Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Korotkov (Russian: Алекса́ндр Миха́йлович Коротко́в; 22 November 1909 – 27 June 1961) was a Soviet intelligence officer and operative[1] with the rank of major general.

[1] It was while playing tennis, that Korotkov attracted the attention of Veniamin Leonardovich Gerson, a Chekist, who at one time was the assistant to Felix Dzerzhinsky and later Vyacheslav Menzhinsky.

The task of the group was to develop the Second Bureau (Intelligence) of the French General Staff and conduct recruitment in its most important units.

[7] While in Paris, Korotkov learned to speak German from a member of the Hamburg Communist International (Comintern) branch.

From April 1936 to December 1937, under the name of Vladimir Petrovich Korotkikh and under the guise of a representative of the People's Commissariat for Heavy Industry at the USSR Trade Representation in Germany, he operated in Berlin.

In August 1937, the group headed by Korotkov killed Georges Agabekov ("Grifter"),[8] and in July of the same year – the secretary of the international association of Trotskyists, Rudolf Klement.

[8] Boris Bazhanov detailed in his version that the NKVD provoked Agabekov to participate in the resale of jewellery stolen in Spain.

[11] From April 1939 he became the Senior Commissioner, and from May 1939, the Deputy Chief of the 1st (German) Division of the 5th Department of the NKVD Main Directorate of State Security.

At the end of 1939, he went on overseas missions to Denmark and Norway[5] under the guise of being a diplomatic courier for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In July 1940, on the initiative of intelligence chief Pavel Fitin, Korotkov was sent for a month to Germany under the guise of a stand-in for Soviet exhibitions in Königsberg and Leipzig to re-establish communication with especially valuable sources whose operation had been discontinued in 1936–1938.

[12] At the end of August 1940, he returned to Berlin as deputy chief of staff under the cover of 3rd secretary of the Soviet embassy in Germany.

There he intensified his re-established connections, in particular with Willy Lehmann ("Breitenbach"),[13] and established personal contacts with the leaders of the anti-fascist underground, Arvid Harnack ("Corsican") and Harro Schulze-Boysen ("Starshina").

From August 1941 onwards, he was deputy chief and from October 1941 – head of the 1st department (intelligence in Germany and the occupied territories), of the NKVD of the USSR.

In 1943–1944, he left for Tehran and twice for Afghanistan for performance of special tasks on execution of German agents in these countries, acting under the name of colonel Mikhaylov.

From 20 July 1947, Korotkov was head of the 4th Directorate (illegal intelligence) of the Information Committee under the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union.