Victor Louis; Reporter Disclosed Soviet News to the West
Victor Louis, a Soviet journalist responsible for disclosing several important stories on Soviet developments to the West, has died in London, it was reported this week. .
Louis was 64 and died Saturday of a heart attack after surgery in a London hospital, his family told Reuters news agency.
In 1964, he was the first to report the ouster of Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev. He also sold a West German newspaper videotapes of Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, made while Sakharov was in forced exile in the closed city of Gorky.
Louis’ ability to provide information on what went on inside the Kremlin led some to accuse him of being a Soviet agent. He always denied it.
Louis was born in Moscow in 1928. He fell afoul of the Stalinist government, and was sent to Siberia and Kazakhstan for allegedly spying for the West.
Louis survived his exile, and his fluent English won him free-lance work with German and British newspapers.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
