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Ivan VinarovBulgarian general, Soviet intelligence officer.
Date of Birth: 24.02.1896
Country:  Bulgaria |
Content:
- Biography of Ivan Vinarov
- Work in China and Further Training
- Activities in Europe
- Later Life and Achievements
Biography of Ivan Vinarov
Early Life and CareerIvan Vinarov was a Bulgarian general and Soviet intelligence officer. He was born in Pleven, Bulgaria, into a family of wealthy landowners, but his parents were workers. Vinarov participated in the First World War and the military uprising of 1918. He became a member of the Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers' Party ("tesnyaki") in late 1916. As per the party's instructions, he was involved in the confiscation of weapons for their needs from the warehouses of the Allied Control Commission and was an active member of the underground communication channel between Varna, Sevastopol, and Odessa. In the fall of 1921, he was arrested, but in December 1922, he fled to the Soviet Union. In April 1923, he joined the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and worked as a carpenter at a music enterprise while studying at the Sverdlov Communist University. From April 1924 to October 1925, as part of the Intelligence and Propaganda Directorate of the Red Army, Vinarov was involved in the transportation of weapons for the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP), which was preparing for an armed uprising and developing partisan movements. He received three months of training at a special military school in Tambov. He then assisted Bulgarian communists leaving the country due to reprisals following the assassination attempt on the king in April 1925 at the "Sveti Nedelya" church in Sofia.
Work in China and Further Training
In January 1926 to February 1929, Vinarov worked in China as an advisor on military intelligence in X. I. Salnynya's group, which was operating illegally under the cover of a trading company since 1927. In addition to intelligence activities, the group provided assistance to the Communist Party of China, including weapons supplies. Vinarov's wife, G. P. Lebedeva, worked as a cryptographer at Soviet representations in Beijing and Harbin. In April 1929 to June 1930, Vinarov attended the Advanced Intelligence Courses at the 4th Department of the Red Army General Staff and was involved in intelligence operations in China during the resolution of the conflict on the Chinese Eastern Railway.
Activities in Europe
From 1930 to 1933, Vinarov served as the chief resident in Austria, overseeing activities in Austria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Yugoslavia, Greece, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey. According to the Center's characterization of Vinarov's activities during this period: "Vinarov organized intelligence groups in Czech military factories and the 'Skoda' factory. He obtained comprehensive information on the state of the aviation industry, which was considered particularly valuable. With his assistance, the Center also obtained the necessary 17 Greek passports. Vinarov provided extremely interesting information of national importance from sources in Bucharest, Belgrade, Athens, and Sofia." In 1936, he graduated from the Special Department of the Frunze Military Academy. From December 1936 to March 1938, Vinarov led the intelligence organization in Paris, which covered not only France but also neighboring countries. One of the organization's main tasks was to assist Republican Spain.
Later Life and Achievements
In July 1938, Vinarov was dismissed from the Red Army. However, in June 1940, his dismissal order was rescinded, and he was appointed as a lecturer at the General Tactics Department of the Frunze Military Academy. From 1941 to 1944, Vinarov focused on training Bulgarian political émigrés for partisan warfare in Bulgaria. He also carried out missions in Turkey in 1941 and 1942 and served as the commander of an international battalion in the Soviet partisan forces. After 1944, Vinarov lived in Bulgaria and played a significant role in the establishment of the Bulgarian People's Army from 1944 to 1949. He held various command positions in the construction troops. From 1949 to 1964, he served as Deputy Minister and Minister of Communications and Construction and Chief of the Main Directorate of Communications under the Council of Ministers of the People's Republic of Bulgaria. Ivan Vinarov was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor of the People's Republic of Bulgaria in 1964.
