Viktor Suvorov (; real name Vladimir Rezun : Влади́мир Богда́нович Резу́н) (born April 20, 1947) was a Soviet intelligence officer of Ukrainian and Russian descent who had been working for the Soviet military intelligence (GRU), but defected to Britain in 1978, where he worked as an intelligence analyst and lecturer. He later had several books about his Soviet Army experiences published in Great Britain and the United States, and also joined the team led by the British General Sir John Hackett in writing the book The Third World War: The Untold Story (ISBN 0-283-98863-0). Published in 1982, this was the sequel to the 1978 original The Third World War (ISBN 0425044777), in which Hackett and his team had speculated about the possible course of a then future Soviet/NATO war in Germany.

Suvorov claims his pseudonym was his army nickname, which was actually intended to mean "smart-ass" (Aleksandr Suvorov was a famed Russian military commander of the 18th century).

He also wrote a number of books about Stalin's times; some of them are fictional, but several of them are deliberately historical, although written in a polemic, popular-science style, driving professional historians mad. The first one on the topic was Icebreaker, followed by several others. The books are about the history of World War II, and are based on pieces of officially written memoires and documents of the Soviets. Suvorov's most significant claim was that Stalin had been preparing a great invasion of the whole of Nazi-occupied Europe, set to begin in July 1941 (most probably on July 6). The planned date followed the actual Nazi invasion by only about 2 weeks.

The idea about Stalin's preparations to strike was proposed earlier by dissident Pyotr Grigorenko. Suvorov evolved it in further detail and worked to substantiate it.

Suvorov's theory has both fans and opponents and was subject of flamed discussion, partly thanks to its political implications. Opinions differ among both neonazis and patriots of the former Soviet Union.

In his reply to patriots, Suvorov states his moral position as follows. The traditional theory of the outbreak of the German invasion of the Soviet Union portrays the Soviet Union, its army and its management as incapable, and this is hardly a patriotic position.

The most noted opposition to Suvorov is Israeli historian Gabriel Gorodetsky , and Russian generals Makhmut Gareyev and Dmitri Volkogonov . The opposition is claiming that Suvorov didn't complete his analysis of the disastrous beginning of the war. This group claims that, while Suvorov is correct in discerning Stalin's true plans and exposing the huge hardware potential of the Soviet military machine, they insist that Suvorov unreasonably dismissed the traditional arguments about problems claimed to plague the Red Army—supposedly poor leadership and low morale. The majority of their arguments were answered by Suvorov in his later books. However the dispute is not over. Some authors respond to Suvorov in Suvorov's own picky and nasty style. There are also a number of parodies on Suvorov's writings, e.g., the "proof" of the development of a jumping tank by the Soviets, as an additional "proof" of Stalin's aggressive plans.

Suvorov's theories agree with some statements of the former Prime Minister of Estonia Mart Laar. On August 20, 2004 he published an article in Wall Street Journal titled When Will Russia Say 'Sorry'?. In this article he said: The new evidence shows that by encouraging Hitler to start World War II, Stalin hoped to simultaneously ignite a world-wide revolution and conquer all of Europe. Suvorov's name was not mentioned.

Suvorov's books may appear under slightly different titles depending on the publisher; for example, Aquarium, published in the UK by Hamish Hamilton, subsequently appeared in the United States as Inside the Aquarium.

See also

• Operation Barbarossa

Bibliography

• Aquarium (Аквариум), 1985, Hamish Hamilton Ltd
• Icebreaker (Ледокол)
• Day "M" (День "М")
• The Liberators (Освободитель), 1981, Hamish Hamilton Ltd
• Suicide (Самоубийство)
• Last Republic (Последняя республика)
• Shadow of Victory (Тень победы), questions the image of Georgy Zhukov
• Cleansing (Очищение)

• Inside the Soviet Army, 1982, Macmillan Publishing Co.
• Inside Soviet Military Intelligence , 1984, ISBN 0-02-615510-9
• Spetsnaz , 1987, Hamish Hamilton Ltd, ISBN 0-241-11961-8

• Tales of a Liberator (Рассказы Освободителя), fiction
• Control (Контроль), fiction
• Choice (Выбор), fiction

External links

• Stalin speech Aug 1939
• Online books of Viktor Suvorov (mostly in Russian)
• Viktor Suvorov's homepage (in Russian)