Pavel Fitin
| Pavel Fitin | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Pavel Mikhailovich Fitin |
| Nickname(s) | Viktor |
| Born | 1907 Ozhogino, Russian Empire |
| Died | 24 December 1971 Soviet Union |
| Allegiance |
 Soviet Union
|
| Service/branch |
 Red Army
|
| Years of service | 1932-1953 |
| Rank | Lieutenant General |
| Commands held |
People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs KGB |
| Battles/wars |
Great Terror Operation Barbarossa German-Soviet War |
| Awards |
Order of the Red Banner Order of the Red Star Red Banner of Tuva |
Lieutenant General Pavel Mikhailovich Fitin (ru: Павел Михайлович Фитин) (1907 Ozhogino, Tobolsk guberniya, Russian Empire - 24 December 1971, Moscow, Soviet Union) was a Soviet intelligence officer and was the director of Soviet intelligence during World War II, identified in the Venona cables under the code name "Viktor."
Fitin graduated from a program in agricultural engineering studies at the Timiryazev Agricultural Academy in 1932 after which he served in the Red Army, then became an editor for the State Publishing House of Agricultural Literature. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) selected him for a course in foreign intelligence at SHON, the foreign intelligence training school located at Balashikha, near Moscow.
Fitin became deputy chief of the NKVD's foreign intelligence in 1938, then a year later at the age of thirty-one became chief, with the rank of Lieutenant General. The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service credits Fitin with rebuilding the depleted foreign intelligence department after Stalin's Great Terror. Fitin also is credited with providing ample warning of the German Invasion of 22 June 1941 that began the German-Soviet War. Only the actual invasion saved Fitin from execution for providing the head of the NKVD, Lavrenty Beria, with information General Secretary of the CPSU, Joseph Stalin did not want to believe. Beria retained Fitin as chief of foreign intelligence until the war ended but demoted him.
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