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Vladimir Aleksandrovich Kryuchkov (Крючков, Владимир Александрович in Russian) was born in Volgograd in 1924. A hard-line Soviet politician; Communist Party member from 1944. Joined the Soviet diplomatic service, stationed in Hungary until 1959. He then worked for the Communist Party HQ in Ukraine for eight years before joining the KGB in 1967. He was promoted to General in 1982 and became KGB chairman in 1988. In 1989-1990, he was a member of Politburo.
While publicly backing Premier Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms, Kryuchkov intensified KGB's military and economic spying; claimed restructure of KGB to focus on crime. During the August Coup of 1991, he was one of the "gang of eight" (state-of-emergency committee that tried to oust Gorbachev and take over the government). Following the failed coup attempt, he was jailed and replaced by Vadim Bakatin. Later freed by the amnesty of the State Duma in 1994.
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