Leonid Reshetnikov

Leonid Petrovich Reshetnikov (; born 6 February 1947) is a Soviet and Russian secret service agent, Lieutenant-General of Foreign Intelligence Service, director of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies (29 April 2009 – 4 January 2017) where he actively supported interference in the United States elections. He is called "the right hand of Mr. Putin on the Balkans."

Biography Reshetnikov was born in Potsdam (Soviet occupation zone at that time) in the family of a serviceman. In 1970, he graduated from the Faculty of History of Kharkov State University. In 1974-1976 he worked at the Institute of Economics of the World Socialist System of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

KGB and later SVR activities From April 1976 to April 2009, he served in initially the KGB and later the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR in Russian). He was the rezident KGB in the Balkans. One posting was at Yugoslavia where he was on a business trip for five years returning to the Soviet Union in 1984. In this position, he actively supported interference in the United States elections.

Reshetnikov is very close to Konstantin Malofeev, who allegedly finances numerous pro-Kremlin activities especially Moscow-loyal parties and movements, including neo-Nazi ones, and, since 2010, Reshetnikov has supported the Foundation of St. Basil the Great K.V. Malofeev.

He actively supported the failed pro Russia, pro Kremlin, pro Putin 2016 Montenegro coup, which failed on 16 October 2016 and after which Vladimir Putin supposedly fired him from RISS.

As of January 2017, he is the chairman of the supervisory board of Tsargrad TV, Through Reshetnikov and Malofeev, Hanick is close to the pro Russia former Greek defense minister Panos Kammenos and Vladimir Putin. Hanick was the first person criminally indicted for violating United States sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian War.

In November 2016, he initiated the creation of the "Double-headed Eagle" Society , which supports the development of Russian historical enlightenment in Russia, and after the formation of this orthodox-monarchist organization in 2018, joined its leadership and was deputy chairman from November 2017 - July 2020. Reshetnikov is close to Mikhail Smolin who runs the website for the Two-Headed Eagle Society also known as the Double-Headed Eagle Society (rusorel.info) and who is also the publisher for the Moscow firm Society for the Development of Russian Historical Education "Two-Headed Eagle" , M. B. Smolin Publishing House (FIV) . According to Smolin, the Double-Headed Eagle Society, which is now known as the Tsargrad Society, was formed to legally enshrine through legislation the unification of the former Russian Imperial Lands including the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Belarus, and other Russian lands into a common state. The Double-Headed Eagle Society is now known as the All-Russian Public Organization Society for the Promotion of Russian Historical Development Tsargrad (Tsargrad Society), which, according the United States Department of Treasury, is a Russia-registered organization which has been accused of involvement in espionage on behalf of Russia and is under United States sanctions since 20 April 2022. Other names for the former "Two-headed Eagle Society" are ALL-RUSSIAN PUBLIC ORGANIZATION SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF RUSSIAN HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT TSARGRAD or ALL-RUSSIAN PUBLIC ORGANIZATION SOCIETY FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF RUSSIAN HISTORICAL EDUCATION DOUBLE-HEADED EAGLE or ALL-RUSSIAN PUBLIC ORGANIZATION TSARGRAD or DOUBLE HEADED EAGLE SOCIETY or formerly known as SOCIETY OF THE DOUBLE-HEADED EAGLE FOR THE PROPAGATION OF RUSSIAN HISTORICAL ENLIGHTENMENT or the TSARGRAD SOCIETY .

Banned from Bulgaria On 10 September 2019 he was banned from entering Bulgaria for a period of ten years, as was Malofeev. According to investigators, Reshetnikov's organizations (RISI and the "Double-headed Eagle") paid for espionage activities in Bulgaria and supported the pro-Russia actions of the Bulgarian politician Nikolai Malinov . In particular, a memorandum was found with intentions to change the "geopolitical orientation" of Bulgaria, which was to be oriented away from the West, the European Union, and NATO and instead toward pro-Russia and pro-Putin, the creation of a television channel and an own party was supposed. (Bulgarian politician Nikolai Malinov was chairman of the 2003 founded "Russophiles" National Movement , which has as its co-chair the mayor of Kazanlak Galina Stoyanova of the Boyko Borisov headed GERB political party.) Nikolai Malinov headed the Bulgarian political party Russophiles for the Revival of the Fatherland that belongs to the Patriotic Front coalition which supports PASOK in Greece.

Personal He is married to Olga Nikolaevna Reshetnikova, Candidate of Historical Sciences.

As of late December 2023, he lives in Moscow in a 127 m² apartment at the "Mansion of Residents" or the "Residents' House" which is located on Goncharnaya Street at House No. 5 in Tagansky District.