygin, who led the GRU in 1992-1997, died at the age of 85, transfers “Interfax” with reference to the chief of staff of the Club of Russian military leaders Nikolai Deryabin. According to him, Ladygin had been seriously ill for a long time. But the cause of death is not named.

From 1964 to 1973, Fedor Ladygin worked as an employee of the Central Research Institute-4 of the USSR Ministry of Defense. In 1973, he joined the GRU of the General Staff, and less than twenty years later he headed the special service. In May 1997, Ladygin retired and worked as deputy director of the Mistko company, which supplies cane sugar from Cuba.

In November 1999, Ladygin registered as a candidate for the State Duma, but lost the election.

Commenting on the chemical attack in British Salisbury in March 2018, when ex-GRU officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with Novichok combat poison, Ladygin stated that Russian intelligence, despite put forward accusations, never organized such attempts.

“The Russian intelligence structure, in which I had the honor of serving for many years, has never, I repeat, never engaged in such heinous nonsense that the UK is now trying to attribute to our country,” said he is RBC.

According to him, Skripal, who worked in the GRU under Ladygin, became useless after he was convicted of espionage. “For us, the fate of the traitor is indifferent. For a scout, a traitor dies immediately, he absolutely ceases to exist in the memory, is washed out of it. For a traitor, oblivion is death, ”Ladygin noted.

Sergei Skripal was charged with treason in 2004. According to Russian investigators, in 1995, while serving in the GRU of the Russian General Staff, he was recruited by the British intelligence services. For a fee, Skripal gave them secret information about Russians who work undercover in European countries. In 2010, a convicted former GRU officer was handed over to the British authorities as part of an espionage detainee exchange.