Ex-KGB head Vitaly Fedorchuk dead at 89

MOSCOW, March 3 (UPI) -- Russia's Federal Security Service announced Monday that Vitaly Fedorchuk, the former head of the Soviet Union's KGB, has died in Moscow at the age of 89.

The service's veterans' council said Fedorchuk, who chaired the KGB -- also known as the Soviet Committee for State Security -- from May 26, 1982 to Dec. 17, 1982, died Feb. 29 after a long illness, Novosti reported Monday.

Fedorchuk, who was born in Ukraine, served as the Soviet Union's interior minister after his tenure with the KGB.

The veteran's council said a burial ceremony at Moscow's Troyekurovskoye cemetery has been scheduled for Tuesday.