Our own counterintelligence. Practical guide. Chapter Four. Soviet intelligence officers during the Great Patriotic War

The controversy has not subsided for many years. Most ordinary people, far from this type of activity, believe that intelligence is not a woman’s business, that this profession is purely male, requiring courage, self-control, and a willingness to take risks and sacrifice oneself in order to achieve the goal.

In their opinion, if women are used in intelligence, it is only as a “ honey trap”, that is, to seduce gullible simpletons who are carriers of important state or military secrets. Indeed, even today the special services of a number of states, primarily Israel and the United States, actively use this method to obtain classified information, however, it was adopted by counterintelligence rather than by the intelligence services of these countries.

Scout of the “Winners” squad Maria Mikota. Photo courtesy of the author

The legendary Mata Hari or the French star is usually cited as a standard for such a female intelligence officer. military intelligence of the First World War, Martha Richard. It is known that the latter was the mistress of the German naval attaché in Spain, Major von Krohn, and managed not only to find out important secrets of German military intelligence, but also to paralyze the activities of the intelligence network he created in this country. Nevertheless, this “exotic” method of using women in intelligence is the exception rather than the rule.

OPINION OF PROFESSIONALS

What do the intelligence officers themselves think about this?

It is no secret that some professionals are skeptical about female intelligence officers. As he wrote in one of his works famous journalist Alexander Kondrashov, even such a legendary military intelligence officer as Richard Sorge spoke about the unsuitability of women for conducting serious intelligence activities. According to the journalist, Richard Sorge attracted female agents only for auxiliary purposes.

At the same time, he allegedly stated: “Women are absolutely not suited for intelligence work. They have little understanding of high politics or military affairs. Even if you recruit them to spy on their own husbands, they will have no real idea what their husbands are talking about. They are too emotional, sentimental and unrealistic."

It should be borne in mind here that the outstanding Soviet intelligence officer allowed himself to make this statement during his trial. Today we know that during trial Sorge tried with all his might to get his comrades-in-arms and assistants, among whom there were women, out of harm’s way, to take all the blame upon himself, to present his like-minded people as innocent victims of his own game. Hence his desire to belittle the role of women in intelligence, limit it to solving only auxiliary tasks, and show the inability of the fair sex to work independently. Sorge knew well the mentality of the Japanese, who consider women second-class creatures. Therefore, the point of view of the Soviet intelligence officer was clear to Japanese justice, and this saved the lives of his assistants.

Among the employees foreign intelligence the expression “scouts are not born, they are made” is perceived as a truth that does not require proof. It’s just that at some point, intelligence, based on the tasks that have arisen or assigned, requires a specific person who enjoys special trust, has certain personal and business qualities, professional orientation and the necessary life experience in order to direct him to work in a specific region of the globe.

Women come to intelligence in different ways. But their choice as operatives or agents, of course, is not accidental. The selection of women for illegal work is carried out especially carefully. After all, it is not enough for an illegal intelligence officer to be good at foreign languages and the basics of intelligence art. He must be able to get used to the role, be a kind of artist, so that today, for example, he can pass himself off as an aristocrat, and tomorrow as a priest. Needless to say that most women master the art of transformation better than men?

Those intelligence officers who had the opportunity to work in illegal conditions abroad were always subject to increased demands also in terms of endurance and psychological endurance. After all, women illegal immigrants have to live for many years away from their homeland, and even organizing an ordinary vacation trip requires comprehensive and in-depth study in order to eliminate the possibility of failure. In addition, it is not always possible for a woman who is an illegal intelligence officer to communicate only with those people she likes. Often the situation is just the opposite, and you need to be able to control your feelings, which is not an easy task for a woman.

A remarkable Soviet illegal intelligence officer, who worked for more than 20 years in special conditions abroad, Galina Ivanovna Fedorova, said in this regard: “Some people believe that intelligence is not the most suitable activity for a woman. In contrast stronger sex she is more sensitive, fragile, easily wounded, more closely tied to the family, home, and more predisposed to nostalgia. By nature itself she is destined to be a mother, so the absence of children or long-term separation from them is especially difficult for her. All this is true, but the same small weaknesses of a woman give her powerful leverage in the sphere of human relationships.”

DURING THE YEARS OF THE WAR

Pre-war period and Second World War, which brought unprecedented troubles to humanity, radically changed the approach to intelligence in general and to the role of the female factor in it in particular. Most people of good will in Europe, Asia and America were acutely aware of the danger that Nazism brought to all humanity.

During the harsh years of war, hundreds of honest people different countries voluntarily linked their fate with the activities of our country’s foreign intelligence service, carrying out its tasks in different corners peace. Women intelligence officers who operated in Europe on the eve of the war and on the territory of the Soviet Union, temporarily occupied by Nazi Germany, also wrote bright pages in the chronicle of the heroic achievements of Soviet foreign intelligence.

Actively worked in Paris on Soviet intelligence on the eve of World War II, Russian emigrant, famous singer Nadezhda Plevitskaya, whose voice was admired by Leonid Sobinov, Fyodor Chaliapin and Alexander Vertinsky.

Together with her husband, General Nikolai Skoblin, she contributed to the localization of the anti-Soviet activities of the Russian All-Military Union (ROVS), which carried out Act of terrorism against Soviet Republic. Based on the information received from these Russian patriots, the OGPU arrested 17 EMRO agents abandoned in the USSR, and also established 11 terrorist safe houses in Moscow, Leningrad and Transcaucasia.

Deputy Resident in Finland and Sweden. Photo courtesy of the author

It should be emphasized that thanks to the efforts of Plevitskaya and Skoblin, among others, Soviet foreign intelligence in the pre-war period was able to disorganize the EMRO and thereby deprived Hitler of the opportunity to actively use more than 20 thousand members of this organization in the war against the USSR.

Years of hard times during the war indicate that women are capable of carrying out the most important reconnaissance missions just as well as men. Thus, on the eve of the war, the resident of Soviet illegal intelligence in Berlin, Fyodor Parparov, maintained operational contact with the source Martha, the wife of a prominent German diplomat. She regularly received information about negotiations between the German Foreign Ministry and British and French representatives. It followed from them that London and Paris were more concerned about the fight against communism than about organizing collective security in Europe and repulse fascist aggression.

Information was also received from Martha about a German intelligence agent in the General Staff of Czechoslovakia, who regularly supplied Berlin with top secret information about the state and combat readiness of the Czechoslovak armed forces. Thanks to this data, Soviet intelligence took measures to compromise him and arrest him by the Czech security authorities.

Simultaneously with Parparov in pre-war years Other Soviet intelligence officers also worked in the heart of Germany, in Berlin. Among them was Ilse Stöbe (Alta), a journalist in contact with the German diplomat Rudolf von Schelia (Aryan). Important messages were sent from him to Moscow warning of an impending German attack.

Back in February 1941, Alta announced the formation of three army groups under the command of Marshals Bock, Rundstedt and Leeb and the direction of their main attacks on Leningrad, Moscow and Kyiv.

Alta was a staunch anti-fascist and believed that only the USSR could crush fascism. At the beginning of 1943, Alta and her assistant Aryan were arrested by the Gestapo and executed along with the members of the Red Chapel.

Elizaveta Zarubina, Leontina Cohen, Elena Modrzhinskaya, Kitty Harris, Zoya Voskresenskaya-Rybkina worked for Soviet intelligence on the eve and during the war, carrying out its tasks sometimes at the risk of their lives. They were driven by a sense of duty and true patriotism, the desire to protect the world from Hitler's aggression.

The most important information during the war came not only from abroad. It also constantly came from numerous reconnaissance groups operating close to or far from the front line in temporarily occupied territory.

Readers are well aware of the name of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, whose majestic death became a symbol of courage. Seventeen-year-old Tanya, a reconnaissance fighter in a special forces group that was part of front-line intelligence, became the first of 86 women Heroes of the Soviet Union during the war period.

Women intelligence officers from the special forces detachment “Winners” under the command of Dmitry Medvedev, the operational reconnaissance and sabotage group of Vladimir Molodtsov, operating in Odessa, and many other combat units of the 4th Directorate of the NKVD, who obtained important information during the war years, also wrote unfading pages in the history of intelligence of our country. strategic information.

A modest girl from Rzhev, Pasha Savelyeva, managed to obtain and transport a sample to her squad chemical weapons, which the Nazi command intended to use against the Red Army. Captured by Hitler's punitive forces, she was subjected to monstrous torture in the Gestapo dungeons of the Ukrainian city of Lutsk. Even men can envy her courage and self-control: despite the brutal beatings, the girl did not betray her comrades in the squad. On the morning of January 12, 1944, Pasha Savelyeva was burned alive in the courtyard of the Lutsk prison.

However, her death was not in vain: the information received by the intelligence officer was reported to Stalin. The Kremlin's allies in the anti-Hitler coalition seriously warned Berlin that if Germany used chemical weapons, retaliation would inevitably follow. So, thanks to the feat of the scout, the chemical attack Germans against our troops.

Scout of the “Winners” detachment Lydia Lisovskaya was Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov’s closest assistant. Working as a waitress in the casino of the economic headquarters of the occupation forces in Ukraine, she helped Kuznetsov make acquaintances with German officers and collect information about high-ranking fascist officials in Rivne.

Lisovskaya involved her two partners in intelligence work sister Maria Mikota, who, on instructions from the Center, became a Gestapo agent and informed the partisans about all punitive raids of the Germans. Through Mikota, Kuznetsov met SS officer von Ortel, who was part of the team of the famous German saboteur Otto Skorzeny. It was from Ortel that the Soviet intelligence officer first received information that the Germans were preparing a sabotage action during a meeting of the heads of the USSR, USA and Great Britain in Tehran.

In the fall of 1943, Lisovskaya, on orders from Kuznetsov, got a job as a housekeeper for the commander of the eastern armies special purpose Major General Ilgen. On November 15, 1943, with the direct participation of Lydia, an operation was carried out to kidnap General Ilgen and transport him to the detachment.

THE COLD WAR YEARS

War hard times, from which Soviet Union came out with honor, was replaced by many years cold war. The United States of America, which had a monopoly on atomic weapons, did not hide their imperial plans and aspirations to destroy the Soviet Union and its entire population with the help of this lethal weapons. Atomic war The Pentagon planned to unleash it against our country in 1957.

It took incredible efforts on the part of our entire people, who had barely recovered from the monstrous wounds of the Great Patriotic War, and the exertion of all their strength to thwart the plans of the United States and NATO. But in order to make the right decisions, the political leadership of the USSR needed reliable information about the real plans and intentions of the American military. Female intelligence officers also played an important role in obtaining secret documents from the Pentagon and NATO. Among them are Irina Alimova, Galina Fedorova, Elena Kosova, Anna Filonenko, Elena Cheburashkina and many others.

WHAT ABOUT “COLLEAGUES”?

The years of the Cold War have faded into oblivion, today's world is safer than 50 years ago, and important role in this belongs to foreign intelligence. The changed military-political situation on the planet has led to the fact that today women are less used in operational work directly “in the field.” The exceptions here, perhaps, are again the Israeli intelligence service Mossad and the American CIA. IN last women not only perform the functions of “field” operational workers, but even head intelligence teams abroad.

Illegal intelligence officer Galina Fedorova. Photo courtesy of the author

The coming 21st century will certainly be the century of the triumph of equality between men and women, even in such a specific area human activity, as intelligence and counterintelligence work. An example of this is the intelligence services of such a conservative country as England.

Thus, the book “Scouts and Spies” provides the following information about the “elegant agents” of the British intelligence services: “More than 40% of the intelligence officers MI6 and counterintelligence MI5 of Great Britain are women. In addition to Stella Rimington, who was until recently the head of MI5, four of the 12 counter-intelligence departments are also headed by women. In a conversation with members of the British Parliament, Stella Rimington said that in difficult situations, women are often more decisive and, when performing special tasks, are less susceptible to doubts and remorse for their actions compared to men.”

According to the British, the most promising is the use of women in efforts to recruit male agents, and an increase in female personnel among the operational staff as a whole will lead to an increase in the efficiency of operational activities.

The influx of women into the intelligence services is largely due to increased Lately the number of male employees willing to leave the service and go into business. In this regard, the search and selection of candidates for work in the British intelligence services among female students of the country's leading universities has become more active.

Another sophisticated reader can probably say: “The USA and England are prosperous countries, they have the luxury of recruiting women to work in the intelligence services, even as “field players.” As for Israeli intelligence, it actively uses in its work the historical fact that women have always played and continue to play a major role in the life of the Jewish community in any country in the world. These countries are not our decree.” However, he will be wrong.

So, at the beginning of 2001, the Minister for All Intelligence Services Republic of South Africa became Lindiwe Sisulu. She was 47 years old at the time, and she was not new to the intelligence services. In the late 1970s, when the African National Congress party was still underground, it passed special training V military organization ANC "Spear of the People" and specialized in intelligence and counterintelligence.

In 1992, she headed the security department of the ANC. When a parliament united with the white minority was created in South Africa, she headed the committee on intelligence and counterintelligence. Since the mid-1990s, she worked as Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs. According to available information, the previously considered independent National Intelligence Agency also came under its control.

WHY DO INTELLIGENCE NEED THEM?

Why are women encouraged to serve in intelligence? Experts agree that a woman is more observant, her intuition is more developed, she likes to delve into details, and, as we know, “the devil himself lurks in them.” Women are more diligent, more patient, more methodical than men. And if we add their external data to these qualities, then any skeptic will be forced to admit that women rightfully occupy a worthy place in the ranks of the intelligence services of any country, being their adornment. Sometimes female intelligence officers are entrusted with carrying out operations related, in particular, to organizing meetings with agents in those areas where the appearance of men, based on local conditions, is extremely undesirable.

The combination of the best psychological qualities of both men and women conducting intelligence abroad, especially with strong point any intelligence service in the world. It is not for nothing that such intelligence tandems as Leontina and Morris Cohen, Anna and Mikhail Filonenko, Galina and Mikhail Fedorov and many others - known and unknown to the general public - are inscribed in golden letters in the history of foreign intelligence of our country.

When asked what the main qualities, in her opinion, an intelligence officer should have, one of the foreign intelligence veterans, Zinaida Nikolaevna Batraeva, answered: “Excellent.” physical training, ability to learn foreign languages ​​and the ability to communicate with people.”

And today even, unfortunately, quite rare publications in the media mass media, dedicated to the activities of female intelligence officers, convincingly indicate that in this specific sphere of human activity, representatives of the fair sex are in no way inferior to men, and in some ways they are superior to them. As history teaches intelligence services world, a woman copes excellently with her role, being a worthy and formidable opponent of a man in terms of penetration into other people's secrets.

COUNTERINTELLIGENCE ADVICE

And in conclusion, we present excerpts from lectures by one of the leading American counterintelligence officers of his time, Charles Russell, which he gave in the winter of 1924 in New York at a gathering of US Army intelligence officers. Almost 88 years have passed since then, but his advice is relevant for intelligence officers in any country to this day.

Advice to counterintelligence officers:

“Women intelligence officers are the most dangerous enemy, and they are the most difficult to expose. When meeting such women, you should not let likes or dislikes influence your decision. Such weakness can have fatal consequences for you.”

Advice to scouts:

“Avoid women. With the help of women, many good scouts were caught. Don't trust women when you're working in enemy territory. When dealing with women, never forget to play your part.

A Frenchman who had escaped from a German concentration camp stopped at a café near the Swiss border, waiting for night to fall. When the waitress handed him the menu, he thanked her, which surprised her. When she brought him beer and food, he thanked her again. While he was eating, the waitress called a German counterintelligence officer because, as she later said, such polite person couldn't be German. The Frenchman was arrested."

The basic rule of conduct for a scout:

“Beware of women! History knows many cases when women contributed to the capture of male intelligence officers. You should pay attention to a woman only if you suspect that she is an agent of the intelligence service or the enemy, and then only if you are confident that you are in complete control of yourself.

Monuments to this 18-year-old girl from Tambov region installed in many cities: in Moscow Victory Park in St. Petersburg, on the platform of the Partizanskaya metro station in Moscow, in one of the squares in Kyiv, in Saratov, Chelyabinsk, Volgograd, Kazan. Films have been made and songs written about her courage and strength of character.

A member of the sabotage and reconnaissance group of the Western Front headquarters, she became the first woman to be awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War. Posthumously.

In literature, she is described as a romantic person who reacted sharply to life's injustices. After her family moved to Moscow, the girl joined the Leninist Komsomol, read a lot, was interested in history, and dreamed of entering the Literary Institute. But the war intervened in her plans for the future, and the former ninth-grader volunteered for the front.

On October 31, 1941, she became a fighter in the reconnaissance and sabotage unit, which was called the “partisan unit 9903 of the headquarters of the Western Front.” Less than a month later she would be brutally murdered by German soldiers.

For several hours the girl was subjected to humiliation and sadistic torture. Photo: Public Domain

The girl was caught while carrying out an order stating the need to “destroy and burn to the ground all populated areas in the rear of German troops at a distance of 40-60 km in depth from leading edge and 20-30 km to the right and left of the roads.”

On November 27, together with two partisans, she set fire to three houses in the village of Petrishchevo. Unable to meet her comrades at the appointed place, the girl returned to locality, deciding to continue setting fires. On November 28, while trying to burn down a barn, she was detained by one of the local residents, who received a reward for her capture from German soldiers- a glass of vodka.

For several hours the girl was subjected to humiliation and sadistic torture. Her nails were torn out, she was flogged, and she was paraded naked through the streets. The girl did not give out the names of her comrades.

The next day Zoya was awaiting execution. They hung a sign on her chest that said “house arsonist” and led her to the gallows. Already standing on the box with a noose around her neck, she shouted: “Citizens! Don't stand there, don't look, but we need to help fight! This death of mine is my achievement.”

The Nazis filmed the girl’s death in photographs. Later, near Smolensk, photographs of Zoya’s execution were found in the possession of one of the killed Wehrmacht soldiers.

The Nazis filmed the girl’s death in photographs. Photo: Public Domain

According to legend, Joseph Stalin, having learned about the girl’s martyrdom, ordered that the soldiers of the Wehrmacht infantry regiment involved in her death not be captured.

Posthumously, Kosmodemyanskaya was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal of the Hero of the Soviet Union.

Vera Voloshina

According to legend, Vera was the same model with whom Ivan Shadr created his famous sculpture “Girl with an Oar.” Photo: Public Domain

On the same day as Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, another partisan, Vera Voloshina, died. According to one legend, a student of the State central institute physical culture was the very model with which Ivan Shadr created his famous sculpture “Girl with an Oar.”

When the war began, Vera joined the Red Army. It was in military unit No. 9903 that she met Zoya. In November, when Kosmodemyanskaya’s group set off towards Petrishchevo, Vera and her comrades came under enemy fire. For a long time the girl was listed as missing until one of the journalists found her grave. Locals they told him that on November 29, Vera was publicly hanged at the Golovkovo state farm. According to eyewitnesses, before her death, the wounded girl, bleeding, behaved very proudly. When the Nazis put a noose around her neck, she began to sing “The Internationale”.

After the invaders left Golovkovo, the locals buried her body. Later the remains were transferred to mass grave in Kryukov. Vera was 22 years old.

Valentina Oleshko

Valentina was 19 years old when she was shot by Wehrmacht soldiers.

A native of the Altai province, during the war she was trained in the intelligence department of the Leningrad Front. In the summer of 1942, she led a group of paratroopers who were sent to the Gatchina region in occupied territory to infiltrate a German intelligence group. However, almost immediately after landing the reconnaissance group was detained. Historians suggest that there could have been betrayal in this story, and the Nazis were already waiting for the scouts to arrive.

A native of the Altai province, during the war she was trained in the intelligence department of the Leningrad Front. Photo: Public Domain

Valya Oleshko and her comrades - Lena Mikerova, Tonya Petrova, Mikhail Lebedev and Nikolai Bukin - were taken to the village of Lampovo, where the counterintelligence department of the 18th Army, headed by Major Wackerbard, was located. The young people were ready that torture and death awaited them, but instead of interrogations they were placed in one of the huts and began to be put to work - they decided to recruit them. Then the reconnaissance group came up with a daring plan: Valya proposed to steal Wackerbard’s secret folder with lists of agents in Leningrad, and kidnap the major himself. She hoped to call a plane by radio, on which the chief of counterintelligence could be taken to her own people.

And the plan, which at first glance seemed completely fantastic, was practically carried out. The group was able to contact the reconnaissance radio operator working in Narva and agree on the place where the plane would be waiting for them. However, in their ranks there was a traitor who betrayed Oleshko’s plan to the fascists.

As a result, seven people, along with 19-year-old Valentina, were shot.

Maria Sinelnikova and Nadezhda Pronina

“I will never forget how they beat that girl with braids. The German has her with both the buckle and the heels of her boots, and she falls, and how she jumps up and keeps saying something to him in German, in German... But is she German, or what?.. And the other girl is sitting in corner and cries,” this is how Maria Sinelnikova and Nadezhda Pronina, a resident of the village of Korchazhkino in the Kaluga region, described the interrogation.

The girl scouts were detained near the village on January 17, 1942. On January 18, after many hours of torture, they were shot.

Maria and Nadezhda were 18 years old when they were killed by Wehrmacht soldiers. Photo: Public Domain

Maria was 17 years old when she achieved a referral to the Red Army from the Podolsk city Komsomol committee. Her father and older brother died in the first days of the war. A girl who knew how to handle weapons, was interested in parachuting and knew well German, was sent to the intelligence department of the 43rd Army of the Moscow Front.

There she met Nadezhda Pronina, who had previously worked at the Podolsk Mechanical Plant and had been trained at an intelligence school before the start of the war.

At the front, the girls were in good standing. They made fearless forays behind enemy lines and collected valuable information, which they transmitted to their comrades via radio.

Nina Gnilitskaya

The former mine worker amazed me with her strength, endurance and courage. Photo: Public Domain

Nina was born in the village of Knyaginevka (now Lugansk region) into a family of workers. After finishing seven classes, the girl went to work in a mine. In November 1941, her native village was occupied by Nazi troops. One day, without hesitation, she helped a Red Army soldier who was surrounded. At night, Gnilitskaya helped him return to the location of his military unit. Having learned that before the start of the war, the girl completed courses on studying the basics of air and chemical defense, she speaks small arms and grenades, she was asked to volunteer for the army of the Southern Front. Nina agreed and was enlisted in the 465th separate motorized rifle reconnaissance company of the 383rd rifle division.

The girl turned out to be an excellent fighter. Her skills and courage amazed many of her colleagues. During one five-hour battle, she personally killed 10 German soldiers and treated several wounded Red Army soldiers. Thanks to her bold forays behind the front line, intelligence was collected about the deployment of enemy troops in the villages of Knyaginevka, Andreevka, Vesyoloye.

In December 1941, her group was surrounded near the village of Knyaginevka. Instead of captivity, the fighters chose death on the battlefield.

Posthumously, Nina was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.

Scout of the "Winners" squad Maria Mikota.
Photo courtesy of the author

The debate about the role of the female factor in intelligence has not subsided for many years. Most ordinary people, far from this type of activity, believe that intelligence is not a woman’s business, that this profession is purely male, requiring courage, self-control, and a willingness to take risks and sacrifice oneself in order to achieve the goal. In their opinion, if women are used in intelligence, it is only as a “honey trap,” that is, to seduce gullible simpletons who are carriers of important state or military secrets. Indeed, even today the special services of a number of states, primarily Israel and the United States, actively use this method to obtain classified information, but it has been adopted by counterintelligence rather than by the intelligence services of these countries.

The legendary Mata Hari or the star of French military intelligence during the First World War, Martha Richard, are usually cited as the standard for such a female intelligence officer. It is known that the latter was the mistress of the German naval attaché in Spain, Major von Krohn, and managed not only to find out important secrets of German military intelligence, but also to paralyze the activities of the intelligence network he created in this country. Nevertheless, this “exotic” method of using women in intelligence is the exception rather than the rule.

OPINION OF PROFESSIONALS

What do the intelligence officers themselves think about this?

It is no secret that some professionals are skeptical about female intelligence officers. As the famous journalist Alexander Kondrashov wrote in one of his works, even such a legendary military intelligence officer as Richard Sorge spoke about the unsuitability of women for conducting serious intelligence activities. According to the journalist, Richard Sorge attracted female agents only for auxiliary purposes. At the same time, he allegedly stated: “Women are absolutely not suited for intelligence work. They have little understanding of high politics or military affairs. Even if you recruit them to spy on their own husbands, they will have no real idea what their husbands are talking about. They are too emotional, sentimental and unrealistic."

It should be borne in mind here that the outstanding Soviet intelligence officer allowed himself to make this statement during his trial. Today we know that during the trial, Sorge tried with all his might to get his comrades-in-arms and assistants, among whom there were women, out of harm’s way, to take all the blame upon himself, to present his like-minded people as innocent victims of his own game. Hence his desire to belittle the role of women in intelligence, limit it to solving only auxiliary tasks, and show the inability of the fair sex to work independently. Sorge knew well the mentality of the Japanese, who consider women second-class creatures. Therefore, the point of view of the Soviet intelligence officer was clear to Japanese justice, and this saved the lives of his assistants.

Among foreign intelligence officers, the expression “intelligence officers are not born, they are made” is perceived as a truth that does not require proof. It’s just that at some point, intelligence, based on the tasks that have arisen or assigned, requires a specific person who enjoys special trust, has certain personal and business qualities, professional orientation and the necessary life experience in order to send him to work in a specific region of the globe.

Women come to intelligence in different ways. But their choice as operatives or agents, of course, is not accidental. The selection of women for illegal work is carried out especially carefully. After all, it is not enough for an illegal intelligence officer to have a good command of foreign languages ​​and the basics of intelligence art. He must be able to get used to the role, be a kind of artist, so that today, for example, he can pass himself off as an aristocrat, and tomorrow as a priest. Needless to say that most women master the art of transformation better than men?

Those intelligence officers who had the opportunity to work in illegal conditions abroad were always subject to increased demands also in terms of endurance and psychological endurance. After all, women illegal immigrants have to live for many years away from their homeland, and even organizing an ordinary vacation trip requires comprehensive and in-depth study in order to eliminate the possibility of failure. In addition, it is not always possible for a woman who is an illegal intelligence officer to communicate only with those people she likes. Often the situation is just the opposite, and you need to be able to control your feelings, which is not an easy task for a woman.

A remarkable Soviet illegal intelligence officer, who worked for more than 20 years in special conditions abroad, Galina Ivanovna Fedorova, said in this regard: “Some people believe that intelligence is not the most suitable activity for a woman. In contrast to the stronger sex, she is more sensitive, fragile, easily wounded, more closely tied to the family, home, and more predisposed to nostalgia. By nature itself she is destined to be a mother, so the absence of children or long-term separation from them is especially difficult for her. All this is true, but the same small weaknesses of a woman give her powerful leverage in the sphere of human relationships.”

DURING THE YEARS OF THE WAR

The pre-war period and the Second World War, which brought unprecedented misfortunes to humanity, radically changed the approach to intelligence in general and to the role of the female factor in it in particular. Most people of good will in Europe, Asia and America were acutely aware of the danger that Nazism brought to all humanity. During the harsh years of war, hundreds of honest people from different countries voluntarily threw in their lot with the activities of our country’s foreign intelligence service, carrying out its missions in various parts of the world. Women intelligence officers who operated in Europe on the eve of the war and on the territory of the Soviet Union, temporarily occupied by Nazi Germany, also wrote bright pages in the chronicle of the heroic achievements of Soviet foreign intelligence.

The Russian emigrant and famous singer Nadezhda Plevitskaya, whose voice was admired by Leonid Sobinov, Fyodor Chaliapin and Alexander Vertinsky, actively worked in Paris for Soviet intelligence on the eve of World War II.

Together with her husband, General Nikolai Skoblin, she contributed to the localization of the anti-Soviet activities of the Russian All-Military Union (EMRO), which carried out terrorist acts against the Soviet Republic. Based on the information received from these Russian patriots, the OGPU arrested 17 EMRO agents abandoned in the USSR, and also established 11 terrorist safe houses in Moscow, Leningrad and Transcaucasia.

It should be emphasized that thanks to the efforts of Plevitskaya and Skoblin, among others, Soviet foreign intelligence in the pre-war period was able to disorganize the EMRO and thereby deprived Hitler of the opportunity to actively use more than 20 thousand members of this organization in the war against the USSR.

Years of hard times during the war indicate that women are capable of carrying out the most important reconnaissance missions just as well as men. Thus, on the eve of the war, the resident of Soviet illegal intelligence in Berlin, Fyodor Parparov, maintained operational contact with the source Martha, the wife of a prominent German diplomat. She regularly received information about negotiations between the German Foreign Ministry and British and French representatives. It followed from them that London and Paris were more concerned with the fight against communism than with organizing collective security in Europe and repelling fascist aggression.

Information was also received from Martha about a German intelligence agent in the General Staff of Czechoslovakia, who regularly supplied Berlin with top secret information about the state and combat readiness of the Czechoslovak armed forces. Thanks to this data, Soviet intelligence took measures to compromise him and arrest him by the Czech security authorities.

Simultaneously with Parparov, in the pre-war years, other Soviet intelligence officers worked in the very heart of Germany, in Berlin. Among them was Ilse Stöbe (Alta), a journalist in contact with the German diplomat Rudolf von Schelia (Aryan). Important messages were sent from him to Moscow warning of an impending German attack.

Back in February 1941, Alta announced the formation of three army groups under the command of Marshals Bock, Rundstedt and Leeb and the direction of their main attacks on Leningrad, Moscow and Kyiv.

Alta was a staunch anti-fascist and believed that only the USSR could crush fascism. At the beginning of 1943, Alta and her assistant Aryan were arrested by the Gestapo and executed along with the members of the Red Chapel.

Elizaveta Zarubina, Leontina Cohen, Elena Modrzhinskaya, Kitty Harris, Zoya Voskresenskaya-Rybkina worked for Soviet intelligence on the eve and during the war, carrying out its tasks sometimes at the risk of their lives. They were driven by a sense of duty and true patriotism, the desire to protect the world from Hitler's aggression.

The most important information during the war came not only from abroad. It also constantly came from numerous reconnaissance groups operating close to or far from the front line in temporarily occupied territory.

Readers are well aware of the name of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, whose majestic death became a symbol of courage. Seventeen-year-old Tanya, a reconnaissance fighter in a special forces group that was part of front-line intelligence, became the first of 86 women Heroes of the Soviet Union during the war period.

Women intelligence officers from the special forces detachment “Winners” under the command of Dmitry Medvedev, the operational reconnaissance and sabotage group of Vladimir Molodtsov, operating in Odessa, and many other combat units of the 4th Directorate of the NKVD, who obtained important information during the war years, also wrote unfading pages in the history of intelligence of our country. strategic information.

A modest girl from Rzhev, Pasha Savelyeva, managed to obtain and transport to her detachment a sample of chemical weapons that the Nazi command intended to use against the Red Army. Captured by Hitler's punitive forces, she was subjected to monstrous torture in the Gestapo dungeons of the Ukrainian city of Lutsk. Even men can envy her courage and self-control: despite the brutal beatings, the girl did not betray her comrades in the squad. On the morning of January 12, 1944, Pasha Savelyeva was burned alive in the courtyard of the Lutsk prison. However, her death was not in vain: the information received by the intelligence officer was reported to Stalin. The Kremlin's allies in the anti-Hitler coalition seriously warned Berlin that if Germany used chemical weapons, retaliation would inevitably follow. Thus, thanks to the feat of the intelligence officer, a chemical attack by the Germans against our troops was prevented.

Scout of the “Winners” detachment Lydia Lisovskaya was Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov’s closest assistant. Working as a waitress in the casino of the economic headquarters of the occupation forces in Ukraine, she helped Kuznetsov make acquaintances with German officers and collect information about high-ranking fascist officials in Rivne.

Lisovskaya involved her cousin Maria Mikota, who, on instructions from the Center, became a Gestapo agent and informed the partisans about all punitive raids of the Germans. Through Mikota, Kuznetsov met SS officer von Ortel, who was part of the team of the famous German saboteur Otto Skorzeny. It was from Ortel that the Soviet intelligence officer first received information that the Germans were preparing a sabotage action during a meeting of the heads of the USSR, USA and Great Britain in Tehran.

In the fall of 1943, Lisovskaya, on the instructions of Kuznetsov, got a job as a housekeeper for the commander of the eastern special forces, Major General Ilgen. On November 15, 1943, with the direct participation of Lydia, an operation was carried out to kidnap General Ilgen and transport him to the detachment.

THE COLD WAR YEARS

The hard times of war, from which the Soviet Union emerged with honor, gave way to long years of the Cold War. The United States of America, which had a monopoly on atomic weapons, did not hide its imperial plans and aspirations to destroy the Soviet Union and its entire population with the help of these deadly weapons. The Pentagon planned to start a nuclear war against our country in 1957. It took incredible efforts on the part of our entire people, who had barely recovered from the monstrous wounds of the Great Patriotic War, and the exertion of all their strength to thwart the plans of the United States and NATO. But in order to make the right decisions, the political leadership of the USSR needed reliable information about the real plans and intentions of the American military. Female intelligence officers also played an important role in obtaining secret documents from the Pentagon and NATO. Among them are Irina Alimova, Galina Fedorova, Elena Kosova, Anna Filonenko, Elena Cheburashkina and many others.

WHAT ABOUT “COLLEAGUES”?

The years of the Cold War have sunk into oblivion, today's world has become safer than 50 years ago, and foreign intelligence plays an important role in this. The changed military-political situation on the planet has led to the fact that today women are less used in operational work directly “in the field.” The exceptions here, perhaps, are again the Israeli intelligence service Mossad and the American CIA. In the latter, women not only perform the functions of “field” operational workers, but even lead intelligence teams abroad.

The coming 21st century will undoubtedly be the century of the triumph of equality between men and women, even in such a specific sphere of human activity as intelligence and counterintelligence work. An example of this is the intelligence services of such a conservative country as England.

Thus, the book “Scouts and Spies” provides the following information about the “elegant agents” of the British intelligence services: “More than 40% of the intelligence officers MI6 and counterintelligence MI5 of Great Britain are women. In addition to Stella Rimington, who was until recently the head of MI5, four of the 12 counter-intelligence departments are also headed by women. In a conversation with members of the British Parliament, Stella Rimington said that in difficult situations, women are often more decisive and, when performing special tasks, are less susceptible to doubts and remorse for their actions compared to men.”

According to the British, the most promising is the use of women in efforts to recruit male agents, and an increase in female personnel among the operational staff as a whole will lead to an increase in the efficiency of operational activities.

The influx of women into the intelligence services is largely due to the recent increase in the number of male employees who want to leave the service and go into business. In this regard, the search and selection of candidates for work in the British intelligence services among female students of the country's leading universities has become more active.

Another sophisticated reader might probably say: “The USA and England are prosperous countries; they can afford the luxury of attracting women to work in the intelligence services, even in the role of “field players.” As for Israeli intelligence, it actively uses in its work the historical fact that women have always played and continue to play a major role in the life of the Jewish community in any country in the world. These countries are not our decree.” However, he will be wrong.

So, at the beginning of 2001, Lindiwe Sisulu became the Minister of Affairs of all intelligence services of the Republic of South Africa. She was 47 years old at the time, and she was not new to the intelligence services. In the late 1970s, when the African National Congress party was still underground, she underwent special training in the ANC military organization Spear of the People and specialized in intelligence and counterintelligence. In 1992, she headed the security department of the ANC. When a parliament united with the white minority was created in South Africa, she headed the committee on intelligence and counterintelligence. Since the mid-1990s, she worked as Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs. According to available information, the previously considered independent National Intelligence Agency also came under its control.

WHY DO INTELLIGENCE NEED THEM?

Why are women encouraged to serve in intelligence? Experts agree that a woman is more observant, her intuition is more developed, she likes to delve into details, and, as we know, “the devil himself lurks in them.” Women are more diligent, more patient, more methodical than men. And if we add their external data to these qualities, then any skeptic will be forced to admit that women rightfully occupy a worthy place in the ranks of the intelligence services of any country, being their adornment. Sometimes female intelligence officers are entrusted with carrying out operations related, in particular, to organizing meetings with agents in those areas where the appearance of men, based on local conditions, is extremely undesirable.

The combination of the best psychological qualities of both men and women conducting intelligence abroad, especially from illegal positions, is the strength of any intelligence service in the world. It is not for nothing that such intelligence tandems as Leontina and Morris Cohen, Gohar and Gevork Vartanyan, Anna and Mikhail Filonenko, Galina and Mikhail Fedorov and many others - known and unknown to the general public - are inscribed in golden letters in the history of foreign intelligence of our country.

When asked what the main qualities, in her opinion, an intelligence officer should have, one of the foreign intelligence veterans, Zinaida Nikolaevna Batraeva, answered: “Excellent physical fitness, the ability to learn foreign languages ​​and the ability to communicate with people.”

And today, even, unfortunately, quite rare publications in the media devoted to the activities of female intelligence officers convincingly indicate that in this specific sphere of human activity, representatives of the fair sex are in no way inferior to men, and in some ways they are superior their. As the history of the world's intelligence services teaches, a woman copes well with her role, being a worthy and formidable opponent of a man when it comes to penetrating into other people's secrets.

COUNTERINTELLIGENCE ADVICE

And in conclusion, we present excerpts from lectures by one of the leading American counterintelligence officers of his time, Charles Russell, which he gave in the winter of 1924 in New York at a gathering of US Army intelligence officers. Almost 88 years have passed since then, but his advice is relevant for intelligence officers in any country to this day.

Advice to counterintelligence officers:

“Women intelligence officers are the most dangerous enemy, and they are the most difficult to expose. When meeting such women, you should not let likes or dislikes influence your decision. Such weakness can have fatal consequences for you.”

Advice to scouts:

“Avoid women. With the help of women, many good scouts were caught. Don't trust women when you're working in enemy territory. When dealing with women, never forget to play your part.

A Frenchman who had escaped from a German concentration camp stopped at a café near the Swiss border, waiting for night to fall. When the waitress handed him the menu, he thanked her, which surprised her. When she brought him beer and food, he thanked her again. While he was eating, the waitress called a German counterintelligence officer because, as she later said, such a polite man could not be German. The Frenchman was arrested."

The basic rule of conduct for a scout:

“Beware of women! History knows many cases when women contributed to the capture of male intelligence officers. You should pay attention to a woman only if you suspect that she is an agent of the enemy’s intelligence or counterintelligence service, and then only if you are confident that you are in complete control of yourself.”

Soviet foreign intelligence agent Margarita Konenkova lived in the United States from 1924 to 1945. She was a beauty and Albert Einstein admired her. Taking advantage of the special favor of the scientist, whom she met in 1935 in New York, she skillfully used this location to contact Robert Oppenheimer, the creator of the American atomic bomb

Exhibition, dedicated to women– employees of the Russian state security agencies, opened in Northern capital at the branch State Museum political history Russia "Gorokhovaya, 2".

“XIX - early XX centuries - time rapid development and complications public relations V Russian Empire,” the head of the museum, Lyudmila Mikhailova, told an NG correspondent. – This led to the formation of a system of political control. During this period, the Third Department of its own was created Imperial Majesty office, a separate corps of gendarmes, the police department and its divisions, etc. One of essential means political police - the use of secret agents in social and revolutionary movements. The emergence of parties, trade unions, and various public associations led to an increase and intensification of agent activity. At the beginning of the twentieth century, surveillance agents appeared. Studying archival materials related to the history of state security agencies, no matter what they are called: the Third Department, the Cheka or the KGB, we certainly come across the names of extraordinary women.”

The exhibition “Sepaulettes of a Chekist on Women’s Shoulders” introduces the fates of thirty female intelligence officers whose lives are worthy of being described in detective stories and romance novels. Women were helped to reach certain heights in intelligence by such qualities as charm, unconventional logic, cunning and a penchant for intrigue. The creators of the exhibition consider Princess Dorothea Lieven, the sister of the famous chief of gendarmes Alexander Benckendorff, to be one of the first Russian ladies to become famous in this field. She was brought up in Smolny Institute, was a maid of honor Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna, who became the wife of Paul I. She married the Minister of War, Count Christopher Lieven and was in close relations with the reigning family. In 1809, Christopher Lieven was ambassador to Berlin, and in 1812 - to London. There his wife began her intelligence career.

The princess opened a brilliant social salon in London, then, after the death of her husband, in Paris, where some interesting people visited Russian state politicians and diplomats. Dorothea Lieven had a constant correspondence on Russian foreign policy issues with Count Karl Nesselrode, the Minister of Foreign Affairs. It is known that the data collected by agent Lieven helped Emperor Alexander I correctly formulate the Russian position at the Congress of Vienna in 1814.

Dorothea's life resembles a fascinating adventure novel, and, involuntarily drawing an analogy with the fates of the heroines of Ian Fleming and Graham Greene, you understand: indeed, when women undress, men tell everything. Dorothea Lieven was not distinguished by classical beauty, but her sharp mind and some kind of magical “charm” attracted men. For ten years, Princess Lieven was the mistress of Clemens Metternich, Foreign Minister and de facto head of the Austrian government. And all this time, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Imperial Court received the most valuable information from Dorothea. The secret Lieven-Metternich channel - as a rule, encrypted messages enclosed in as many as four envelopes - was controlled not only by the minister, but also by Tsar Alexander himself, who discussed foreign policy issues with the countess and personally instructed her. Then, on behalf of the sovereign, I had to forget Metternich and start a new romance - now with the British Foreign Minister George Canning, a key figure in the political arena early XIX centuries. The romance dragged on for a decade. And Dorothea’s “swan song” was Francois Guizot, the Prime Minister of France.

“Dorothea Lieven became an agent solely out of a sense of patriotism,” says Lyudmila Mikhailova. “She had more than enough money and jewelry. The princess did not need anything. Being an ambitious woman, Dorothea Lieven sought to make her own contribution to strengthening Russia’s position on the world stage.”

Soviet foreign intelligence agent Margarita Konenkova lived in the United States from 1924 to 1945. She was a beauty and Albert Einstein admired her. Taking advantage of the special favor of the scientist, whom she met in 1935 in New York, she skillfully used this location to contact Robert Oppenheimer, the creator of the American atomic bomb. The agent managed to charm not only Einstein, but also Oppenheimer’s inner circle, which included prominent US nuclear scientists. Konenkova died in Moscow in 1980 at the age of 84.

Zoya Voskresenskaya (Rybkina) - colonel, foreign intelligence officer, honored employee of the NKVD - carried out intelligence missions in Harbin, Germany, Istanbul, Finland. The history of our intelligence included her dance with the German Ambassador to the USSR, Count Werner von Schulenburg. In May 1941, Zoya Voskresenskaya attended a reception with the ambassador in honor of the Berlin Opera ballet dancers who were then touring in Moscow. She danced a waltz with Count Schulenburg. While dancing with the ambassador, Zoya Voskresenskaya noticed that on the walls of the rooms adjacent to the hall, light square stains were visible, apparently from removed paintings. Opposite the slightly open door were piles of suitcases. The intelligence officer was also concerned about other subtle details noted in her conversation with German diplomats. The young woman concluded that the evening, so carefully planned by the German embassy, ​​was started as a diversion to refute rumors of a war allegedly being prepared against the USSR and to demonstrate commitment to the Non-Aggression Pact of 1939. This was reported to the leadership of Soviet intelligence a few hours later.

During the Second World War, Zoya Voskresenskaya was involved in the selection and deployment of reconnaissance and sabotage groups behind enemy lines; she is one of the creators of the first partisan detachment. She became the author of a unique invention for transmitting secret information. One day Zoya Voskresenskaya took a piece of the thinnest white chiffon and glued the ends of the airy material to a sheet of paper, inserted this combined layer into a typewriter and typed a code on it, the procedure for using it and the operating conditions of the radio station. Then I cut pieces of chiffon and removed it from the paper. The printed text turned out to be completely invisible - it could only be read by laying the chiffon on a white sheet of paper. Then the woman bought two exactly identical ties, ripped open one of them and cut out from its inside a piece of flannel that fits the neck. It was this that she replaced with chiffon folded eight times with text printed on a typewriter.

Among the exhibits are photographs, documents, samples of uniforms and such rare things as the dress of a wartime cryptographer or letters from “prevention” students of the 60s, when “prevention” was one of the methods of combating dissidents. The authors of the exhibition avoid political assessments and do not seek to evaluate the system.

“The security agencies, no matter what they were called - the Third Section, the Cheka or the FSB - ensured the stability and security of the state and, first of all, collected information so that the emperor, the Central Committee or the president could understand how to regulate the socio-economic processes occurring in the country ,” Lyudmila Mikhailova told an NG correspondent. “Political control exists in every state; it is impossible to do without it.”

For many years, a dispute has not subsided between historians - what role does a woman play in intelligence?

"Scout"- many people associate this profession exclusively with "male factor". Many are sure that only a woman can become a real intelligence officer. But this belief is easy to refute, since history provides us with such an opportunity. On the eve of the 71st anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, I would like to note the contribution of female intelligence officers to the defeat of Nazi Germany. The standard, the main legend of women's intelligence is considered to be the famous Matu Hari or a heroine of the First World War Martha Richard. By the way, the latter was the mistress of the German attaché in Spain. She managed not only to obtain important intelligence data, but also to paralyze the activities of an entire intelligence network that operated in this country.

But the example of Martha Richard is rather an exception; only in rare cases are scouts used as a “trap”, that is, to seduce simpletons for prey important information. Women come to intelligence in different ways, but they always undergo careful selection. They are subject to high demands - knowledge of foreign languages, psychological endurance, acting talents and much more. It is especially difficult for those ladies who work abroad and are, so to speak, in an “illegal situation.” They have to adhere to strict secrecy and communicate only with certain people. Many have been in this “situation” for 15 or even 20 years. 1930s have forced many states to reconsider the role of women in intelligence.

Scouts heroines of our time

By 1935, many people understood the danger that Nazism represented. IN terrible years During the war, a lot of people chose to connect their fate with intelligence, and to be honest, there were quite a few women among them! Many heroic deeds made by the scouts, carrying out missions, dangerous missions in different parts of the world. The tasks had to be mainly carried out in the territories of Europe and the USSR occupied by Nazi Germany. For example, even before the war they received important information from an intelligence officer operating under the pseudonym “Alta”. The agent announced the formation of three army groups, and that they would carry out their main attacks on Moscow. In 1943, Alta was arrested by Gestapo officers and executed. Zarubina E., Cohen L., Modrzhinskaya E., Kitty Harris- they all worked for Soviet intelligence before and during the Second World War. They carried out very risky tasks. What motivated these women? Firstly, this is a sense of duty, secondly, a sense of patriotism, and of course, thirdly, it is to protect the world from the genocide of Nazi Germany. The work was carried out not only abroad, but also in the occupied territories Nazi Germany. We all know the story of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya. Her action became a symbol of true courage. By the way, seventeen-year-old Z. Kosmodemyanskaya became the first woman to be awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

The feat of the scout

A simple girl P. Savelyeva from the small town of Rzhev committed a courageous act. She sent to her squad a sample of chemical weapons that Hitler wanted to use against the Red Army. The girl was captured by the Gestapo and subjected to terrible torture. But, despite all this, she did not betray her comrades. On January 12, 1944, Pasha was burned alive in the courtyard of the Lutsk prison.

Scouts eternal memory

Many more heroic deeds were performed by the scouts. The war years are over, foreign policy entered the Cold War stage. And here work continued to obtain important intelligence data. The Cold War has become history. Today the world is considered relatively safe. Women are still involved in intelligence. Many experts have repeatedly noted that a woman is more observant than a man, and she also has highly developed intuition. It’s not for nothing that the basic rule of intelligence officers is: “Beware of women! History knows many cases when women contributed to the capture of male intelligence officers. You should pay attention to a woman only if you suspect that she is an agent of the enemy’s intelligence or counterintelligence service, and then only if you are confident that you are in complete control of yourself.”