Alexander Ivanovich Alexeyev (Russian: Александр Иванович Алексеев, born Shitov (Шитов); 14 August 1913 – 19 June 2001, in Moscow)[1][2] was a Soviet intelligence agent who posed first as a journalist and later a diplomat.
Alexeyev was later appointed as the Soviet Ambassador to Cuba, and played a vital role in easing tensions during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Alexeyev graduated from the faculty of history of the Moscow State University and in the late 1930s took part in the Spanish Civil War as an interpreter.
[4] As events began to take shape in Cuba, the Soviet leadership realized that it lacked any meaningful tactical information on the new Cuban government.
"[7] Some historians have argued that Khrushchev was eager to embrace the new Cuban government in an attempt to reassert Soviet preeminence in the communist world, since the divisions between the USSR and Maoist China had come to a head by 1959.
[7] This may be due to the fact that Fidel Castro felt uneasy about bringing in an officially-acknowledged diplomat from the Soviet Union, which might have provoked a hostile response from Washington.
Alexeyev understood Fidel Castro's movement as a nationalistic response to American imperialism rather than a communist revolution per se, and he wrote three articles in late 1959 reporting on these findings for the Soviet people.
While his new regime desperately required economic assistance and aid, continuing a trade relationship with the United States would undercut Cuba's revolutionary credentials.
A group of liberals and anti-communists from 26 July Movement, led by Marcelo Fernández, wrote an ultimatum demanding that Castro publicly and unequivocally affirm his opposition to communism.
[14] However, Alexeyev changed Castro's mind by giving him a direct message from Khrushchev, which stated: "The Soviet Government wishes to express to you that it does not consider any party as an intermediary between it and you.
"[14] Essentially, this message released Castro from any obligation to Soviet-dominated organizations such as COMECON or the COMINFORM that kept communist leaders in Eastern Europe in line with Moscow.
[14] While tensions still existed between the various factions within 26 July Movement, the message Alexeyev gave to Castro helped ease concerns that an alliance with the Soviet Union would be a breach of Cuban national sovereignty.
[7] Alexeyev continued to hold this position through the rest of 1960 and 1961, when the United States attempted to overthrow the revolutionary government in the Bay of Pigs invasion.
[7] His instincts were correct; a few days later, now-Ambassador Alexeyev was recalled to the Kremlin and explicitly asked whether Castro would consent to the deployment of medium-range nuclear weapons in Cuba.
[7] To Alexeyev's surprise, Castro responded enthusiastically to Khrushchev's plan to bring the missiles to Cuba, and the operation began in August 1962, while the United States was ostensibly distracted by its mid-term elections.