Legendary Soviet spy has died at the age of 87.

One of the legendary Soviet spies of World War II, who infiltrated British intelligence training and provided protection for the "trio" at the famous Tehran summit, has died at the age of 87, according to Russian media reports on Wednesday.

Gevork Vartanyan, codenamed Amir, infiltrated a British intelligence training course in Tehran in 1942 for Russian-speaking spies that London intended to send to the Soviet Union. According to the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), the successor organization to the infamous KGB, Vartanyan helped the Soviet Union uncover the British intelligence network in the country, even though London was then an ally of Moscow on the battlefield.

Mr. Vartanyan and his wife (Source: Telegraph)

But Vartanyan's greatest achievement was his role in ensuring security at the 1943 Tehran conference of the Allied "Troika" group: Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and US President F.D. Roosevelt.

The conference redrew the map of post-war Europe. Vartanyan, then 19 years old, led a group of Soviet spies who uncovered a Nazi plan, codenamed "Operation Long Leap," to assassinate all three Allied leaders at the conference.

"Anyone working in foreign intelligence will remember Gevork Andreyevich for his fervent love of his country and his great sacrifice for the mission," SVR spokesman Sergei Ivanov said in a statement.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called Vartanyan "a legendary spy, a true patriot, and an extraordinary personality."

"He was involved in special operations that will go down in the history of foreign intelligence," Medvedev wrote in his condolence letter to the Vartanyan family.

The SVR said in a statement on its website that Vartanyan died Tuesday in a Moscow hospital. Throughout his active life, much of which remained shrouded in secrecy, Vartanyan received unwavering support from his wife, Goar, also a spy. According to the SVR, they worked together as spies for 30 years in various countries after World War II.

The SVR has released very few details about Vartanyan's work, only stating that it was "extremely difficult and complex." They only returned to the Soviet Union in 1986, and Gevork Vartanyan continued working in intelligence until 1992.

"Everything we do is important for the country. But the most important things cannot yet be revealed," Vartanyan said before his death on Russian television channel Channel One.

Vartanyan was born in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, the son of an Iranian-Armenian factory owner, and received the highest honors and decorations from both the Soviet and Armenian states for his contributions.

His father was also a spy for the Soviet Union, which is why he brought his family back to Iran in the 1930s. At age 16, Gevork entered the intelligence profession and hunted down Nazi spies in Iran.

According to Vietnam+