Vladimir Alexandrovich Kryuchkov (Владимир Александрович Крючков in Russian) was born in Volgograd in 1924. A hard-line Soviet politician; Communist Party member from 1944. Joined the Soviet diplomatic service, stationed in Hungary until 1959. He then worked for the Communist Party HQ in Ukraine for eight years before joining the KGB in 1967. He was assigned Deputy Chairman in 1978. In 1988 he was promoted to General of the Army rank and became KGB Chairman. In 1989-1990, he was a member of Politburo.

While publicly backing Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms, Kryuchkov intensified KGB's military and economic spying; claimed restructure of KGB to focus on crime. During the August Coup of 1991, he was one of the "gang of eight", the Committee for the State of Emergency that tried to oust Gorbachev and take over the government. Following the failed coup attempt, he was jailed and replaced by Vadim Bakatin. Later freed by the amnesty of the State Duma in 1994.