He graduated from the Suvorov Military School in Vladikavkaz and then from Joint Arms High Command Military Academy.[1] He then worked as a GRU intelligence officer in Singapore in 1978, in China from 1980, and in the United States from 1988. He defected to US authorities in 1992. Since then, he has worked as a consultant to the FBI and the CIA.[2] As of 2000, he remained in the FBI's Witness Protection Program.[3]