Ambassador of South Ossetia to Russia Znaur Gassiev took part in the International Conference in St. Petersburg dedicated to a native of South Ossetia, the illegal Soviet intelligence officer, the head of the 1st Department of Directorate “S” of the PGU of the KGB of the USSR, Vladimir Lokhov, the press service of the diplomatic department reports.
The conference was organized with the assistance of the Embassy of the Republic of South Ossetia in Russia and the government of St. Petersburg.
The memorial event was dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Republic of South Ossetia.
The event was attended by a delegation of the government of St. Petersburg led by the Chairman of the Committee on External Relations of St. Petersburg Evgeny Grigoriev, the representative of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania in the North-Western Federal District Boris Gazalov, the head of the Ossetian community in St. Petersburg Petr Naniev, Ossetians, residents of the Northern capital, representatives of the foreign delegations.
In his welcoming speech, Ambassador of the Republic of South Ossetia to the Russian Federation, Znaur Gassiev, thanked the government of the city of St. Petersburg for their attention to the significant event.
During his speech, the Ambassador spoke about his petition to the director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Sergei Naryshkin in 2019 - about the partial removal of the secrecy stamp from the name of the intelligence officer.
The petition, in particular, contained a request to provide the diplomatic mission of South Ossetia with information relating to Vladimir Iosifovich Lokhov acceptable for possible publication or using in works of art, including copies of declassified archival materials, to perpetuate his memory and demonstrate to the younger generation a worthy example of service to the Fatherland.
“In the same year, on the occasion of his 95th anniversary, the name of our illustrious fellow countryman was declassified. Federal channels of Russia and the media of Ossetia widely covered such a significant and important event.
Vladimir Iosifovich Lokhov, who at the first stage of declassification became known under the name “Colonel K.”, for his long, impeccable service, repeatedly risking his own life, showed miracles of true heroism, endurance, fortitude and genuine love for the Motherland in the most difficult and dangerous sections of the “invisible front”,” Gassiev has noted in his speech.
He has added that as the illegal intelligence officer, Vladimir Lokhov was working in a number of countries in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
“When when performing responsible tasks, he visited dozens of states in these regions. During the period of work he did not have a single failure, finding a way out of the most difficult situations.
During his 34 years of service in the foreign intelligence service of the KGB of the USSR, he honorably completed hundreds of combat missions, but most of his hard work is still a state secret to this day,” the ambassador said.
At the height of confrontation between the USA and the USSR, called the Cold War, Vladimir Lokhov managed to obtain valuable intelligence information about Washington’s plans to deploy the so-called “Strategic Defense Initiative”, known as “Star Wars”, which was aimed at placement in space orbit large-scale missile defense system with space-based elements.
“Its main goals were supposed to be gaining dominance in space, creating the US missile defense “shield” to reliably cover the entire territory of North America through the deployment of several echelons of strike space weapons, which inevitably led to violation of nuclear parity, and, ultimately, ao direct threat to the security of the USSR and Warsaw Pact countries.
Only thanks to the professionalism and boundless courage of the brave intelligence officer, the information about Washington’s plans reached the political leadership and the country’s military department, which took symmetrical response actions to develop and implement new missile defense systems for the Soviet Union,” says the speech of the head of the South Ossetian diplomatic mission.
The Ambassador also remembered with special gratitude the name of another bright compatriot, one of the most famous and revered heroes of Ossetia, a prominent Soviet military leader, hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel General Hadji-Umar Dzhiorovich Mamsurov.
“Ossetia gave the Motherland not only brave warriors - generals, officers and soldiers who were bravely fighting for its freedom and independence on the battlefields, but also professional intelligence officers who, with their glorious exploits on the “invisible front”, obtaining invaluable intelligence information, brought the long-awaited Victory closer , covering himself with truly unfading glory,” he has emphasized.
As part of the event, Znaur Gassiev made an official address.
“I would like to appeal, including to my Russian colleagues, with the initiative to erect a monument to Vladimir Lokhov to commemorate his 100th anniversary in 2024,” noted Znaur Gassiev.
In conclusion, Znaur Gassiev once again expressed gratitude to the organizers and participants of the conference and hope for the continuation of this good undertaking, which is another strong confirmation of the course for the closest and most comprehensive cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Republic of South Ossetia.
