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Soviet sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko belonged to the Red Army during World War II and is believed to have killed over 300 people. Also known as Lady Death, she was awarded the Order of Lenin and was made a Hero of the Soviet Union. She later became a Soviet Navy researcher.
Best known as the coauthor of a collection of works, entitled Mitrokhin Archives, Vasily Nikitich Mitrokhin was the First Chief Directorate of the KGB before his defection to the United Kingdom. The 25,000 pages of files he had handed over became the basis of these books, the most significant of them being The KGB in Europe and the West.
Cesar Cui was a Russian composer best remembered for his association with a group called The Five, which worked to create a national style of classical music. Also a well-known music critic of his time, Cui worked hard to promote the music of other Russian composers, especially the works of his co-members from The Five.
Russian folk hero Yermak Timofeyevich was a Cossack leader was in charge of the Russian annexation of western Siberia during Tsar Ivan the Terrible’s reign. While fighting Kuchum's Tatars, he eventually died in the Irtysh river, crushed under the weight of the armor sent to him by the Tsar.
Bessarabian-Bulgarian soldier/spy Ilie V. Cătărău caused 2 bomb attacks to increase tensions between Romania and Austria-Hungary at the onset of World War I. A secret intelligence double agent, he served both Russia and Romania. He spent his later years as a fugitive in Japan, France, and the US, and eventually became a monk.
