'The man without a face': East German spymaster gets Moscow plaque

Russia has put up a plaque commemorating former East German spy chief Markus Wolf, whose agents helped force out West German chancellor Willy Brandt.

A bronze relief created by the sculptor Vladimir Ivanov and a granite plaque have been installed on the façade of the central Moscow building where Wolf lived from 1934 to 1945 after fleeing the Nazis to Russia.

Wolf, who died aged 83 on November 9, 2006 in Berlin, served as the head of the foreign intelligence division of East Germany's Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the Stasi, for nearly 30 years.

As the Stasi's number two, he was considered by many as one of the greatest spymasters of the Cold War era, long regarded by the West as "the man without a face" as Western agencies reportedly only learned what he looked like in the late 1970s.

The infiltration of Brandt's inner circle by East German spy Günter Guillaume, whose exposure led to the chancellor's resignation in 1974, is considered Wolf's most spectacular achievement.

Head of the Russian foreign intelligence service Sergei Naryshkin praised "the unique versatility of Markus Wolf's character" at the first presentation of the plaque back in September. 

He described the late spymaster as "a man of extraordinary talents, [...] a patriot of Germany and a loyal friend of our country, an outstanding intelligence professional, a profound analyst and a gifted writer."

Wolf turned the secret service in former East Germany into one of the most powerful in the world at the time, said Naryshkin.

Wolf's wife Andrea Wolf expressed her gratitude in a letter to "all Russian friends" who had kept her late husband's memory alive, according to the Russian intelligence service.

The City of Moscow said that Wolf was being honoured because he had left his mark on the history of the Cold War.

To the left of the plaque for Wolf, an older one commemorates his father, Friedrich Wolf, a writer, and his brother, the film director Konrad Wolf, on the building's façade in Nizhny Kislovsky Lane 8.