User:Adrian829/Gaik Ovakimian

= Gaik Ovakimian = Gaik Badalovich Ovakimian, (Hayk Hovakimyan) (August 11, 1898-1967), was born on August 11, 1898, in  Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan. Ovakimian was known for being a Soviet spy working for the NKVD (Narodny Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del) better known as "the puppet master" in intelligence circles. He worked largely in the United States undercover as an engineer in New York City. Ovakimian's work in the United States earned him the recognition of being one of the most influential Pre World War II Soviet Spies of today. As a spy, Ovakimian spent most of his time abroad in the United States. Ovakimian’s work there largely consisted of recruiting agents within the country, who greatly specified in the scientific and technological field, and very few in the political intelligence field. Whilst in the United States, he reported to the Soviet ambassador, Alexander Troyanovsky. Ovakimian would later be discovered, forcing him to move on, and return to the Soviet Union to further continue his work for the NKVD. Eventually, he left the NKVD in 1946 to pursue his own scientific work back home in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan. Ovakimian would later die in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan in 1967.

Life as a spy
Gaik Ovakimian joined the NKVD in 1931 after having graduated from Bauman Higher Technical School in Moscow. In 1931 he went on an assignment in Germany and then the United States. Ovakimian was considered to be one of the most influential pre-war Soviet spies because of everything that he had done for the Soviet Union. What started as a small-time engineer would later become one of the biggest Pre-war spies that the NKVD ever had.

Germany
Ovakimian was sent to Germany on an assignment emphasizing scientific-technical espionage. At the time in Germany, Ovakimian was working under Peter Gutzeit (a fellow Soviet Spy). Ovakimian wasn't in Nazi run Germany for long, but whilst he was there, he was still able to recruit a few new Soviet Spies. His most notable recruit in Germany was Boris Morros who had strong connections to Paramount Pictures. Ovakimian later returned to the Soviet Union in 1932 for advanced technical training at the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army Military-Chemical Academy.

United States
In 1933, he was sent back into the field, but this time to the United States as the deputy head of the NKVD's scientific-technical intelligence section, operating undercover as an engineer for Amtorg. During his time in the United States, Ovakimian assembled and conducted one of the largest espionage operations that the United States had ever seen before World War II. During his time in the United States, Ovakimian was recruiting many Americans to become Soviet Spies. He recruited a wide variety of people, many of whom were workers in industrial and technical, gathering intel on American companies, especially American chemical companies. Some of Ovakimian's most famous recruits were: Jacob Golos, who would go on to run the World Tourists, Inc in New York City; Thomas Lessing Black, a chemist who would go on to be an essential asset for the Soviet Union. Ovakimian also had the opportunity to come into contact with two of the most famous Soviet American spy couples recruited Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in 1938 and had contact with Morris and Lona Cohen. He also managed to recruit an employee of the United States Department of Justice, who would inform him in advance of his arrest in 1941. Ovakimian was also overseeing several other spies spanning not only across the United States but also Mexico and Canada. Many of these spies explained why they followed him, stating in an FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) file that they viewed Ovakimian as a man who inspired loyalty due to his abundant qualities and having survived through the American purges in the late 1930s. Although he was in charge of several agents he still had to report back to the Soviet ambassador, Alexander Troyanovsky. Troyanovsky was Ovakimian's direct link to Moscow, who would also occasionally assign him to recruit certain individuals, as well as verify certain information for him or Moscow. One of these assignments included the spying of the United States Congressman, Samuel Dickstein. Even though he was a spy, Ovakimian only had a few successes in political and intelligence missions, and instead was extremely proficient in any mission that had to do with science and technology. He would even focus on the advancement in science and technology once he returned to the Soviet Union. In 1941, Ovakimian would be arrested and later sent back to the Soviet Union in the same year.

Arrested
At the beginning of his time in the United States, Ovakimian was never under suspicion as a Soviet Spy. It is not until several of his recruits begin to get captured and or investigated for espionage that Ovakimian gets discovered. It all began in London, 1937 when one of Ovakimian's recruits, Willie Brands, gets suspected of espionage by British Intelligence, and an Investigation begins to surround him. Although he escapes in time, it is discovered that he had a Canadian Passport, which had been obtained through fraudulent naturalization papers. This discovery soon led to the Canadian Intelligence finding other fraudulent naturalization papers, such as those of Aaron Marcovitch. The Canadian Intelligence was then able to connect all the fraudulent naturalization papers to Ovakimian. In 1937 when the FBI began to investigate Ovakimian, who had been informed by his operative in the United States Department of Justice. In the FBI's investigation, they discovered many of Ovakimian's operatives as well as began monitoring Jacob Golos and World Tourist, Inc. Through their monitoring, the FBI was able to connect Ovakimian and Jacob Golos who at the time was the head of World Tourists, Inc in New York City. This wasn't a surprise to the FBI, since they already knew that Golos agency was a front and was instead being used by the Soviets in several ways. Including helping facilitate travel for Soviet personnel between the Soviet Union and the United States. The FBI soon labeled him as a "close associate” of Jacob Golos. It is in these few years that Ovakimian begins to get ready to leave the United States, going as far as to have both his belongings and vehicle ready for transport, only a few months before his arrest. The FBI's investigation into Ovakimian and his associates would continue from 1937 up until his arrest in 1941. Not only was Ovakimian taken by the FBI, but so was Golos. The FBI also shut down the World Tourists Inc following their arrests. Ovakimian was arrested during a meeting on the 5th of May in 1941 with an agent who had been turned by the FBI. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, he was traded back to Moscow for the release of several Americans and left the United States on the 23rd of July in 1941. He was subsequently charged against the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938.

Return to the Soviet Union
After a few months of being arrested, Ovakimian was released by the United States before his case ever got a chance to reach a courtroom. It is said that President Franklin D. Roosevelt dropped Ovakimian charges of being a foreign agent. The reason for his release was due to a prisoner exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union. This exchange was, in return for the release of Ovakimian, the Soviet Union would return three imprisoned Americans. Ovakimian was then released and returned to the Soviet Union, following the agreement between the two nations on a Soviet ship called the Kim on July 23, 1941. Although Ovakimian was released, those three imprisoned Americans never made it back to the United States.

Once returned to the Soviet Union Ovakimian returned to work at the NKVD, but this time as the head of the NKVD's American desk in Moscow where he was responsible for espionage activities of Soviet agents in the United States and Canada. As the head of the American desk in Moscow, Ovakimian was responsible for espionage activities of Soviet Agents within the United States and Canada. As head of the American desk in Moscow, Ovakimian obtained information from one of his spies in the US Treasury Department, in which he got the engraving plates for the German Marks at the time; the Reichsmark. Two years after his return, Ovakimian was promoted to deputy chief of the NKVD's foreign intelligence in 1943. Not only this, but he also rose in the ranks of the military, reaching the rank of major-general.

It was not until 1946 when Ovakimian left the NKVD to engage in full-time scientific work, as a chemical engineer. Possessing prodigious talent in mathematics as well as in chemistry, Ovakimian was responsible for the rapid development of the Soviet chemical arsenal in the 1950s as well as the application of agricultural chemistry for civilian purposes. He continued his scientific work for several years afterward. Many years later in 1967, Ovakimian would die in his home city of Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan.