Yuri B. Shvets


  • International expert on the former Soviet Union, intelligence tradecraft, document analyses, fraud, money laundering, and on organized crime

  • Served in more than 70 immigration court proceedings on high profile Federal and INS cases with not a single case loss

  • Former KGB Intelligence Officer With Rank of Major

  • Trained at the KGB Academy in the same class as future Russian President Vladimir Putin

  • Stationed as an Intelligence Officer at the KGB Rezidency in the Soviet Embassy, Washington, DC

  • Awarded Best TASS Correspondent for Analytical Reporting on Soviet-American Relations While Working Undercover as a Journalist for the Russian News Agency

  • Author, Washington Station: My Life as a KGB Spy in America

  • Guest Professor, Centre for Counterintelligence and Security Studies

Yuri B. Shvets is an attorney specializing in legal, contracting and business environment of newly independent states of the former Soviet Union; political and economic risk analysis; international money laundering and fraud and strategic marketing and formation of business alliances. From 1980 to 1990, he served in KGB rising to the rank of Major. In 1985, he was assigned to the KGB rezidency in Washington, DC while working undercover as a TASS correspondent and served in Washington for two years. In 1993, Shvets emigrated to the US and in 1994 his book about his experiences in the KGB, Washington Station, was published.

Shvets is an internationally renowned expert on the former Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellites with knowledge of banking and business security system analyses, intelligence and law enforcement practices; counterintelligence; organized crime; and political, legal and economic climate of diversified international cultures. He has a command of the nuances of trade and commercial transactions in global markets and is fluent in Russian, Ukrainian, English, French, and Spanish. Shvets is a former senior KGB intelligence analyst who specialized in political and economic risk analyses and had special training in working in diverse cultural environments and document analysis.

On September 21, 1999, Shvets testified before the Committee on Banking and Financial Services of the United States House of Representatives on Russian money laundering and organized crime. He served as a consultant to the US Department of Justice on sensitive law-enforcement issues concerned with Russian organized crime and corruption.

Through document analyses and private investigation, Shvets reconstructed and exposed an international operation on a $1 billion theft and money laundering designed by the KGB to evade the US intelligence, law-enforcement and regulatory agencies. The story on this case was aired by CBS 60 Minutes and published by major US and foreign newspapers.

He continues to serve on an ad hoc basis as an analyst on behalf of US companies engaged in or desiring to conduct business in the former Soviet Union and provides counsel to businesses and individuals seeking advise on legal, banking and business systems, corruption, money laundering and issues relating to business security in the former Soviet Union.

As an expert on the former Soviet Union, intelligence tradecraft, document analyses, fraud, money laundering, and on organized crime, Shvets has served in more than 70 immigration court proceedings on high profile Federal and INS cases with not a single case lost.

In 1985, Shvets was assigned to the KGB rezidency in Washington, DC and his cover was the Washington Correspondent for the Soviet news agency TASS with primary responsibility for covering strategic issues. In 1986, he received the distinguished award for the Best TASS correspondent for analytical reporting on Soviet-American relations.

Shvets has been a consultant to the Discovery Channel on a documentary on the CIA, Time magazine, A&E TV Channel, and Swedish national television on Russian organized crime, money laundering and Russian Intelligence Community.

Shvets received a master’s degree in law with honors from Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow. He has additional majors in English, French, Spanish, and Journalism. He is a graduate of the KGB Intelligence Service Academy and majored in comprehensive document analyses with primary focus on evaluating authenticity and accuracy of reported activity in legal and political context. While at the Academy, he was trained with the future Russian President Vladimir Putin in all aspect of the craft of human intelligence and counterintelligence.

Shvets has been widely interviewed by US and international mass media. He has been on CBS 60 Minutes, interviewed on C-SPAN's Booknotes, interviewed on the Russian prime TV Channel and has had several interviews with the leading British, Italian, and Japanese TV news and publications. Shvets was a technical consultant to the CBS-TV movie on the Robert Hanssen case and has been interviewed by national and international media on the Hanssen case as well as other espionage cases.

Shvets has spoken at the World Bank, George Washington University, George Mason University and Harvard University on the topics of organized crime, corruption and business security in the former Soviet Union. He has also spoken at the International Spy Museum in Washington. Shvets is a member of the Washington Authors’ Guild Dinner Club, which is a professional organization of authors in the Washington Metropolitan area.


Travels from Washington, DC area

Speaking engagements in Continental United States only

Fluent in English, Russian, Ukrainian, French and Spanish


 

Author of:

Washington Station: My Life as a KGB Spy in America


 

Yuri Shvets Links

 

Testimony on Russian money laundering before Committee on Banking and Financial Services of the US House of Representatives, September 21, 1999

 

Shvets on SpyDrive

 

Salon interview with Shvets

 

Interview with USA Today

 


Sample Topics:

 

Illegal Purchases of Arms by Iraq

 

Illegal Purchases of Arms by Iran

 

Active Measures

 

Mistakes Business People Can Make When Doing Business in Russia

 

The Russian Mafia and the Former KGB

 

Russian Money Laundering

 

KGB Deception Operations

 

Critical Ukraine Issues Today

 

Washington Station: My Life as a KGB Spy in America

 

Ukrainian Intelligence Services

 

The Ukrainian Tape Scandal: Inside President Kuchma's Office

 

MORE TOPICS

 


Media Interviews Include:

 

TV & Radio:

-ABC News

-NBC News

-CBS News

-CNN News

-FOX News

-BBC News

-NET News

-CBS 60 Minutes

-C-SPAN

-Local Washington, DC News

-Voice of America

-Russian TV News

-Swedish TV News

 

Print:

-Washington Post

-New York Times

-Los Angeles Times

-Wall Street Journal

-USA Today

-Baltimore Sun

-Christian Science Monitor

-Associated Press

-Reuters

-AFP

-US News & World Report

-Newsweek

 

Numerous other national and international media

 

Technical Consulting/

Documentaries:

CBS Movie: Masterspy-The Robert Hanssen Story

 

Various History, Discovery, A&E and Fox Channel documentaries

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