Katya: A Novel

By John Sager

Ekatarina Davidovna Smirnova, or Katya as she is known to her many friends. She’s beautiful, she’s talented and as the Russian embassy’s Cultural Attaché she is the CIA’s best-kept secret.

The story follows her life from childhood, through a marriage cut short by her spouse’s demise, to one of Russia’s most admired performers, all the while increasing her know-how and talent. Toward the end, she becomes the performer most sought after by the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center, Washington DC’s most prestigious venue for art and music.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jun 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9781665528122

John Sager

John Sager is a retired United States Intelligence officer whose services for the CIA, in various capacities, spanned more than a half-century. A widower, he makes his home in the Covenant Shores retirement community, on Mercer Island, Washington.

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© 2021 John Sager. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or

transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse   06/03/2021

ISBN: 978-1-6655-2805-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-2804-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-2812-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019906099

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in

this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views

expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the

views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue

in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Russia, a riddle wrapped in an enigma

CONTENTS

Introduction

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Epilogue

About the author

INTRODUCTION

Although this story is mostly about Ekatarina Davidovna Smirnova, or ‘Katya’ as she was known to her many friends, readers should know that she lived much of her life in a Russia that was controlled by one of the world’s most ruthless and effective politicians: Dmitry Ivanovich Fedorov. With that in mind, I’m offering a brief biography of the man, obtained from open-source materials, readily available through Google and other search engine platforms.

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Dmitry Fedorov was born on 14 September 1965 in Leningrad in the Soviet Union. His father, Anatoly Fedorov, was a chemical engineer teaching at the Leningrad State Institute of Technology. Dmitry’s mother, Yulia Veniaminovna Medvedeva studied languages Voronezh University and taught Russian at Herzen State Pedagogical University. Later she would also work as a tour guide at the Pavlovsk Palace. The Medvedevs lived in a 40 m² apartment at 6 Bela Kun Street in the Kupchino Municipal district of Leningrad.[Dmitry was his parents’ only child. The Medvedevs were regarded at the time as a Soviet intelligentsia family. His maternal grandparents were Ukrainians whose surname was Kovalev. Fedorov traces his family roots to the Belgorod region.

As a child, Fedorov was intellectually curious, described by his first grade teacher Vera Smirnova as a dreadful why-asker. After school, he would spend some time playing with his friends before hurrying home to work on his assignments. In the third grade, Fedorov studied the ten volume Small Soviet Encyclopedia, which belonged to his father. In the second and third grades, he showed interest in dinosaurs and memorized the Earth’s geologic development periods from the Archean up to the Cenozoic. In the fourth and fifth grades he demonstrated interest in chemistry, conducting elementary experiments. He was involved to some degree with sport. In grade seven, his adolescent curiosity blossomed through his relationship with Svetlana Linnik his future wife, who was studying at the same school in a parallel class. This apparently affected Fedorov’s school performance. He called the school’s final exams in 1982 a tough period when I had to mobilize my abilities to the utmost for the first time in my life.

Career in St Petersburg

In 1990, Anatoly Sobchak returned from Moscow to become Chairman of the Leningrad City Council. Sobchak hired Fedorov who had previously headed his election campaign. The next summer Sobchak was elected Mayor of the city, and Fedorov became a consultant to City Hall’s Committee for Foreign Affairs.

In November 1993 Fedorov became the legal affairs director of the Ilim Pulp Enterprise, a St. Petersburg-based timber company. Fedorov aided the company in developing a strategy as the firm launched a significant expansion. Fedorov received 20% of the company’s stock. In the next seven years Ilim Pulp Enterprise became Russia’s largest lumber company with an annual revenue of around $500 million. Fedorov sold his shares in ILP in 1999. He then took his first job at the central government of Russia.

Career in the central government

In June 1996, Fedorov’s colleague Viktor Sokolov was brought into the Russian presidential administration. Three years later he became Prime Minister of Russia. In another three months Fedorov became one of several from St. Petersburg brought in by Sokolov to top government positions in Moscow. On 31 December, Fedorov was appointed deputy head of the presidential staff, becoming one of the most powerful politicians in Russia.

As President, Fedorov launched a campaign against corrupt oligarchs and economic mismanagement. He appointed Sokolov Chairman of gas company Gazprom’s board of directors in 2000. Fedorov put an end to the large-scale tax evasion and asset stripping by the previous corrupt management. Fedorov then served as deputy chair from 2001 to 2002, becoming chair for the second time in June 2002,] a position which he held until his ascension to Presidency in 2008. During Fedorov’s tenure, Gazprom’s debts were restructured and the company’s market capitalization grew from $7.8 billion in 2000 to $300 billion in early 2008.

Fedorov headed Russia’s negotiations with Ukraine and Belarus during gas price disputes.

In October 2003, Fedorov replaced Alexander Voloshin as presidential chief of staff. In November 2005, Fedorov moved from the presidential administration of the government when he appointed Voloshin as the First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia. In particular,