Shabtai Kalmanovich

Shabtai Kalmanovich was born in 1947 in Kaunas

Kalmanovich was born in 1947 in Kaunas, in Soviet Lithuania, to a poor Jewish family. His mother was a Holocaust survivor. He studied chemical engineering and then joined the Soviet Army.

When his family sought to emigrate to Israel, the KGB recruited him as an agent in return for exit permits. He moved to Israel with his family in 1971. There he was active in the Labor Party and worked as a parliamentary aide, which gave him access to information on Nativ.

He grew wealthy in business in Africa, including the diamond trade in Sierra Leone, and formed ties with Israeli officials and officers. His businesses began to fail in the mid-1980s, and he was arrested abroad on financial charges.

In 1987 he was arrested in Israel and confessed, and in 1988 he was sentenced to prison for spying for the Soviets. He was released early, citing poor health, and his release was linked to efforts on behalf of Ron Arad.

He later lived in Moscow, funded the basketball club Zalgiris Kaunas and was president of the Spartak Moscow women's team. He was shot dead in his car in central Moscow in 2009 and was buried in Petah Tikva. He married 3 times and had 4 children.