Early revolutionary activity

During the 1905 Revolution, Zadov joined the Ukrainian anarchist movement and quickly became a committed activist.^[2] After Zadov went to work in the metallurgical factories of Yuzivka, in 1910, he joined a local anarcho-communist group and began to participate in a series of armed robberies, known as "expropriations". After robbing a post office in Karan and a bank in Debaltseve, in 1913, he was arrested for his activities as a "bezmotivnik" (English: Motiveless terrorist) and imprisoned.^[3] He was released during the February Revolution and adopted the revolutionary pseudonym of "Zinkovskyi".^[4]

Zadov then returned to Yuzivka, where he became a deputy of the local Soviet in September 1917. Following the invasion of Ukraine by the Central Powers, he became a member of the general staff for the Red Guards in Donbas. Zadov's detachment led a fighting retreat from Luhansk to Tsaritsyn, where they encountered Pyotr Krasnov's Don Army. During the course of the Battle of Tsaritsyn, Zadov rose through the ranks to become the chief of staff for Maksim Cherednyak's detachment.^[5] In late 1918, the Southern Front ordered Zadov to return to Ukraine and foment an insurgency against the occupation forces. In Yuzivka, Zadov established an anarchist combat group, which immediately joined up with Nestor Makhno's partisans in Huliaipole and helped establish a number of other insurgent detachments throughout Donbas.^[6]

Chief of the Kontrrazvedka

In March 1919, following the integration of the insurgents into the 1st Zadneprovsk Ukrainian Soviet Division, Cherednyak was dispatched to the Katerynoslav region to carry out requisitioning. This requisitioning detachment formed the basis of the Kontrrazvedka, the counterintelligence service of the Makhnovshchina, of which Zadov became a founding member.^[7] In April 1919, Zadov established sections of the Kontrrazvedka in Mariupol and Berdiansk, which were concerned with securing provisions for the army from the civilian population, either through expropriations or levies.^[8] Zadov was soon joined by former members of the Union of Poor Peasants, including Hryhory Vasylivsky, who had experience in gathering intelligence.^[9] Following the break between the Makhnovists and the Bolsheviks, and the subsequent retreat to Uman, Zadov became the Kontrrazvedka's chief of staff for the 1st Donetsk Corps of the reorganised Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine.^[10] From this position, Zadov reportedly participated in the assassination of Nykyfor Hryhoriv, who had been charged with antisemitism and collaborationism.^[11]

As the de facto chief of the Kontrrazvedka,^[12] Zadov became infamous in Bolshevik accounts of the Makhnovist conduct in the war,^[13] which described him as a "butcher" and a "common criminal",^[14] and was even investigated by a commission of the Regional Congress, due to the excesses committed under his command.^[15] Upon the insurgents' arrival at Nikopol, Zadov arrested and almost executed the local commandant, but was only dissuaded from doing so by Makhno himself.^[16] When the 1st Donetsk Corps withdrew from Oleksandrivsk on 3-4 November 1919, Zadov's Kontrrazvedka was ordered by Makhno himself to remain behind in the city and to liquidate 80 members of the anti-Makhnovist opposition, including Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries.^[17] Makhno then ordered Zadov to take 30 barrels of liquor and leave them in a nearby village, successfully distracting the pursuing forces of Andrei Shkuro,^[18] and to spread word of the Makhnovist offensive, causing peasant uprisings in the rear of the White movement.^[19] On 2 December, Zadov participated in the arrest and execution of four Bolsheviks in Oleksandrivsk, on charges of attempting to assassinate Nestor Makhno.^[20] A Soviet reported claimed that 1,000 Bolsheviks, industrial workers and state officials were killed during this period, many of them executed under Zadov's orders.^[21] This preceded a period of renewed conflict between the Makhnovists and the Bolsheviks, during which two members of the Cheka attempted to recruit Zadov over their side, but they were arrested and shot on 21 June 1920.^[22]

In the wake of the White offensive into Tavria, the insurgents began to prepare for sustained guerilla warfare in the White rear. But on 24 June, the vanguard of the insurgent cavalry was ambushed by the Red Army, wiping out three quarters of the 2,000-strong detachment and wounding Makhno himself. Zadov was held accountable for the losses, with Makhno blaming the Kontrrazvedka for not having gathered sufficient intelligence on the Red positions.^[23] Following this, Zadov joined Semen Karetnyk's detachment as a commandant and participated in the assault on Crimea, during which the Kontrrazvedka provided military intelligence for the offensive.^[24] After Pyotr Wrangel's Russian Army was vanquished, the Red Army immediately turned on the insurgents, eventually forcing the Makhnovshchina to disperse.^[25] During this period of repression, Zadov ensured the protection of Nestor Makhno at every turn.^[26] In August 1921, Zadov organised the retreat of the Makhnovist core into Romania.^[27] At the border, Zadov disguised himself and the other insurgents as members of the Red Army, accosted the border guards and disarmed them, before crossing the Dniester and leaving Ukraine behind.^[28]

Agent of the OGPU

In the Romanian capital of Bucharest,^[29] Zadov established a Makhnovist Foreign Centre, through which the insurgents aimed to prepare another anti-Bolshevik uprising in Ukraine.^[30] In 1924, Zadov was recruited by the Siguranța to infiltrate the Ukrainian Soviet state.^[31] He then crossed back over the Dniester and surrendered to the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU),^[32] which granted him amnesty and recruited him into the Soviet intelligence service.^[33] According to Jacob Gridin, a former Soviet intelligence agent, Zadov proved his fidelity to the OGPU by assassinating a French captain of the Deuxième Bureau and was even ordered by his superiors to assassinate Makhno himself.^[2]

He then moved to Tiraspol and began to carry out subversive activities in Romania, using many of his contacts in the exiled Makhnovist movement.^[30] Zadov worked with the Foreign Centre to organise safe passage for any Makhnovists who wished to return from exile and receive amnesty from the Ukrainian Soviet government. He increasingly networked with other amnestied Makhnovists and reportedly established a Makhnovist cell in Odesa, with plans to establish insurgent detachments in the wider region. But following Makhno's death in 1934, the network began to fall apart and an inquiry was initiated by the NKVD. In August 1937, the Odesa Makhnovists were exposed as part of the Great Purge, revealing 90 active dissidents within the organisation.^[34]

Zadov denied any wrongdoing and refused to inform on other members of the organisation. On 25 September 1938, he was executed in Kyiv by the NKVD and buried in Bykivnia. Zadov was formally rehabilitated by the Soviet government in 1990.^[35]