He was effectively writing, to British direction, the briefing notes for the meeting that Moscow was giving Gorbachev – briefings that would in all likelihood have gone through Zamyatin. Later that year Zamyatin was part of a Soviet parliamentary delegation led by Mikhail Gorbachev which included the first meeting, at Chequers, between the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and the future Soviet leader, leading to her famous remark that here was a man with whom she could do business.Īt that time Oleg Gordievsky was MI6’s agent-in-place inside the KGB London station. In February 1984 Zamyatin repeated his claim that Andropov was suffering from a cold two days later the Soviet leader was dead. It later transpired that Andropov had suffered total renal failure months previously and in August had gone into hospital, where he would remain. As for your insinuations, these are not relevant.” Responding to an American journalist who asked whether reports of surgery and a serious illness were incorrect, Zamyatin snapped: “What I have found possible to state officially I have said, and it corresponds with reality. When Brezhnev’s successor as president, Yuri Andropov, was ill in December 1983, Zamyatin assured the media that he was “recovering from a cold”.

He became chairman of the International Information Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, serving from 1978 to 1986, and proved a loyal channel through which the Soviet case would be stated.Īlthough it is not unusual for political spokesmen to obfuscate on behalf of their leaders, Zamyatin’s dishonesty received particular scorn.

Us zamyatin