V. Kryuchkov, 83; ex-KGB chief led failed coup in 1991

Vladimir Kryuchkov, the former KGB chief who spearheaded a failed coup against Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, has died, officials said Sunday. He was 83.

Kryuchkov died Friday in Moscow of an unspecified illness, according to the Federal Security Service, the main KGB successor agency.

Kryuchkov owed his swift career rise to Soviet leader Yuri Andropov. He worked alongside Andropov when Andropov served as the Soviet ambassador to Hungary and oversaw a brutal suppression of the anti-Communist uprising in Budapest in 1956.

When Andropov became KGB chief in 1967, he took Kryuchkov along and helped him rise through the ranks. In 1974, Kryuchkov was named chief of the KGB’s First Main Directorate, in charge of spying abroad.

In 1988, Gorbachev appointed Kryuchkov as KGB chief.

In August 1991, Kryuchkov joined other hard-line members of the Communist Party leadership who ousted Gorbachev and declared a nationwide state of emergency in an attempt to roll back liberal reforms.

The coup collapsed after three days and helped precipitate the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991.

Kryuchkov and other coup-plotters were jailed but later freed on an amnesty.

After Vladimir Putin, a 16-year KGB veteran, was elected president in 2000, he repeatedly invited Kryuchkov and other veterans to Kremlin events. Kryuchkov had taken a higher public profile in recent years, giving numerous interviews praising Putin and accusing the West of plots to weaken Russia. He also published his memoirs.

Last month, Kryuchkov warned of “big trouble” if a turf battle between Russia’s security agencies continued to fester. He and other KGB veterans called on the feuding forces to unite behind Putin for the country’s sake.

Kryuchkov’s funeral is planned for Tuesday. There was no immediate word on survivors.