MOSCOW. April 2 (Interfax) - Former Soviet foreign intelligence service chief Leonid Shebarshin has been found dead in his apartment in Moscow, the city police told Interfax.
"Police received a report, after which policemen rushed to the scene where they found the body of Leonid Shebarshin, born in 1935, with a gunshot wound," the police press service said.
A source with law enforcement agencies told Interfax earlier that Shebarshin had been found dead at his Moscow apartment. "Preliminary findings indicate that he shot himself," he said.
Shebarshin was born in Moscow on March 24, 1935. He graduated from the Oriental Studies Institute. He served as an interpreter to the Russian ambassador to Pakistan in 1958-1962, after which he was recommended for intelligence service and enrolled with the KGB School training foreign intelligence officers. From 1971 to 1977, Shebarshin served in India first as a deputy chief of station and then chief of station. From 1979 to 1983, he served as the chief of the KGB station in Iran. From 1989 to 1991, Shebarshin headed the KGB's foreign intelligence directorate. He resigned in 1991 and has been engaged in public activities and headed a private firm since then.