Inside The KGB - Aleksei Myagkov

INSIDE
THE KGB
BY
ALEKSEI MYAGKOV
RLINGTON HOUSE-PUBLISHERS
NEW ROCHELLE, NEW YORK
Second Printing, November 1977

Copyright 1976 by Aleksei Myagkov
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced without
written permission from the publisher except by a reviewer who may quote
brief passages in connection with a review.
First American Edition
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Myagkov, Aleksei, 1945Inside the KGB.

1. Russia (1923U.S.S.R.). Komitet
gosudarstvennoi bezopasnosti. I. Title.
HV8225.M9
363.2
77-8016
ISBN 0-87000-389-5
CONTENTS
Page
Chapter 1 A watchdog slips the leash
2
3
W
K J ^ y '4/
^
5
6
7
9
10
11
12
Indoctrination and disillusionment

The Politburo's army of spies
1
9
20
The Soviet "Mafia's" network of fear 31

44
At school with the KGB
Recruitment by conviction or force
Traps for the unwary
Creating enemies to "unmask"
The privileged ones
Communism's landed gentry
Rank-and-file privations
Time for decision
Appendices
54
63
73
VZ
84
95
n114
121
CHAPTER 1
A watchdog slips the leash
T was six o'clock in the morning. I, a Captain of the Special

Department of the Soviet Committee of State Security, the KGB
a counter-intelligence officerwas in my office located at the
headquarters of a Motorised Rifle Regiment which was part of the
Soviet forces stationed in East Germany. My direct responsibility was
to safeguard the security of this regiment against the internal enemies
of the USSR and the Western intelligence services.
What had brought me at such an early hour to my office? I was
getting ready to flee to the West. This would take place the same
afternoon, and while I still had a little time, I was checking over and
over again that nothing had been forgotten: a briefcase with secret
documents; a pistol, in case my plan ran into difficulties; a waterproof
cape, which I could wear under my officer's greatcoat, so that I
could disguise myself as a civilian.
Together with a group of officers from the regiment for which I
was responsible, I was about to leave in uniform by bus in 15 minutes
for West Berlin, where I planned to make my escape. Ostensibly the
officers were going to West Berlin for a stroll in the town, but in
reality to study the military installations of the American, British
and French garrisons.
As an officer of the Special Department of the KGB, my role was
to safeguard their security; not to protect them from the plottings
of Western "aggressors", but to prevent any one of them fleeing to
the West. This was officially the reason for my presence in the bus,
but here I was, a Soviet officer, leaving the country of "happiness,
equality and brotherhood" for the world of "rotting Capitalism".
The urge to leave one's homeland would be unnatural to people in
most countries, but the governments of the Soviet blocwith the
exception of Yugoslaviakeep their citizens locked in. Communist
regimes try in every conceivable way to prevent anyone escaping
from Communism. For this reason alone, the loud pronouncements
about "happiness, equality and brotherhood" at once become suspect.
My thoughts on the bus were disturbed by the jokes and the
conversation of the officers who were with me. Some were just
talking; others cracking jokes. A young lieutenant, a doctor, and
incidentally a KGB agent recruited by me and used for keeping an
eye on his own comrades, declared in a loud voice which could
1
A WATCHDOG SLIPS THE LEASH
be heard by all in the bus: "It would be nice if we were allowed in

West Berlin to get out of the bus near a pornographic shop, so that
we could get some interesting magazines." Approving murmurs were
heard and all looked in a questioning way at me. I said jokingly to
the lieutenant that I would have to forbid him trips to the West, as
he was susceptible to Capitalist influences and indiscreet in his
relations with women. One of the officers added: "Ah Misha, you
have forgotten that a counter-intelligence chap is sitting here and
you may find yourself in gaol."
Everyone laughed, including me, though there was little to laugh
about. The lieutenant was trying to put things right and shouted to
me: "Comrade Captain, on orders from the Party, I am ready to
forget all women! " All laughed, and a major, who sat not far from
me, joined in the conversation, saying: "You, Misha, are behaving
as in the joke in which a citizen was asked under what circumstances
he would sit on a hedgehog with a bare bottom. After thinking, he
replied: Tf the hedgehog was shaved, if the bottom was someone
else's, or if it was Party orders'." The major's last words were
drowned in general laughter.
In the bus, besides this lieutenant there were two other KGB agents
who kept a watch on me. One of them, a captain, was sitting next
to me. He noticed my briefcase, pointed to it and asked in a voice
that could be heard by all: "Comrade Captain, your briefcase
probably contains secret documents which you are intending to hand
over to the West?"
"The devil has got into your mind," I thought, "if only I could
knock your block off." Aloud I said: "Of course, secret documents,
what else could it be." All smiled contentedly; it did not enter anyone's head that that was really the case. Someone commented that
my briefcase contained a tape-recorder and that I was recording
all their chatter. There was no more talk on this subject.
I sat and thought: "If only you knew, captain, that your joke was
true." My thoughts were diverted by our crossing the frontier of
East Berlin to the West. It was the American Control Point. An
American soldier stopped our bus, counted the number of people in
it and we went on into West Berlin. There we passed military installations of our "allies" and made two stops.
The first stop was at the Charlottenburg Palace, where the officers
were permitted to get out of the bus and be photographed; entry to
the building, while this was going on, was forbidden.
The second stop was at the Soviet monument, located not far from
the Brandenburg Gates.
For my escape, there was only one possibility, the stop at the
Charlottenburg Palace. My plan was to stray away from the group;
3 A WATCHDOG SLIPS THE LEASH
go into the park next to the Palace and hide my greatcoat and service
cap there. In the waterproof cape, which was under my greatcoat,
I would look like an ordinary civilian. After that, all I had to do
was to take a taxi and get to the Americans. But things do not always
work out as planned.
We arrived at the Palace, the officers left the bus and started to
take photographs. I stood not far from them, holding my briefcase.
The situation was such that I could not go into the park without
being seen. Though the distance to it was only about 100 metres, the
group of officers was standing about in such a way that the route
to the park, which I had to cross, was constantly under their observation. For this reason, I gave up my original plan and at once started
to look for another possibility.
I decided to enter the Palace and go out of its back door into the
park. But how could I get into the building without being noticed?
I looked around. The officers were still taking photographs and no
one paid any attention to me. Seizing the opportunity, I slipped into
the building. As far as I could make out, no one had noticed me;
otherwise I would have had to bring out my pistol, and this I wanted
to avoid. But as the saying goes, fortune favours the brave, and, in
this case, I was lucky.
In the Palace, a museum had been arranged and there were some
visitors. I paid no attention whatever to all this. It was essential to
act quickly, as my absence would soon be noticed by the officers.
And so, I walked faster and faster. I had to find the emergency exit
from the building into the park. But I was not alone; there were
streams of visitors in the museum. I had to go slowly to the first
floor, and pass casually through the house, while inside I was like a
coiled spring. There was not a second to lose, but I could not find the
exit into the park. Then suddenlya door! I looked around, made
sure that no one was watching and then quickly passed through the
door into a room. A key was protruding from the inner side of the
door. I locked it and then looked around to get my bearings. Around
me were pictures, picture frames and . . . yet another door! I was
on the point of checking whether this second door would open, when
I heard a rustling noise in one of the corners, which was hidden from
me by a picture. I moved across and found a small table at which an
old German was sitting, eating. Seeing me, he started in surprise and
asked in a Berlin accent: "Man! Who are you? Have I gone dotty?
Surely you are a Russian?"
"Everything is all right, daddy," I said, "enjoy your meal," and
at the same time, despite the seriousness of the situation, I burst out
laughing. I think no one could have helped laughing at seeing the
bulging eyes and strained face of the German.
I asked him whether there was an exit into the park from the
building. He replied in the affirmative and nodded in the direction
of the second door. On the old man's table I saw a telephone. "Why
not get in touch over the telephone with the police and with their
help make my next move," I thought. "Of course, that's the only
way." I asked the German to ring the police; tell them that a Soviet
officer was seeking political asylum and ask them to send a car as
soon as possible to the back entrance of the Charlottenburg Palace.
The old man did so immediately, then wanted to leave the room.
This was not to my liking, for the possibility could not be excluded
that he might tell the Soviet officers about me. So I told him politely
and firmly: "Give up all idea of leaving the room until the police
arrive. Sit here and remain quiet." I added that the door of the room
was locked, and that the key was in my possession. The old man
submitted to my demand without protest; he even declared that he
had no wish to leave me alone and would remain with pleasure. I
was glad to have an ally and praised him for his courage.
I now had to prepare for the next stage. I took off my greatcoat
and service cap and hid them behind a picture. I then put on my
civilian cape which concealed my uniform. I went to the window,
which had a curtain drawn over it, and looked carefully out into the
street. I could see the bus and the officers, who were talking excitedly
among themselves. Some of them pointed to the building in which
I was hiding.
I looked at my watch; it was exactly twelve o'clock. It was clear
that the senior Soviet officer had reported by radio what had happened
to Berlin-Karlshorst, and after half an hour, KGB groups would start
looking for me in West Berlin. If I failed to get to the police during
that critical half hour, my situation would become dangerous. Something must be done, but what? I again turned my attention to the
second door, and began to pull on the handle. It was locked. I looked
in my pockets for something that might turn the lock and felt the
key from the first door. Would it match the lock? Yes, it did. I
opened the door, looked along a corridor, and told the old man
that I would return soon. Having locked the door after me, I walked
along the corridor. At the end of it, I saw some stairs and went down
them to the ground floor. At the bottom was a heavy door, I opened
it, and . . . found myself at the back of the building. Pleased with
my discovery, I returned to the room.
Where are the police? Why are they dawdling so long? I told the
old man to ring them once more and hurry them up. He did so and
said the police would soon arrive.
I looked at the time again: it was 12.30. For me, that was now
the only hope. I could not go outside again, as the KGB groups
searching for me must be somewhere in the vicinity. In my heart I

cursed the police for their slowness. The German looked at me with
sympathetic eyes. I thanked him for his understanding.
It was already 13.00. I decided to go via the park into the town
and then get myself a taxi to the Americans. At that moment, I
heard someone's footsteps along the corridor. The thought passed
through my headwhat if it was the KGB? I got out my pistol;
released the safety catch and opened the door sharply. In the corridor,
I saw two men in civilian clothes, who, on seeing me, stopped dead
in their tracks with startled looks. "Police," shouted one of them.
He showed me his identification and asked me to put away my
weapon. Relieved, I pocketed it; returned to the room; said goodbye
to the German; picked up my greatcoat and service cap and left the
building through the back entrance with the police. I got into their
car and after only some three minutes, we were at a police station.
It turned out that the police station was opposite the Charlottenburg Palace. I complained that they had taken up so much valuable
time on such "an important and complicated" operation as crossing
the street. The policemen said that that did not depend on them,
as they had to get in touch with the British, and report everything
to them, and it was only after getting permission that they could
collect me.
At the station, I felt more confident. While I was there, the KGB
could not take any action against me. But it was premature to rejoice,
for I still had to get from the police station to a British military unit,
and that was not without risk.
The police turned out to be quite hospitable. They offered me
coffee and said that I would have to wait again, this time for the
arrival of the British Military Police. This wait lasted until 14.00
hoursa whole hour. All this made my situation considerably more
dangerous, for with each minute more and more KGB men would
appear in West Berlin. But there was nothing else I could do but
wait. The Charlottenburg Palace and the bus with the Soviet officers
could be seen from the window of the police station. The doors of
the bus were closed and the officers sat in their places. A Volga car
with a Soviet registration number stood near the bus. All this
confirmed once more that an active search was going on.
The police tried to distract me from my anxious thoughts. They
questioned me about Russia, what the weather there was like and
so forth. They displayed great curiosity about my military uniform.
Some of them asked for a souvenir. I had to cut off two buttons
from my greatcoat and hand them over. Similar requests for
souvenirs were granted more than once in the future.
At last a British Army sergeant and two privates turned up. He
appeared to be about 40 to 45 years of age, short, and not at all like

a military type, giving a homely impression. He had a kind face,
which, for some reason, looked apologetic. Moreover, his right foot
was in plaster. Limping, he approached me, and in broken Russian
asked if I really wished to remain in the West. I replied in the
affirmative, adding that one did not play about on such matters; it
could cost me my life.
The sergeant asked me if I was armed. I unfastened my tunic and
reached for my pistol, which was under my left arm. The sergeant,
noticing the movement, jumped aside, waved his arms and said that
I was not to touch my weapon. I understood that he feared what
I might do and laughingly invited him to take the pistol himself. I
remarked that perhaps he thought I belonged to some organisation
such as the Arab terrorist organisation Black September and was
about to start a war with the Western world. The sergeant made no
reply, but one could see that he was embarrassed.
After that, the four of us, the sergeant, two privates and I, made
for the exit. In the station yard I made a disagreeable discovery, my
rescuers had arrived in a military police car coloured green, with
military signs and numbers, and a warning light. Only a fire engine
could have been more conspicuous. It would not be difficult for the
searching KGB groups to identify such a car and determine where
I was. But I had no choice; we got into the car and went off. After
five minutes, we noticed that we were being followed. Without
attempting to conceal their purpose, the KGB agents' cars accompanied us right up to the entrance of the British military unit.
I was escorted into the Military Police building and put into a small
room simply furnished with a bed, table and three chairs. The window
was covered by a metal grill.
One of the soldiers remained in the room with me all the time.
I could not even visit the toilet without being accompanied. At 16.00
hours, an official appeared and informed me that London was aware
of my case and that I would soon be sent further West. I inquired
why the situation around me was so tense. He explained that my
presence at the military unit was comparable with an atom bomb
ready to go off any minute, and added: "The Russians are near, the
KGB is everywhere. Any kind of provocation can be expected and,
therefore, it will be best for everyone if we get you out of here as
quickly as possible."
After his departure, a sympathetic captain appeared and said he
would remain with me. A soldier brought me a towel and shaving
kit.
The captain explained that about 22.00 to 23.00 hours, we would
be flown to the West, and that until then we would have to remain
where we were. He said that the KGB had observation points around
the British unit and for this reason, we could only get to the aerodrome by helicopter, as a journey by car would be dangerous.
We chatted about all manner of insignificant things. Then I pointed
to the packet of razor-blades for the safety razor, saying jokingly:
"You are guarding me so well, and then you yourselves bring me
razor blades. What if I cut my veins with one of these blades?"
However, my joke was not to the captain's liking. He looked at me
curiously, then called a private and ordered him to remove the blades.
At about 22.30, two bundles of civilian clothing were brought in for
the captain and myself, and we were asked to change. I was then
briefed about the next moves. At 23.00, we were to leave the building
and get into a car, in which I must sit between two escorts. The car
would take us to the helicopter in which I, with one of my escorts,
would be taken to the airfield where a plane would be waiting.
These precautionary measures were taken because of the very
real risk of an attack by Soviet agents who might try and kidnap me.
The British had alerted one of their units to strengthen security
during the operation.
We left the building; got into the car; drove 50 metres and stopped
at the helicopter, which was waiting with its engine running. Around
us could be seen British soldiers in full battle-dress, with automatic
weapons in their hands and tense faces. With the captain, we got
into the helicopter quickly and it took off immediately.
After about ten minutes, we landed next to an aircraft and again
we lost no time in getting into our seats. Within five minutes, we
were flying to the West.
With me were two escorts and two pilots. Their expressions were
tense and I did not feel very relaxed either. The aircraft we were in
was of Second World War vintage and had a maximum speed of only
280 kms per hour. We were flying over the territory of East Germany
and, despite our two escorting fighters, there was a real chance of
being shot down by a Soviet missile "by accident". At last the long
flight over East Germany was over, and as we crossed the frontier
into West German airspace, the atmosphere in the aircraft brightened
noticeably. Everyone began to smile and the captain congratulated
me on my safe arrival in the West.
At about four o'clock in the morning, we reached our destination
at last. It was not far from Dusseldorf. The British received me
warmly; it was evident that they understood my agitation, and we
were all happy that the greatest danger was over, though not all the
problems had yet been solved.
On the day after my arrival in the WestI escaped on 2 February
1974a diplomatic war began over my body. Soviet diplomats waged
it with all the power at their disposal.

On the first day, Soviet representatives demanded categorically
several times to be given facilities to meet me in person. And every
time, they were informed by the British of my refusal to have such
a meeting, not because I was afraid, but simply because I did not see
any purpose in it. I had no intention of returning, nor any wish to
encounter threats and lies. So the first day passed.
The second day dawned. Up to twelve o'clock no one disturbed
me except two nice children, the son and daughter of the host and
hostess of the apartment. The girl was about seven, and the boy
one year younger. They were amused that an unknown uncle was
speaking in a strange language and did not want to leave my side.
This helped to distract me from unpleasant worries.
At twelve o'clock, the British passed me another offer from the
Soviet side. If I would return, they said, I would be forgiven: a
strange offer. In the first place, I had no intention of returning to
the unjust system from which I had just escaped. Secondly, I knew
only too well how the KGB and the whole Soviet system went about
forgiveness: if strictly carried out it would mean prison, Siberia, and
the usual outcome: execution. Of course, my answer was "No".
The third day brought yet another bit of news. This time three
British representatives came to see me and I was told: "The Soviet
side accuses you of being guilty of a criminal offence. We await your
official reply."
My answer was that I had not committed any criminal offence.
"Moreover," I added, "only yesterday the Soviet side itself did not
accuse me of anything and made an offer for me to return, which
surely confirms that I am not a criminal." The British were satisfied
with my answer. With that, the diplomatic war by the Soviet Union
ended. For me, a new life in the West had begun. But it is premature
to write about it. In the first place, I want to relate what forces
compelled me, a Russian counter-intelligence officer, to leave my
native country and join the emigres.
CHAPTER 2
Indoctrination and disillusionment
WAS born in 1945, in a small village in central Russia. My

parents were ordinary peasants. The family was a fairly large one,
three girls and three boys, of whom I was the eldest. Soon after
my birth, our family moved to a small town, Lebedyan, with a
population of about 30,000, where I spent my childhood.
Lebedyan is an ancient Russian town, dating back to before the
time when Russia was under the Tartar yoke. The centre of the
town lies on a hill which at one time served as a defence against
the Tartars. Later, when their grip was finally broken, the population
increased and new streets branched out from the centre. The old
names of the streets (Archers, Gunners, Cossacks) indicated the
military nature of the town as one of the country's defensive garrisons.
Now, they have been renamed Ulitsa (street of) Lenina, Karl-Marx
Street, and so on. The town is rich in ancient customs, passed down
from one generation to another.
Among the male population great importance is still attached to
such qualities as courage, strength and daring. The town is divided
symbolically into districts which compete with one another, each out
to demonstrate that its menfolk predominate in all these desirable
qualities. Rival claims are tested in sporting events, such as tug-of-war
and weight lifting. The culminating events in these competitions are
the "fisticuff" bouts. In accordance with old tradition, these take
place once a year at "maslenitsa" (Shrovetide).
The male inhabitants of both districts, from the age of 18 upwards,
assemble on a grass plot and form up into two rows opposite one
another, ready for the fight. Unwritten rules lay down that during
individual clashes, it is strictly forbidden to make use of such things
as bits of wood, stones, or even ordinary gloves. In accordance with
tradition, the fight is started by two teenage boys. This clash between
them serves as a signal for the adults awaiting the brawl, for each
side wants their particular boy to emerge as the victor.
When the single combats between the boys end, the rows of men
close in and the fisticuffs begin. The one who falls to the ground is
considered to have been defeated and departs, if capable of walking,
from the field of battle. Some fall into the arms of women spectators
who give them first-aid treatment. The winning district is the one
that loses the least combatants and forces the "enemy" to surrender.
9
10
INDOCTRINATION AND DISILLUSIONMENT
After the battle, the recent rivals, with black eyes, stroll off with
arms around each other's shoulders.
Such traditions naturally made a great impression on us boys. The
qualities that were most appreciated by us were dexterity, courage
and strength. These were demonstrated in various ways, for instance
by going fearlessly down the highest hill on skis, by swimming faster
than anyone else across a river, or by emerging victorious from a
tussle with another individual. I succeeded fairly often in emerging
as the victor from the clashes and in other forms of self-defence, so
that I enjoyed some prestige among the youthful inhabitants of the
district, although it meant that I often had to return home with black
eyes. This did not bring forth any expressions of sympathy. It merely
prompted my father to ask: "Well, tell me my herodid your enemy
after the fight also become 'coloured' or not?" After getting a reply
in the affirmative, he would say: "The most important thing after
these clashes is that you should bear no malice towards each other
and remain fair and upright."
To complain at home about anyone with whom one had had a
tiff was considered by us boys to be the greatest of crimes, and anyone
who broke this ruleeven oncelost the respect of his comrades
for ever. It was in this way that I, like most of my contemporaries,
spent much time out of doors among a circle of friends.
There was another side of my childhood: the conflict between
school and home education. The crux of this was that the Russian
people have been educated down the ages in a religious spirit, and
up to the time of the October Revolution, the Orthodox Church
played a big part in their lives. After the Revolution, with the arrival
of the Communists, a campaign was started against believers in the
Church, who were subjected to persecution in various ways. However,
despite all their efforts the Communists have failed to eradicate
religion and Christianity in Russia.
Up to the time of the Revolution, there were many churches in
our town; during my childhood only one church remained in being
for the whole town and area, the others being turned into stores,
shops and even clubs. Those who visited this one church were
shadowed and dubbed by Party functionaries as backward and
"deluded" people. But despite all this, there were many believers in
our town. Therefore, many of my contemporaries, as well as myself,
were baptised in a church. Our parents tried to implant a belief in
God in us.
At school, on the other hand, the teachers' efforts were directed
towards countering such beliefs. Every boy had to join the organisation
of Pioneers, and, later, the "glorious" Leninist Komsomol or Communist Union of Youth. Pioneers and the Komsomol members are
11
educated in the spirit of devotion to the Communist Party of the

Soviet Union. Religion and belief in God are rejected completely. It
is strictly forbidden to visit a church, and woe to the one who visited
a church, if this became known at the school. He was publicly mocked.
The teachers tried to humble him in every way possible, and life
became unbearable for him. At school assemblies, he was brought
forward in front of everyone and described as the worst pupil. And
none of us dared to come forward in his defence. All of us remained
either in cowardly silence, or even stepped forward to speak against
him. It was something akin to lynching negroes.
This was the way in which the "human" Communist educational
system started, the beginning of fear and cowardice in front of a
friend. If any one of us believed in God, he never spoke about it with
anyone for fear of being disgraced and laughed at. And this applied
to me; I, too, was afraid. I was a Pioneer and before passing out of
the school became a member of the Communist Union of Youth.
Failure to follow this course would have closed all doors to me in
further education. After leaving school, my parents wanted me to
enter an institute for higher studies, but I had my own plans. I
decided to study at a school for officers. The romance of military life
attracted me. It seemed to me then at the age of 17 that the profession
of an officer was a truly masculine one, full of danger and adventure.
So in August 1962, after passing entrance examinations, I became
a cadet at the officers' school at Ryazan, where officers for airborne
troops were trained.. I was to stay at that school for four years during
which period we were to be made into real officers.
We were given intensive and comprehensive training. The programme included military and general educational subjects. Besides
higher mathematics, foreign languages, physics, we studied various
kinds of weapons, home and foreign, shooting, jumping with a
parachute, topography, demolition work, sabotage operations and
many other activities. Particular attention was paid to physical
training.
We were indoctrinated intensively in the spirit of loyalty to
Communism and enmity towards its enemies. The education proceeded
under the slogan: "Para (Desantnik)be prepared to sacrifice yourself
in the name of your Socialist Motherland." This slogan was written
up in letters metres high on the wall of the school's club. They tried
to turn us into a suicide kind of kamikaze. We were prepared to do
anything. In operations behind the enemy's lines, we were to act
decisively and ruthlessly. Without hesitating we were to resort to
terrorism, sabotage and the killing of peaceful citizens. Anything was
permitted. "It is only in this way that a Para (Desantnik) can fulfil
his task and achieve success" we were told by our instructors, who
12
set out to give us a feeling of superiority over other mortals.

To emphasise this hardline approach, strict discipline prevailed. For
the slightest infringement, severe punishment was meted out. It was
enough to light a cigarette at the wrong moment or to appear in the
street without a greatcoat, to be put under arrest for three days. I
recall one occasion when we were loading equipment to go to a
specially equipped camp for field firing and training in sabotage
operations. We went regularly for several weeks to a site in a forest
60 km from Ryazan. Our sleeping quarters were on the third floor
of the building. Six cadets were detailed to carry down mattresses,
tied together in fives, and load them onto a lorry. Instead of carrying
them downstairs, they started to throw the mattresses out of the
window. Our platoon commander, senior Lieutenant Vilkov, was
standing below, and after the first batch was thrown from the third
floor, he roared: "Stop this outrage." The cadets either did not hear
him or pretended not to hear, and the mattresses continued to fly
down. This made Vilkov wild and he shouted something loudly. I
stood nearby and laughed uproariously. Suddenly he turned towards
me, pointed a finger and cried: "Five days arrest for you." "For
what?" I asked. "For malicious laughter."
While at the school, I not only swotted at the various subjects, but
learned to understand life. On the one hand, I was subjected to
incessant inculcation of Communist ideas, and on the other, life often
demonstrated the injustices of Soviet society. Several events made a
particularly strong impression on me. I was a cadet at the school
during the period that Khruschev was in power, or to be more
accurate, during the last few years of his rule. During this time the
"wise" policy of Khruschev led to a shortage of food in the USSR.
There was practically no meat, butter or white bread, and people had
to stand for several hours in a queue for brown bread.
We future officers did not feel these shortages to any extent and
were as usual fed excellently. But the population, the workers, suffered
greatly. We heard rumours of protests on the part of workers, but
this was remote from our life as cadets and none of us gave any
serious thought to them until one evening we were put on a state of
alert. We were formed up; ordered to take our sub-machine guns;
issued with 60 rounds each and told: "At one of the works in the
town of Ryazan a large group of hooligans has assembled and is
disturbing the social order. If the Militia cannot cope with them, we
will proceed to the seat of trouble to restore law and order."
We were ordered to remain in barracks and await further orders.
About two hours later, the alert order was cancelled and we continued
our training in the routine way. It was only later that it became
known to us, through cadets whose parents lived in Ryazan, that
13 INDOCTRINATION AND DISILLUSIONMENT
there were no hooligans whatever at those works, but that there had
been a strike by workers, who had demanded bread. It was against
them that we were to take action with weapons in our hands.
That was when I began to think: "How was it and why, that in a
workers' and peasants' state, where, according to the Communists,
power belongs to the people, we were to be sent against those very
people." I was probably not the only one to have such thoughts, but
we all remained silent, some out of fear, others simply because they
did not want to pay any attention to it: all, with one exception.
Soon after these events, a revealing incident occurred at one of
the education sessions on the history of the Communist Party of the
Soviet Union (CPSU). The lecturer, Major Yakushenko, spoke to us
about the enormous services that the Communist Party had rendered
to the Soviet people; about how well and happily the people lived.
After the lecture, he asked, as usual, whether anyone had any questions or whether anything was unclear. As a rule, no questions were
put from our side on this "very interesting subject". All of us were
in a hurry to leave the lecture room to make the fullest use of the
break between lessons. But this time, it was different.
One of our comrades, Anatoli Sinitski, surprised us all. He was a
strong chap, of small stature, who had arrived at the school from a
distant village in Belorussia, with the commonsense of a peasant, and
who seldom spoke up. And it was this unlikely youngster who stood
up in the middle of the lecture room and, in dead silence, put the
following question to the lecturer: "Well, you say that our people
are living very well; then why is it that workers go on strike?" His
question probably came as more of a surprise to the lecturer than
to us. For a few moments, the lecturer stood in silence, evidently
thinking over how he should reply to such a clearly un-Soviet question.
We, too, remained silent, startled by our colleague's boldness because
questioning of the official line could lead to him being expelled from
the school and sent to serve in the army as a private for three years.
Sinitski did not show up at the next lecture, and we saw him again
only during the evening meal in the cadets' dining room. He looked
gloomy and did not want to talk to anyone.
On the same day, in the evening, our company, which included
Sinitski, was assembled in one of the lecture rooms and the secretary
of the Party committee in the school appeared. His speech was very
short and went roughly as follows: "Comrades cadets. It is unpleasant
for me to have to say this, but among you is a person who has
incorrect un-Komsomol, views on life. You know about whom I am
speaking. I consider that there is no place for him in the Komsomol.
So, this week at the Komsomol meeting you must immediately expel
Sinitski from the Komsomol."
14
That is what would have happened to Sinitski; he would have been

thrown out of the Komsomol, and then out of the school, if other
events had not taken place. On the day after that incident, 4 October
1964, an official announcement broadcast throughout the Soviet
Union told of the removal of Khruschev from all his posts. His
errors in the management of the state were enumerated; and, of
course, all the failures of the USSR, the difficulties over foodstuffs,
were laid at his door. The Party, as always, was blameless. His
successor, Brezhnev, was also blameless, although he was chairman
of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and for a long
time had sung Khruschev's praises.
After that "Kremlin revolution", they began to explain Khruschev's
mistakes strenuously to us; to describe him as a man who lacked the
qualities to manage the state, and so forth. The Sinitski incident was
forgotten, for it turned out that he had spoken the truth. Sinitski
had been saved. For us, this incident illustrated the hypocrisy of our
idealist tutors, and for some of us, perhaps, the hypocrisy of the
whole Soviet system.
Undoubtedly hypocrisy. What other word could be used for giving
a name to the sharp switch, in one day, in the line taken by the
propaganda machine? It was only yesterday that it was being
impressed on us cadets that Khruschev was an outstanding man, and
today it turned out that he was a completely useless administrator,
who had an incorrect understanding of the problems of building up
Communism.
The period Khruschev was in power was in general an unsual one.
He was fond of appearing on radio and television with lengthy
orations to the people. He spoke of the astonishing successes in the
country's development, of the imminence of a great era of Communism and about the Soviet Union overtaking the United States
very shortly, the conditions of life for the people becoming much
better than in America.
To these assertions, the people gave an answer in their own way.
Many jokes circulated about comparisons between conditions of life
in the USSR and the USA. Here is just one of them. A delegation
of Soviet workers visited the USA; an American worker, John, invited
a Soviet worker, Ivan, to his home and showed him how he lived.
"This," said John to Ivan, "is my little house. Here is the sitting-room
for receiving guests, the nursery, the dining-room. Here is my bedroom, where I occasionally greet my mistress, and there is the bedroom
of my wife, where, in my absence she may perhaps receive her lover.
And now, tell me Ivan, how do you live in your Russia?" Ivan does
not think for long, remembering the room in the communal flat in
which he lives with his wife and two children and answers: "You
know, John, I have everything you have, only without partitions."

It was in this way that life gradually showed me the enormous
differences between the boastful propaganda of Communism and
reality. Doubts about the justice of Communism grew in me. However,
in one's youth one often lacks time to ponder deeply about life. We
strive to advance. That was the way it was with me. After training
for four years, I passed out of the school successfully and in my 21st
year got the golden epaulettes of a lieutenant. Naturally, I was pleased.
And why not, aged 21an officer. I was posted to Kaunas, to an
intelligence sub-unit of an airborne division. My independent life
had begun.
In the armed forces, I saw for the first time with my own eyes
what it was like to be a simple soldier in the Soviet army, his miserable
existence. The general discipline and conditions of life for a private
were in great contrast to those of a private in the Western armies.
During their service, Soviet privates live all the time in barracks.
They are strictly forbidden to leave the location of their unit. In
their sleeping-quarters about 60 to 80 men are accommodated together.
Each day a private is allotted duties to the last minute. Most of the
time he spends on parade. Immediately after reveille, he has to fall-in
for physical exercise, after that washing, then he marches in formation
to the mess-hall and back. After that, he falls-in for training, which
continues for six hours. Then for the midday meal, he again marches
in formation, after which he is formed-up again for further exercises.
In the evening, he is marched in strict formation to supper and back.
And before going to his sleeping quarters, he falls-in for the evening
roll-call. Sundays and other rest days differ from ordinary days in
that instead of training, sporting competitions are held and in the
evening artistic films are shown.
On a Saturday or Sunday only about 15 per cent of privates get
permission to visit the town or village near the unit for a few hours.
Leave to visit families is granted only to a few, the best of the best,
and, of course, to those whose families have suffered a serious misfortune. The rest, from the beginning to the end of their service, have
no possibility of visiting relatives.
The private gets three roubles 80 kop. a month, with which he has
to buy bootpolish, a toothbrush and toothpaste, shaving gear and, for
those who smoke, cigarettes. Soldiers are strictly forbidden to drink
spirits, or even beer.
Despite all this, the private soldier is constantly assured that the
conditions of his service are some of the best in the world, and that
all the difficulties which he encounters are the fault of Capitalists,
as they constantly threaten the Soviet Union with war.
All this made a very sombre impression on me as a youthful officer.
16
"Again injustice and lies," I thought. This applied not only to privates,
but to officers as well. For we, too, were brought up in the spirit of
enmity towards the Western nations, which were always portrayed
as instigators of another world war. The injustices of the regime in
the conditions prevalent in the army were still more evident.
All that was said by the government, by the Politburo, the Higher
Command, political officers, was correct and just; everything that did
not suit the Soviet regime was lies: the consequences of Capitalism
and ideological deviation. Towards the end of the first year of my
service as an officer, nothing was left of my youthful dreams about
the integrity and manliness of the profession of an army officer. In
reality, everything looked different. One often had to act in a way
contrary to one's convictions and conscience. "Less thought, more
discipline" was the daily command. The authority of an order was
paramount; the one who had more stars on his epaulettes was always
right.
Such a way of life did not suit me and I decided to leave the army.
But how to do this? A Soviet officer cannot leave the army just like
that; he is obliged to serve for 25 years. I was aware of only two
ways in which individual young officers managed to get out. The
first way is an illness, so serious than an officer is considered to be
unfit for further service.
The alternative is more complicated. The officer starts to commit
breaches of discipline systematically; to turn up late for duty and
to drink too much. After headquarters become fully convinced of
his incorrigibility, the officer is expelled publicly from the army with
a bad report, making it difficult for him to start a normal life as a
civilian.
Both courses seemed unacceptable to me; the first because I was
not ill; the second because it was lengthy (sometimes it took years)
and involved many unpleasantnesses. I cannot say now what I would
have done to get out of the army had I not been helped by one event.
One day several of us young officers were sitting having dinner in
one of the coffee houses in the town of Kaunas and talking about
service in the army, about mutual acquaintances and general inconsequential matters.
Suddenly the conversation brought out a point that proved to be
very important for me and, in the end played a significant role in
my life. One of the officers, Vladimir Gushchin, related what had
occurred in the case of a friend whom he had met recently. "Do you
know where he is working now?" he asked us in an awed voice, and
went on to provide the answer: "He is now an officer in the KGB."
"How did he manage that?" he was asked, one cannot leave the
army just like that. "It's different in the case of the KGB," replied
Gauschin, "the KGB can arrange anything." The officers continued

talking while I sat and thought: "Why shouldn't I try somehow to
get a job in the KGB? This would free me from the army." The
thought continued to trouble me for a long time.
At the time, I knew very little about the KGB. I had heard that
it was engaged in intelligence and fighting the enemies of the state,
and that was about as far as my knowledge extended. In the USSR,
there is almost no talk about that organisation, and if anyone speaks
of it, it is with fear. This applies to army officers too, as the power
of the KGB extends not only to the civilian population but also to the
army.
Yes, I had something to think about. By that time, my belief in
my country, the "most just and happy state in the world", had been
somewhat undermined. I had been shaken by many falsehooods and
other negative aspects of the Communist regime. The KGB was an
organisation which defended and protected that regime, and I was
faced with having to make a decision about joining it. Various factors
played their part. The main one was that at the time I was not yet
completely disillusioned with the regime. I still had some kind of
faith in the idea of Communism. Naturally intelligence attracted me
by its secrecy. Moreover, joining the KGB freed me from the army.
I decided to enter that service.
The next problem was how to achieve that objective. The KGB
is vitally concerned about the reliability of its personnel. Only the most
reliable and convinced Soviet citizenswho must be Communists
manage to get accepted. Moreover, the KGB itself finds suitable
individuals for service in it. No one was aware of my doubts about
the justice of Communism, so I could get through a check on my
reliability. It was true that I was not a Communist, but this problem
could be solved. I could become a member of the CPSU any time,
all the more so, as I had received several suggestions to this effect
from the secretary of the unit's Party organisation, which I had turned
down all the time on the grounds of my youthfulness. So, in my view
I was a suitable candidate. Yet years might elapse if I waited until
the KGB noticed me, if ever.
I decided to take action in accordance with the principle: "If the
mountain will not come to Mohammed, then Mohammed must go
to the mountain." I went to the Special Section of the KGB for the
Guards Airborne Division in. which I was serving, and asked to be
taken to the chief of this section, Lieutenant-Colonel Bloshchup. He
received me politely and expressed interest in why I had turned up.
I told him immediately of my wish to work in an organisation
concerned with state security, and made every effort to make my
request appear as convincing as possible. I said that work in intelli-
18
gence and counter-intelligence was my life's dream. I emphasised the

necessity and significance of such work for the state, and so on.
Evidently I made a favourable impression. The colonel's face
expressed satisfaction, almost pride. It looked as though he had not
heard such praises of the KGB for a long time. He questioned me
closely about my relatives, about myself, wrote something in his
notebook and said that I would get a more definite answer in a week's
time.
Exactly a week later, I was sitting once more in the same room.
This time it was the colonel who did most of the talking. He told me
that during the week the KGB had collected detailed testimonials
and other references about me. All these were satisfactory, so that
the probability of my being able to join up was not excluded, but this
would become possible only after a careful vetting of me and my
relatives.
The interview raised my hopes; all that remained was that I should
pass the family screening. This took about three months, and during
that time I had occasion to meet various KGB men; to talk to them
and to answer thousands of different questions. My capabilities and
qualities, the level of my general training and, of course, my knowledge of Marxism-Leninsm, were tested. Besides that, I had to go
before a strict medical commission.
At last, everything seemed to be over. At the beginning of December, I was summoned by Colonel Bloshchup, who congratulated me
on having passed through the vetting successfully, but added that it
was still premature for me to rejoice. I had to have an interview
with the chief of the Special Section of the KGB of the Baltic Military
District, Major-General Deev, who would convey the final decision
to me.
This interview took place about 10 December. General Deev was
a thickset man, of medium height, aged about 50, with piercing eyes
which looked at me attentively. My conversation with him was short
and general. I presented myself smartly: "Comrade General, Lieutenant Myaghov reporting to you in accordance with your orders."
"Sit down," he barked. I sat gingerly on the edge of the chair,
and waited. The general remained silent, trying only to sum me up
for about three minutes. Suddenly breaking the silence, he asked
loudly: "What is your opinion of yourself?"
What a difficult question, I thought, but answered immediately:
"High, comrade General." "You all have high opinions of yourselves
and then work badly," he growled. "Do you drink vodka?" "No,
no," I cried.
"At first all declare that they do not drink, and then later somehow
turn out to be alcoholics. Do you read books, have you a knowledge
19
of literature?""Yes, certainly, comrade General."

"Well, tell me who was the laureate this year of the Lenin award
for literature?" asked the general.
"Who the hell knows?" I thought. Now I am lost. But I mentioned
some name as a guess. The general himself evidently did not know
the answer, for he remained satisfied with my reply and even rated
the diversity of my knowledge highly.
Finally he informed me that the question of my admittance to the
KGB was settled favourably; congratulated me on such an important
event and said: "Await the order from Andropov about your inclusion
in the service of agencies of the KGB."
What an interview, I thought later; a few bad questions and all
is over. It was in that way that my work in the KGB began.
CHAPTER 3
The Politburo's army of spies
NUMBER of books and articles have already given a detailed
account of the structure of the Committee of State Security,
- its component parts, its chief directorates and departments.
I want to deal with its ramifications from the viewpoint of its creators
and of those whom it serves, the Politburo and the Soviet Government.
The KGB's role not only in espionage, but in monitoring all activities
throughout the Soviet bloc, and in penetrating and influencing
Western organisationsand even foreign policyis clearly shown in
copies of top secret documents I brought with me to the West. See
Appendices I, II and III.
What is the KGB? I will try to depict it from within.
After the October Revolution, the Bolshevik faction of the Communist Party, led by Lenin, came to power. However, the struggle
for power in Russia did not end at that point: instead it became more
bitter and bloody and fratricidal civil war began.
During that period, the survival of the Communist Bolshevik cause
was at stake. This drove the Party to wage war without pity or
scruple, using armed detachments of workers and soldiers (from which
the Red Army was later built up) which physically annihilated the
opponents of Soviet power. Party agitators and the press were used to
condition the popular masses.
On 20 December 1917, the Bolsheviks established the so-called
"Cheka" (Special Commission) to combat "counter-revolutionary and
other criminal elements". The Cheka was headed by Dzerzhinski
("Iron Felix"). It became the secret police of the Bolshevik regime.
Its members, the "Chekists", were given extensive powers which they
used to fight counter-revolutionary elements, and use them they did.
Human life had little meaning for them, as for instance during the
so-called "Red Terror" when the enemies of the Soviet Government,
numbering among them many small traders selling matches or
cigarettes on the street were executed by the Chekists at the scene
of their "crimes".
The ferociousness of the Cheka quickly became known throughout
the country and the very word "Chekist" was enough to strike terror
into the hearts of many.
The Civil War ended with the victory of the Bolsheviks and peace
returned for everyone but the Cheka, which continued its internal
20
THE POLITBURO'S ARMY OF SPIES
21
war against the enemies of Communism. During the years since the
Bolshevik regime came to power, the Cheka has developed from
a small organisation into the huge secret service of the Soviet
Government which has annhilated some 20 million innocent Soviet
citizens in its prisons and forced labour camps.
This secret service has had many names, Cheka, GPU, NKVD,
MGB. At present, it is called the KGB, the Committee of State
Security. What is the KGB today?
In a Top Secret manual for training KGB workers, Legal Statute
of the Organs of the USSR KGB (the author is named as Lunev), it
is stated: " . . . the KGB is a political working organisation of the
CPSU. The KGB and its local organs carry out their work on the
basis of the fulfilment of party directives and of the laws, decrees
and instructions of the government . . . All important questions
relative to KGB activity are previously decided by the Central
Committee of the CPSU and are enforced by KGB orders . . . "
Thus it is a component part of the Soviet Communist Party, in
fact, its armed or fighting wing. This huge organisation, employing
approximately 110,000 officials, is simultaneously responsible for
espionage, counter-espionage and the functions of a secret political
police force. For this work it is endowed with great power, extending
not only over Soviet citizens but also, to some extent, over the citizens
of other Communist states. In fulfilling the will of the Politburo and
Soviet government, the KGB exerts an influence on many important
world events.
The law setting out its basic tasks is the Statute of the Committee
of State Security attached to the Council of Ministers of the USSR.
This top secret document remains to this day the basis of the whole
organisation.
Duties of KGB organs:
1. To carry out espionage work in Capitalist countries
to ensure that agents penetrate the state, political, scientific,
technical and espionage centres of imperialist states
to penetrate the headquarters of international Capitalist
organisations with the aim of aggravating contradictions and
difficulties occurring in their activities.
to obtain reliable information revealing the political and
strategic military plans of the enemy and its espionage
agencies
to supply documentary information on the latest scientific
technical achievements
to implant agents in emigre organisations abroad and work
towards their disintegration and ideological destruction
to give the enemy misinformation for political and operational
22
purposes
2. To carry out counter-espionage work actively and aggressively,
at the same time penetrating enemy espionage organs
to find and work upon persons suspected of belonging to
imperialist espionage agencies; stop the activities of foreign
espionage officials and their agents
KGB organs operate among the population, in the Soviet
army and navy, in frontier and internal troop detachments
and at other special and particularly important points
they ensure the security of state and military secrets and
organise counter-espionage measures to protect Soviet citizens
abroad from the endeavours of imperialist espionage agencies,
as well as forestalling any betrayal of the Motherland
they carry out counter-espionage and espionage activities
against imperialist state embassies
3. They are obliged to struggle against anti-Soviet and nationalist
elements
they seek out state criminals, authors and distributors of
anti-Soviet documents
they work against church officials and members of religious
sects
they prevent undesirable links between the Catholic Church
and the Vatican
4. They make up the bodyguards of Party leaders (Members and
Candidate Members of the CC CPSU Politburo) and Government leaders
to ensure and organise governmental communications,
operate radio counter-espionage services as well as keeping
account of all working radio stations in the country at large
5. To defend the frontiers of the USSR (KGB frontier troops)
6. KGB organs carry out individual tasks entrusted to them by
the Central Committee of the CPSU and Soviet Government.
The KGB is thus faced with clear, concrete tasks, from influencing
the course of world political events to persecuting any worker dissatisfied with his living conditions, or any innocent servant of the
church.
A top secret KGB manual Organisation of KGB Counter-Espionage
Work where, in setting out 'Espionage Activity of the KGB', it is once
again emphasised that " . . . the determining factor in the espionage
activity of the KGB is the foreign policy of the Soviet Government",
will also be referred to. I shall not deal with well-known cases, such
as Britain's expulsion of more than a hundred people, namely KGB
officials engaged in espionage or other subversive activities, from the
Soviet Embassy in London, or the discovery in Belgium of a Soviet
23
agent network. It will be more productive to look at unsensational

events little-known to the general public, but nevertheless significant,
showing how Soviet security organs fulfil the task of aggravating the
contradictions which exist between member states of capitalist
organisations and blocs.
NATO was, and remains to this day, the USSR's main enemy. For
this reason Moscow has always made every effort to weaken this
organisation. One such method is its policy of working for an internal
split in NATO, and here France has been the main target in recent
years. In carrying out this policy, the Kremlin used all its resources,
working along two channels simultaneously.
One such channel was official Moscow policy. For example, there
was the conclusion of agreements between the USSR and France, and
the exchange of visits between heads of the two states. There were
meetings between representatives of the Soviet and French governments. Thus, the Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gromyko, was
in Paris from 25-30 April 1965. He met French officials for discussions
on Vietnam, Cambodia, nuclear weapons and security questions.
On 15 May of the same year, Gromyko met Couve de Murville in
Vienna and the latter visited the Soviet Union between 28 October
and 2 November of the same year. Subjects which they discussed
included the improvement of relations between their two countries,
European questions and the German problem. An agreement between
the Soviet Union and France was signed in Paris in 1965 on the
Soviet use of the French colour television system. In November 1965,
a delegation of Soviet scientists headed by Professor Sedov visited
France to discuss the launching of French satellites into the earth's
orbit with the help of Soviet rockets.
1966 was also a year of active negotiations between the Soviet
Union and France. General de Gaulle paid an official visit to the
Soviet Union between 20 June and 1 July. Peyrefitte was in the USSR
from 28 September to 11 October. On 15 October, a Soviet warship
began a week's visit to Toulon and the French Minister of Finance
and Economic Affairs, Debre, was in the Soviet Union from 16 to 20
November to discuss long-term economic and technical collaboration
between the two countries.
A series of treaties were signed between the Soviet Union and
France during 1966. On 5 May, agreement on large-scale exchanges
in nuclear research was reached between the Soviet Committee for
the Use of Atomic Energy and the French Atomic Energy Commission. On 29 September, a protocol was signed in Paris making
provision for the establishment of a Franco-Soviet Chamber of
Commerce, and, on 10 October, an agreement on technical collaboration was signed between Renault-Peugeot and the Soviet Government.
24
THE POLITBURO'S ARMY OF SPIES 24
Alongside all this, a campaign designed to prove an unbreakable

friendship between the USSR and France was carried on by the Soviet
press and radio. Newspapers and magazines published a succession
of articles telling of an historic friendship spanning many years. At
the same time, every effort was made to play on French national
feeling by emphasising France's significance as a world power and
its decisive role in Europe.
A second clandestine channel was KGB activity. Using its agents
among Soviet journalists and officials of the various agencies in
France, as well as among members of the Franco-Soviet Friendship
Society, it propagated actively among politicians the theme that the
country's political independence suffered from the fact that it was a
member of NATO and that foreign troops were stationed on its
territory, especially American troops. This same line of thought was
canvassed by KGB agents among French citizens recruited in political
circles.
On 11 March 1966, in an official note addressed to the member
countries of NATO, de Gaulle announced the withdrawal of France
from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. In accordance with
Article 9 of the North Atlantic Treaty, the withdrawal of France
from NATO was given final acknowledgement on 1 July 1967. These
measures were received with great satisfaction in Moscow. The newspapers were full of praise for the wise peaceloving actions of the
French Government. The Kremlin welcomed the very real weakening
of NATO, the more so because, as Moscow hoped, other member
countries might follow France's example. The KGB leaders also did
not hide their satisfaction at recognition of the fact that they, too,
had played their part in these events.
France's withdrawal from NATO was seized upon as an instructive
example in KGB officer courses. In 1968, the head of KGB School
No 311, in a lecture to future officers about the organisation's
activities abroad, stated plainly that, in the opinion of the Politburo,
events in France were a positive result of the efforts of the Soviet
Government and of the successes of the KGB. Many people may
object that other factors played their part in the Paris decision to
leave NATO and to forbid the stationing of foreign troops on French
territory. Be that as it may, the fact remains: in its secret deliberations, the Kremlin confirmed that the French actions reflected the
correctness of Politburo and Soviet Government policies, in which
they were actively helped by the KGB.
The European Economic Community (EEC) is also disliked in
Moscow; it prefers a disunited and weak Europe, and the policies of
the Kremlin leadership are directed towards frustrating moves towards
unity. In an attempt to split the Community, Moscow has^trigd^Q.
25
conclude bilateral agreements with individual members. Just such an

attempt was made with the Federal Republic of Germany in 1974.
The KGB, pursuing this policy, also selected weak JbJt}CHnks like
Italy and France, where Communist influence is widespread. The
Soviet radio and press, weapons in the hands of the Politburo and
government, have long been working in that direction. They regularly
Hjliris? FFC shortromirip;^ and underline the unreality of European
union.
As well as work against Europe, the KGB is widely involved in
measures against the Chinese. Since about 1971, the school of the
First Chief Directorate of the KGB has included a special Chinese
Department. Officers, who will work exclusively against China, are
trained there and the Chinese Department is represented in all
residencies in the Far East.
The KGB Directorate in Khabarovsk, a town on the Chinese border
north of Vladivostok, has a strong Third Department which works
against China. The Second Chief Directorate has cadres in KGB
Provincial Directorates who are solely concerned with work against
China.
Since 1971, the KGB has devoted much earnest effort to that target.
China is an immediate neighbour and officially the KGB regards the
situation as very serious. In 1962, when the relations between USSR
and China deteriorated, the KGB was reproached by the Government
because it was not in a position to explain what had changed in China,
what was happening there and how the situation might develop. Since]
then, the KGB's main aim has been to build up a good espionage]
system in China to collect political and military intelligence, because
at the moment it is impossible for the KGB to exercise political
influence there. The acquisition of such influence is, of course, its
eventual aim and the Politburo does not exclude the possibility that
USSR and China may later become friends once more.
For the forseeable future, it will be impossible for the KGB itself
to recruit agents in China and they must rely on the use of illegals.
In Siberia, there are a large number of Chinese, who were born there
and provide a ready source of recruits for the KGB. Also, the KGB,
under false colours, is actively recruiting agents in both Western and
Third World countries with whom the Chinese have economic and
cultural relations.
In Samarkand, there is a. school for illegals which trains mostly
agents from the Third World. Its students include Africans, Indians,
Iranians, and Asians. Courses last up to 10 years.
Besides the establishment of agents inside China, the KGB is
involved in planning measures to combat what is known as "The
Chinese Penetration Army'*. The People's Republic of China is
26
reported to have established an army of between two and three million

men for guerilla operations against Siberia. They will operate in
groups of about six men to penetrate into the hinterland and carry
out sabotage attacks. In true Chinese fashion, these groups will have
no transport or logistics but will be self-supporting. The KGB fear
they could prove a severe problem in wartime because there will be
no "front line" and Siberian roads are inadequate for large scale
army operations.
One aspect of KGB work abroad is its activities in Germany, both
in the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German
Democratic Republic (East Germany). Having spent five years on
GDR territory, I am well acquainted with its work in this area. About
60 KGB departments are allocated to the task there, with no less
than 1,500 KGB agents. The operatives enjoy almost as many rights
in East Germany as on Soviet territory, with the exception that they
cannot arrest East German citizens. This task is undertaken by the
Ministry of State Security, or MfS, of the GDR. The KGB voluntarily
divested itself of this privilege in order to demonstrate its respect,
if only outwardly, for the so-called independent East German state.
In all other respects, no deference whatever is shown to East German
sovereignty.The KGB has the right to use East Germans as agents
as a means of political control of the citizens; to use them for
espionage and counter-espionage purposes; to evaluate their political
reliability and in many cases to decide their fate. It makes full use
of the MfS and of the police and, in fact, often gives them orders.
All this is done with the knowledge and approval of the GDR government; not a vestige is left of its independence. Among themselves,
KGB officers refer to the GDR as the 16th Republic of the U S S R j
KGB agents sent to the GDR belong basically in two Directorates.
The First Chief Directorate of the KGB has about 900 people, whose
main task is espionage abroad. The Third Chief Directorate has about
600 people and their main task is the security of the Group of Soviet
Forces in Germany as well as counter-espionage directed against
West Germany and against American, British and French espionage
agencies. Of the Third Directorate workers, about 150 are concerned
solely with espionage.
About ] .200 of all KGB jvorkers in the GDR are engaged in
espionage activities directed mainly against the FRG as well as against
American, British and French troops stationed in West Germany and
in the Western Sector of Berlin. To carry out these activities and to
get information about the enemy, agents are needed in the enemy
camp. Various categories are recruited.
A small number of agents are recruited from GDR citizens who
are entitled to visit West Germany periodically. As a rule, they are
27
observation agents, i.e. they collect information of interest to the

KGB by means of visual observation. The method works as follows:
GDR resident KGB agent, Schultze, is given permission to visit
relations in town N in the FRG. The KGB knows that an American
radio unit is stationed there, o Schultze is given the task of getting
close to it while visiting his relations, and noting the numbers of
military vehicles; making a plan of the military emplacement and if
possible photographing it. Having obtained this information, the KGB
analyses what changes have taken place at the enemy encampment.
Has any new equipment or armament appeared? Has the number
of soldiers been increased?
In addition, KGB agents among the citizens are used to obtain
tip-offs. That is to say while they are in West Germany, they collect
details of the characters of FRG citizens or American, British and
French servicemen who occupy important posts, be it in state organisations, the army, espionage circles or in important industrial and
other enterprises, whom the KGB can recruit as agents at some future
date.
KGB men recruit most of the agents intended for collecting information about the enemy from among visiting West Germans. In these
operations, the KGB is "at home" on its own territory where it enjoys
full power, and this, in turn, creates favourable conditions. Such
recruitment is not a hurried affair, but is carried out after careful
preparation, and is almost always successful.
All FRG citizens who visit East Germany are recorded in the
GDR MfS and police files, while 90 per cent of them are also recorded
in KGB indexes. For every visitor from the FRG or any other A^
capitalist country (the KGB groups them all together as Westerners), ^ya
one or another department makes out a special card. This card notes
all the visitor's relations in both Germanys, information on where
he and his relatives work and whether hg or hi? relatives have access \
to secret material.
<
If the KGB agent comes to the conclusion that a Westerner by /
virtue of his official position or personal qualities is suitable, he begins ^
preparations for recruitment. This follows different patterns, the
Westerner either agrees to co-operate with the KGB for money, or he
is compelled to work for them by threat and blackmail. Sometimes
a beautfiul woman (or alternatively a handsome man) is employed.
There are, of course, the rare exceptions, where a Westerner
co-operates out of political conviction. It is an amazing fact that
the majority of recruitments of FRG and other Western citizens are
concluded successfully on GDR territory. In all probability the fact
that the victims have no way out plays an important role.
If, when someone is being recruited, neither conviction, money nor
28
blackmail helps, then the KGB employs direct threats. The Westerner
is told that if he refuses to co-operate, he will be accused of espionage
or other "subversive" activity against Soviet troops or against the
GDR, that he will be sentenced and put in gaol. This is not difficult
under "socialist law" as there is no trouble in finding witnesses and
proof. Sometimes, his relatives living in the GDR are threatened.
Subjected to pressure of this kind, the victim agrees to collaborate.
Many people will say that having been recruited in this way, he can
contact the appropriate authority when he returns to the FGR and
tell them what has happened. The KGB officers do not overlook this
possibility; they compel the recruit to sign a statement about his
"voluntary" agreement to collaborate with the KGB which is daed
some two years before^lheâctual event. This trick, as well as the
threats" aimed at relatives, cut off all escape for the reluctant new
agent. In time, he gets accustomed to his position, the more so
because his connection with the KGB brings him in money, and,
therefore, he continues to collaborate.
KGB officers also recruit agents directly on FGR territory, travelling
to Western Germany as journalists, trade representatives or in other
guises. They are particularly active in West Berlin, exploiting its status
of "a free town". Here the KGB feel quite at home; recruit agents;
arrange meetings with agents in "safe" flats; organise; bug telephone
conversations and carry on external observations. Not for nothing
did I emphasise the danger of my stay in West Berlin when describing
my flight to the West.
The 400 KGB officers responsible for counter-espionage on GDR
territory are kept busy, not only among the troops and other Soviet
citizens but among East Germans, recruiting agents and hunting spies,
"anti-socialists" and other enemies.
Assessing the results of 1,500 KGB officers' work in the GDR the
following picture emerges: about 2,000 agents from among FRG
citizens recruited and collaborating; 1,500 agents from GDR citizens;
and about 4,000 agents from among Soviet troops or citizens. Besides
the KGB officers in the GDR, collaborators also work against the
FRG, working there under the cover of the Soviet embassy or of
agency offices. It should not be forgotten that MfS works actively
against the FRG, which it considers the main target. Espionage
agencies of other East European countries do not lag far behind. To
sum up the effort of all Eastern espionage systems in West Germany,
the total of FRG citizens working for these espionage agencies can
be put at about 8,000.
It was my lot to work on GDR territory from the beginning of
1969 to the beginning of 1974, that is to say, precisely at the time
when it seemed that a new period of friendship and co-operation was
29
beginning between the Soviet Union and the Federal Republic. It

seemed at the time that this would have a great positive effect for
these two countries, and would also help the whole political atmosphere in Europe and serve as a spur to better East-West relations.
In 1969, a treaty was being prepared between the leaders of the
FRG and USSR relating to rejection of the use of force and mutual
peaceful co-operation between states. These preparations were particularly active in the first half of 1970. From 30 January to 22 May of
that year, FRG State Secretary Egon Bahr and Foreign Minister of
the USSR Gromyko were particularly concerned with these questions.
They met each other at frequent intervals and the preparatory work
was successfully completed. Real possibilities were found for the
conclusion of a treaty.
During these meetings, there was much talk of the possibility of
reducing tension between the two countries, of demonstrating friendly
intentions and mutual trust. Officially everything looked good. At
that very time, KGB Chairman Andropov, with the approval and
consent of the Politburo and the Soviet Government, issued Top
Secret KGB order No 0039 of 28 April 1970, requiring KGB
workers:
to make decisive efforts to recruit agents in the FRG
to make more active use of double-agent recruitment among
agents discovered as belonging to FRG agencies
to organise active work among FRG citizens presenting an
operational interest.
This order was received at a time when Moscow was sure of
concluding a treaty. The Kremlin also knew of the Bonn Government's intention to improve its relations with Poland, the GDR and
with other European Communist states, and was counting on the
possibility of improving the political atmosphere in Europe. Nevertheless, the Soviet Government and Politburo viewed this whole process
as a temporary manifestation and tried to extract from it the maximum
gain.
The treaty rejecting the use of force and mutual co-operation
between the FRG and the USSR was signed on 12 August 1970. The
following November, the FRG concluded a treaty with the People's
Republic of Poland (PRP) recognising the Oder-Neisse line as the
Western frontier of Poland and bilaterally rejecting the use of force.
Many leading world politicians began to speak of the goodwill of
the Soviet leadership and of a forthcoming basic improvement in
relations between East and West. But for the KGB, the lessening of
tension meant an increase in their activities in Europe. Particularly
exacting tasks were placed before those KGB workers who found
themselves in the GDR. The central KGB apparat gave them the
30
task of achieving a more active and many-sided exploitation of the

new possibilities, |as a result of the improved relations between the
two German states. It deQianded that they create a greatly expanded
agent network in the FRG.I
At the end of 1972, a treaty was concluded between the FRG and
the GDR regulating their relationship. One of the results was that
V FRG citizens had more opportunities of visiting the GDR, and this
immediately attracted the attention of the KGB leadership. In a few
, months, the staff in the GDR received an order from the KGB chairmanNo 0042 of 8 May 1973pointing out that this was a period of
great responsibility for them: they were to expand activities in all
directions, and were particularly ordered to exploit the increased
number of visits by FRG citizens. Such actions, approved by the
Politburo and government, prove that the Soviet leadership did not
really want improved relations at all with the West; some of the
concessions were made solely to obtain the maximum gain on the
political front in the future.
CHAPTER 4
The Soviet "Mafia's" network of fear
HE KGB organs, in fulfilling the role of a secret political

police force to combat anti-Soviet, nationalist and other hostile
elements in "the most just and democratic country in the
world", are endowed with such power as to nullify completely the
significance of the much-lauded Soviet Constitutionstill, incidentally,
in its Stalinistjorfliand of other laws.
In the top secret document entitled Statute of the Committee for
State Security attached to the Council of Ministers of the USSR
quoted earlier, it is stated
" . . . to fulfil the tasks set before them, KGB organs are endowed
with general and special powers."
Special Powers
KGB organs have the right:
1. To carry on operational work with agents; to maintain a
network of agents; to maintain "safe" and local reporting flats;
to organise eavesdropping activities and to undertake secret
photography.
2. To organise and carry out secret observation and to maintain
agents.
3. To take special measures to curtail criminal activity. To set
up secret control over both international and internal postal and
telegraphic communications. To employ operational printing
equipment in order to fabricate "cover" documents.
4. To check up on the behaviour of persons who have served
sentences for particularly dangerous crimes against the state.
5. To check on the coding service, on secret communications
and on security in all ministries and other official organisations,
as well as in organisations subordinate to the KGB itself.
6. To carry out investigatory work on state and other crimes
which fall within their competence; to detain or arrest suspected
persons, to make searches, confiscations etc.
7. To check documents of foreigners and Soviet citizens crossing
USSR frontiers, to check on all printed matter carried and also
on all loads transported either as hand luggage or ordinary
luggage. To check that all foreigners leave USSR territory at
the appointed time and to check on foreign personnel employed
in all means of transport.
31
32
THE SOVIET "MAFIA'S" NETWORK OF FEAR
KGB organs, being organs of state administration, are also

endowed with general powers
1. To publish obligatory state regulations and check on fulfilment of them.
2. To safeguard state secrets and limit the number of persons
permitted to work on secret documents.
3. To sanction the movement of foreigners into and out of
USSR territory.
4. To maintain working relations with and provide help to other
organisations of state administration.
5. To carry out preliminary checks and decide whether to issue
permits or not for entry into or exit from the USSR.
6. To decide on questions relative to assumption, leaving or
deprivation of Soviet citizenship. . . .
As this document demonstrates, practically nothing is beyond the
scope of the KGB on Soviet territory. Other top secret KGB documents add to the list of rights granted to Chekists by the Politburo
and Soviet Government. For example, Statute of the Committee for
State Security attached to the Council of Ministers of the USSR states
that KGB organs have the right to control international and internal
postal and telegraphic communications (while at the same time the
Soviet Constitution guarantees secrecy of correspondence). To carry
out this surveillance,[the PK service (abbreviated form Qf Russian
Perlyustratsiya KorespondentsiiSecret Censoring of Lettersnattached
to the Operational-Technical Directorate (OTU) of the" KGB was
formed. Workers belonging to this service are attached to every
Oblast Directorate of the KGB and to other KGB departments of
similar rank. They work at Oblast and other central post offices.
They are disguised as ordinary postal workers, occupy specially
separated rooms and maintain a daily check on all letters and telegrams which arrive. Total coverage is impossible, but spot checks
are made based on the tasks set by order of the KGB leadership. In
the top secret manual Fundamentals of Counter-Espionage Activities
of KGB Organsby Bannikov, it is stated that the PK service has
the following tasks:
1. To set aside, on instructions of operational KGB departments,
the international and internal correspondence of persons of
^ interest to KGB organs.
v 2. To discover the agents of foreign espionage organisations,
state criminals and authors of anonymous anti-Soviet documents
by means of comparison of handwriting used in correspondence.
3. To keep a check on everything despatched abroad and a
record of all persons carrying on a correspondence with capitalist
countries.
33
4. To check postal despatches for the presence of secret writing

and other forms of conspiratorial communication.
5. To keep a check on the internal correspondence from persons
working and residing in areas where special security regulations
are in force.
6. To carry out instructions of operational departments when
collecting correspondence from post boxes, in handing over
individual documents and in establishing addresses when handing
over correspondence addressed to post box numbers as well as
assisting KGB organs in taking legal action over documents which
provide evidence of hostile activities.
7. To set aside documents based solely on external indications.
These same tasks are specially mentioned in the order No 00220
issued by the Chairman of the KGB in 1964 which inter alia demanded
yet again ever greater use of all possibilities open to PK service. In
practice, this means that the personal letters of any Soviet citizen
may be, and frequently are, secretly checked by the KGB. Besides
opening personal correspondence, the Operational-Techincal Directorate checks on telephone conversations; organises and carries out
eavesdropping operations on persons of interest to the KGB and
carries out secret searches.
To fulfil the required secret observational work or shadowing of
both Soviet citizens and visiting foreigners, there is attached to the
Seventh Directorate of the KGB the so-called "NN" Service (External
Observation Service) which is, in fact, entitled to shadow practically
everyone.
The same manual, Fundamentals of Counter-Espionage Activities
of KGB Organs, states:
" . . . the following are objects of external scrutiny by NN
Service: "
1. Foreigners suspected of hostile activity: diplomats and officials
of other representational offices, tourists, merchant seamen,
students, press, radio and television correspondents, members of
delegations and all foreigners visiting on private business.
2. All persons in the process of being scrutinised and checked
by the KGB.
3. Criminals proved to be guilty, but not yet arrested.
4. Relations and friends of state criminals sought by the KGB.
5. All other persons whom the KGB considers it necessary to
keep under observation in the interests of the security of the
state.
One type of activity is secret observation of persons considered by
the KGB to be a potential danger to the state. These include people
who have served a sentence for some so-called state crime: be it
34
"slander on the Soviet social and state system" or "anti-Soviet propaganda and agitation". The KGB has to check on all such persons as
well as on some other citizens. In Chekist parlance such control is
called operational observation, and is organised with the help of KGB
agents, PK and NN services and other agencies.
KGB Chairman's order No 0080 of 1965 says:
" . . . Operational observationsecret scrutiny of those persons
who have served sentences for particularly dangerous crimes
against the state and also scrutiny of all persons, who because
of their past activities, present a danger for the Soviet state.
Categories of persons subject to operational observation:
"1. Former agents or officials of capitalist states who have
served sentences or who have been proved guilty though not made
to serve sentences who, because of the possibilities before them
may be of interest to the enemy.
"2. Former leaders and active participants of anti-Soviet
nationalist organisations during the Great Patriotic War.
"3. Former leaders and active participants of nationalist underground movements.
"4. Former leaders of anti-Soviet organisations in the post-war
period.
"5. Persons who occupied positions of command in the Russian
Liberation Army.
"6. Persons who have served sentences for betrayal of their
country or for attempted betrayal during the post-war period.
"7. Defectors from capitalist countries resident in the USSR.
"8. Former members of bourgeois governments.
"9. Heads and prominent members of church organisations and
sects whose ideology is anti-Soviet.
"10. Former members of foreign anti-Soviet organisations,
Trotskyists, Zionists."
The order ends:
"The aim of operational observation, the possible revelation of
efforts by the person under observation to renew his hostile
activity. Period during which observation is applicable, up to
death itself."
The KGB not only carries on the struggle against so-called "internal
enemies" but attempts to keep the population in a state, of fean-flnd
obedience. To this end, it employs a method called /'Prophylaxis".,'
For example, some Soviet citizen, say a student called Ivanov, is
interested in studying foreign literature and also takes an interest
in events abroad. Sometimes, among his fellow-students, he expresses
the view that not all is bad in Capitalist countries; that there are
some positive factors from which one can learn. Such comment would
35 THE SOVIET "MAFIA'S" NETWORK OF FEAR
become known to the KGB via an informer. Of course, Ivanov is

not an "internal enemy", because he does not condemn Soviet power.
He does not criticise the order of things but, in the opinion of the
KGB, if not stopped in time, he may become an anti-Soviet. Furthermore, the principal danger is that Ivanov may have a negative effect
on others/ The KGB official responsible for the institute where Ivanov
is studying decides to summon him for a chat. During this chat
Ivanov admits (and who would not do the same?) his "incorrect
behaviour" and gives his solemn assurance that it will never happen
again. The official condescendingly gives him to understand that he
believes him, then summons the secretary of the Komsomol organisation to which Ivanov belongs and suggest that Ivanov speak at the
next meeting to confess his sins. Ivanov, of course, agrees readily
for he knows that the KGB indulges in bad jokes, and he may be
thrown out of the institute. ^So at the next Komsomol meeting the
farce is played out. Ivanov makes a speech; beating his chest and
admitting his mistakes. A number of his colleagues speak; condemning
him and accusing him of having lost his Komsomol vigilance and so
forth./But, of course, the majority of those taking part are fully
awaTe that the cold hand of the KGB lies heavy on all. Nevertheless,
most play an active part in the show, the simple reason being fear,
which is exactly what the KGB wants.
The rules of this technique and the cases where it is to be applied
and its documentation are all specified under the orders of the KGB
Chairman^ 00225-of 1959 and 00117 of 1964:
pProphylaxislis a system embracing agents, operational work
and otfier measures to forestall the occurrence of particularly
dangerous crimes against the state as well as politically harmful
anti-social acts of Soviet citizens. Actions which call for prophylaxis:
"1. Links with foreigners for speculative and general purposes
which could be exploited by espionage agencies.
"2. Spreading information about one's work or official duties
which is not meant to be publicised, although not a matter which
concerns state or military secrets.
"3. Membership of immoral groups.
"4. Membership of sects and religious followings whose activities
are forbidden by law.
"5. Incorrect interpretation of questions relative to Soviet
Government and CPSU policies, in cases where the interpretation
is not hostile in intent.
"6. Links with nationalists, where the links have no criminal
intent.
"7. Worship of bourgeois influences."
36
After a Soviet citizen has been subjected to this treatment, the

KGB keeps him under secret surveillance for a^âr, and if he repeats
his mistake, he may be found guilty and deprived of his freedom for
a couple of years. In addition, the KGB records his name in its
special card index as being politically unreliable, which will have a
\ sp<
permanently negative effect throughout his life.
Despite all the resources at its command, the KGB would be
powerless without agents, its secret informants. Therefore, it is no
accident^thantK'e~^/a/w/e oj the KGB attached to the Council of
Ministers of the USSR states at the very beginning that "KGB organs
have the right to carry on operational work with agents and maintain
a network of agents. . . . "
JLy.
Agents (the common people themselves call them Jshgikw produce^/
the major portion of the KGB's information. Soviet society is riddled
with agents and informers. They are recruited from all levels of
society: collective farm and factory workers, students and soldiers,
heads of industrial undertakings and army officers, high-ranking
church dignitaries and scientists. Indeed, the whole Soviet Union is
covered by a KGB net, creating an atmosphere of general mistrust
and fear. Everyone suspects everyone else of being a Shpik. Many
do not even trust their near relations. Few dare to voice their real
thoughts. Jto operate an anti-Soviet underground organisation in such
an atmosphere is well-nigh impossible. This network of spies is vital
for the maintenance of the survival of the regim?^
Nationalism is one of the vulnerable parts of Soviet society.
Although official propaganda trumpets with all its might that the
nationalist question has been finally solved, and Brezhnev, in a speech
on the 50th anniversary of the formation of the USSR, stated that
a new society of nations had been formed in the USSR, the people
know that the reality is very different. The Communist regime has
forcibly united in a single state many nationalities and national
minorities. But as it was centuries ago, so it is today: Russians
remain Russians, Lithuanians remain Lithuanians, the Uzbeks are
Uzbeks, and Estonians, Estonians. Not a single nationality wishes to
disappear without trace. Many, like the Lithuanians, Estonians and
Latvians, are at present actively engaged in the struggle against
Russification. For some, the question is even more serious, for they
are struggling for their very existence. These include the Crimean
Tartars who were forcibly expelled from their native region 30 years
ago; sent to the bare Kazakh steppe and still have no right to return
to their original homeland. And that is not all, for the Soviet leadership pretends that neither the Tartars nor any problems connected
with them even exist.
In spite of all the pressures, the struggle for national independence
JLEH
still goes on. For this reason, one of the KGB's main tasks, both
internally and abroad, is to fight nationalist elements. Conscious that
it is not simple to suppress, the KGB campaigns vigorously, employing
repression and all other means at its command. The analytical service
recommends special measures for this struggle. But even the KGB is
powerless finally to suppress nationalism. Where nationalist groups
have been discovered and destroyed, new groups arise.
The top secret manual Fundamentals of Counter-Espionage Activities
of KGB Organs has a bearing on the subject. Under the heading 'The
organisation of activity of the counter-espionage apparatus of the
KGB against anti-Soviet nationalist elements', it says that the KGB
is required to carry out:
1. The struggle against subversive activities of foreign antiSoviet nationalist centres.
2. The struggle against anti-Soviet nationalist elements on Soviet
territory and to employ the necessary prophylaxis.
3. Participation in the ideological destruction of anti-Soviet
nationalist elements and the unmasking of their anti-social
essence.
Tasks in the struggle against foreign anti-Soviet nationalist centres:
1. To work for the disintegration of foreign nationalist centres.
2. To take steps to stop attempts of foreign organisations to give
organisational and ideological support to nationalist elements on
Soviet territory.
The struggle against anti-Soviet nationalist elements on Soviet
territory includes:
1. Action to stop any attempt by nationalists to create nationalist
organisations.
2. The ideological disarmament of nationalists, preparation of
material for their public disarmament.
3. Measures designed to split and completely destroy groups and
isolate any nationalist activists.
4. To carry out educational and prophylactic work aimed at
citizens making any nationalist statements whatsoever.
Measures and tactics aimed at the disintegration of nationalist
groups and their ideological disarmament:
1. To introduce via KGB agents, differences and to cause disagreements in nationalist groups.
2. With the help of experienced KGB agents to seize the
leadership of nationalist groups.
3. To compromise prominent nationalists in the eyes of their
colleagues by their supposed collaboration with KGB organs.
A description of these measures and tactics extends over several
more pages of the manual. The aim of all these recommendations
38
is to demonstrate to KGB agents that simple arrest isjipt sufficient

where nationalists are concerned. To be successful in the struggle
against a nationalist movement, it has to be destroyed from within
without allowing it to organise itself efficiently, by splitting its ranks
and by compromising its leaders. Usually they are compromised by
means of false documents fabricated by the KGB or with the help
of false witnesses who present some recognised authority of the
nationalist movement in an unfavourable light. To this end, the KGB
employs the dirtiest possible methods, basing its actions on the
principle that the end justifies the means.
Life has been particularly unpleasant recently for persons of Jewish
nationality. To be a Jew at the present time in the Soviet Union
means approximately the same as it meant in Tsarist Russia during
the reactionary Stolypin period, 1910-1912, when the very word "Jew"
was considered an insult. All manner of restrictions have been introduced: they are not sent to work abroad; not allowed to take part
in secret work; forbidden to work on defence projects, and young
Jews are frequently denied places in institutes.
Those who apply for exit visas for Israel are regarded by the KGB
as enemies. It puts them under round-the-clock observation and
collects information in order to be able to put them behind bars.
This is done on orders from the Chairman of the KGB. Order No
13 SS of 1973 is entitled On the Commencement of Operational
observation of persons of Jewish nationality who have been refused
exit visas to Israel and is signed: Yu Andropov. If Jews are persecuted
by order of the Chairman of the KGB it implies that it is being done
with the approval and permission of the Politburo and Soviet Government.
The KGB also gives religious representatives no peace. The
Orthodox and Catholic. Church, the Lutherans, members of various
sects and simple believers of all denominations are all classed as
enemies of Communism, and are to be kept under permanent surveillance. How could it be otherwise? They believe in God, a belief
categorically denied by Communists. It simply means that they do
not fully accept the Communist idea, and do not agree with the
teaching of the great Lenin himself. All of this means that they are
regarded as a danger, and the avenging sword of the working class,
the Cheka, falls upon their heads. But does that avenging sword
really belong to the working class?
This is how the KGB functions within a country recognising no
law or human rights; employing all its powers and insidious methods;
stopping at nothing; rapacious and without mercy. One would have
thought that in such an atmosphere no one would dare to embark
on anything opposed to the regime.
But in spite of all the KGB's power, in spite of harsh laws and an
army of agents and informers, people can be found who speak out
against the policies of the Politburo and the Government. There are
even those who sometimes attempt to form underground organisations.
Yet others, avoiding criticism of the system, simply speak up in
defence of the church, of human rights or of some kind of nationalist
cause. The majority of such brave souls fall before the avenging arm
of the KGB. Many disappear for ever in countless camps or prisons
or end their days in psychiatric hospitals or lunatic asylums. They are
consumed in today's Gulag Archipelago. Few people hear of their
fate; the KGB knows TTow to keep secrets. Those who have managed
to save themselves can be counted on one's fingers. These are the
people who became known to world opinion like Solzhenitsyn,
Maximov, Sakharov and Litvinov. They are the exceptions, while
thousands upon thousands of unknown people perish between the
KGB millstones. Some day perhaps monuments will be erected in
Russia in their honour.
But sometimes the KGB treats even famous people without mercy.
Certain facts which at one time were the centre of attention have
still never been fully explained, as the truth of the matter was always
carefully hidden on the Soviet side and above all by the KGB itself.
There is the case of General Peter Grigorenko who dared to criticise
the Soviet leadership, and several times suffered repression and persecution by the KGB. In 1964, on the instructions of the KGB, he was
confined for two years in a psychiatric clinic. However, repression
and persecution did not break the will of General Grigorenko and
after his release from the clinic, he continued his personal war against
the Soviet regime. In 1969, he was arrested by the KGB and in
February 1970 he was once again declared to be mentally ill and
sent for compulsory treatment to a psychiatric clinic in the town of
Kazan, in which he was still confined in June 1974. Articles appeared
in the Western press about his case. Some wrote that General
Grigorenko was a healthy man suffering repression at the hands of
the KGB, others cast doubt over his health.
In fact Grigorenko's "mental illness" was invented by the KGB. He
became really ill as a result of several years spent in a psychiatric
hospital where he was forcibly treated with various medical preparations which destroyed his nervous system. When the former general
became only half a man, he was finally freed in the summer of 1974
and Western correspondents were given the opportunity to photograph
him so that the world could see his face and its signs of madness.
And who would look any better than he did after so many years of
maltreatment?
General Grigorenko's case was handled by KGB Colonel Ivan
40
Tarasovich Shilenko and other officers. Later Shilenko was transferred

to the GDR, where from 1968-71 he was Deputy Head of the KGB
Special Department for 20th Guards Army and, therefore, at that
time one of my chiefs. In 1970, he held an operational seminar for
officers of the Special Department located in Bernau, where I was
serving. The subject of the conference was "the struggle against antiSoviet elements among Soviet army troops". The conversation turned
to General Grigorenko's case. One of the officers asked Shilenko
whether General Grigorenko ever suffered mental disease. Shilenko
stated plainly that he never had any mental illness, but that he was
anti-Soviet and did not agree with Politburo policies. Shilenko
explained that it was quite impossible to try an army general for
anti-Soviet crimes as that would have attracted the attention of world
opinion. For that reason, he was pronounced abnormal and sent for
psychiatric treatment where they would "make" him mad. Now Ivan
Tarasovich Shilenko has retired on a pension and lives in Moscow.
The case of Pyotr Yakir is another notable example of KGB
methods. His father was a famous army commander during the Civil
War who in 1937 on Stalin's orders was shot by the Chekists. Ever
since his childhood, Yakir himself had wandered from one Soviet
prison or forced labour camp to another, starting, it is true, in those
designed for children. He had spent the not inconsiderable total of
13 years in such places. After Stalin's death, Yakir was released and
his father was rehabilitated. He became an active fighter for justice
and for civil rights in the Soviet Union, and for this, he was repeatedly
persecuted by the KGB, Nevertheless, he pursued his struggle
courageously. In June 1972, it became publicly known that he had
once again been arrested and in the summer of 1973 civil proceedings
against him were begun. He was charged with working for the
Russian anti-Communist organisation, NTS.
The Soviet press published details of the trial of Yakir and of his
accomplices. In a speech which was published, Yakir spoke of his
mistakes; defended the Soviet social system and made a full admission
of his guilt. He was sentenced to three years deprivation of liberty
and to three years of exile following his release. Why, after so many
years of obstinate struggle, had he suddenly surrendered and accepted
his guilt?
The fact was that he had lived through so many trials, prisons,
camps, persecutions and many other injustices, that his health had
become affected, and there was permanent nervous tension. He could
stand it no longer and began to drink too much. The KGB noted the
fact and devised a plan. They not only made him an alcoholic, but
set an experienced agent to work who turned Yakir into a morphia
addict. His will was broken, and he was spiritually destroyed, which
explains his behaviour during his trial.

In November 1973, Yakir was released and he is at present living
in exile in the Moscow region.
Yakir's case was cited to KGB workers as a good example of how
to combat anti-Soviet elements by using all possibilities. All workers
involved in the case were highly praised. It was emphasised that not
only had they been able to disarm Yakir without creating a commotion, but that they had also compelled him to speak out in public
and make a self-accusation.
So in this latter part of the 20th century, the KGB is able to use
prisons and camps and send healthy individuals for fearful treatment
in psychiatric hospitals and lunatic asylums in defiance of world
opinion. It is vital that every possible measure should be taken to
stop crimes of this sort; otherwise, what is the point of compiling a
"UN Declaration of Human Rights"?
The USSR is indeed a police state, but of a special kind. Firstly, it
is well camouflaged on the outside by a thin veneer of democracy.
The Constitution is replete with such conceptions as "freedom of the
press", "freedom of the individual", "freedom of conscience". All of
this was written with world opinion, not the Soviet citizen, in mind.
For the citizens, instead of those freedoms "guaranteed" by the
Constitution, there is only the KGB, which in practice recognises no
laws at all; the militia; the procurator's office; the criminal code and
the courts. Adding to the camouflage effect are phrases about brotherhood, freedom, liberty and equality that jump out at you from the
vast display of posters all over the Soviet Union.
Secondly, this police state is isolated from the rest of the world.
World opinion knows very little of its internal workings. The majority
of Soviet citizens live totally isolated from the outside world. From
childhood and throughout their lives, they are subjected to intensive
propaganda praising the Soviet system as the most just in the world,
bringing with it liberation for all mankind; whereas the capitalist
world is depicted as being totally inhuman. The ordinary Soviet citizen
receives no other trustworthy information about the world. He has
no means of getting any; he cannot buy Western newspapers or
magazines, and Soviet newspapers usually carry only negative information about the Western world; the unemployed, price rises, crises
and so on. This vacuum prevents the man-in-the-street from comparing
life in his own country with that in other countries, so he concludes
that although his own life is far from easy, and he is frequently
deprived of the right to express opinions, he is better off than in the
Western world where those "cursed capitalists" do as they please
with the workers.
It is true that more recently the flow of information about the
42
/
L^
outside world has improved a little with the - generally improved

standards of education and development of communication techniques.
Ja movement for the defence of human rights has arisen amongst the
intelligentsia] They demanded more information about world events
and democratisation of the Soviet system. The leadership is aware
of this and continues energetic opposition to the Western initiative
aimed at the free exchange of ideas and information between
countries.
Thirdly, the Soviet state is a structure of steps in a pyramid form.
At the apex stand the highest Party leaders, the Politburo, Candidate
Members of the Politburo and the Government. Party officials of one
rank lower status assist them in governing the population. These
officials include Secretaries of the CC of the CPSU, secretaries of
the Communist Parties of the Union Republics, and, to some extent,
the secretaries of the Oblast Committees of the Party and of Krai
Committees of the Party who are members of the CC CPSU.
So-called "nomenclature workers" of the CC of the CPSU carry
out Party policy in the republics. These workers are Party members
who occupy responsible posts falling within the appointment sphere
of the CC of the CPSU. Such responsible posts include those of
Ministers and Deputy Ministers in the USSR and in the Union
Republics, and the majority of responsible posts in industry, the
scientific world and the armed forces.
The whole of this Party apparatus, from the Politburo down to
the lowest nomenclature worker of the CC CPSU (and of course the
majority of KGB workers fall into this category) may be termed a
"Mafia" which keeps all the nations of the Soviet Union in subordination and fear. The top ranks of the "Mafia", the Politburo
and the Government, enjoy unlimited power. Everything belongs to
them, including the people, the country, not to mention their material
benefits.
Secretaries of the Communist Parties of the Union Republics and
lesser areas do not enjoy the same unlimited power. They have to
carry out the will of the top echelons of the "Mafia", but they do
command enough power to control the masses over whom they are
given sway and they also enjoy enormous material privileges. The
other members of the "Mafia" enjoy the rights and privileges which
correspond to their position in the hierarchy.
To control the broad mass of the people, they make use of such
organs as the police (almost the whole of the KGB belongs to the
"Mafia", as it is its bodyguard or avenging arm), the judiciary, the
internal troops, the convoy troops and the army. The "Mafia" controls
A territorial administrative unit usually containing an autonomous Oblast
or region within its boundaries.
1
the mass information media (radio, press, publishing) which are used
in the ideological conditioning of the masses.
The next step down from the "Mafia" is occupied by high-ranking
and highly-paid representatives of the heads of large industrial enterprises, a section of top-ranking officers of the armed forces and some
scientists, all of whom are Party members. A step lower come the
ordinary scientific workers, ordinary officers, engineers and some
members of the intelligentsia. And so on down to the very last step,
the workers and peasants who also have their own worker aristocracy,
activists and shock workers.
Such a step-shaped structure creates its own peculiar system of
self-oppression. Representatives of each step in the structure are
automatically obliged, because of their fear of losing their privileges,
to show their devotion to the system, and to defend it. All this makes
it possible for the Politburo and the Soviet Government to keep the
tasseseyen-more tightly-under-therr-control.
Thus, these three additions to the Soviet police systemi.e. its

/camouflage in the form of a democratic state, its isolation and general
deception of the population and the step-shaped structure of society,
help to ensure the survival of tjie system.
CHAPTER 5
At school with the KGB
N late December 1967, soon after my interview with General

Deev, two orders arrived at the unit in which I was serving. One
of them was from the Soviet Minister of Defence in which it was
stated that I had been discharged from the Soviet Army; and the
other was from the Chairman of the KGB, Yury Andropov, confirming my inclusion into the agencies of the Soviet State Security,
with retention of my rank as lieutenant.
Within three days, I completed all the formalities in handing over
to an officer who had arrived as a replacement. After a farewell
party I had arranged in the evening for my friends, my service
in the ranks of the Soviet Army came to an end. Next day I reported
to the Special Section of the KGB where Lieutenant Colonel
Bloshchuk informed me that I was to proceed for training to KGB
School No 311 in Novosibirsk, the biggest town in Siberia. It plays
a significant role in the economic, political and cultural development
of Siberia. In it are to be found largescale heavy industries, the
Siberian branch of the Academy of Science of the USSR, scientific
research and other institutes. There are also a number of important
projects of the defence industry.
Outwardly, the town makes a pleasant impression with wide,
straight streets and pale-coloured buildings. During the short summer,
with its green parks and alleys, Novosibirsk looks even more attractive.
The KGB school, in the main street, named Krasny Prospekt, is in a
massive four-storey building standing apart from other houses. Its
size is such that it can house all that is necessary for the training and
day-to-day life of the KGB students, accommodating the educational
block, with its laboratories, class-rooms, lecture and sporting halls, the
library, living quarters for officers under training and their mess-hall.
On the day of my arrival at the school, I reported to the duty
officer. He checked my papers and recorded me in the list of officers
who, at the age of 25, represented a cross-section of the armed forces:
motorised-riflemen, missile troops, sailors, frontier guards and many
others. Each year the school turns out about 300 KGB officers.
Training demanded great effort. We had to master all the techniques
of counter-intelligence and the methods of secret police; for, as already
mentioned, the KGB is not only concerned with intelligence and
counter-intelligence, but it is also the political police. We studied
44
AT SCHOOL WITH THE KGB
45
subjects known as "special disciplines". Only some of the studies

had overt designations like criminal law, the history of KGB departments, scientific Communism, and criminal proceedings at law. Most
of the time was allocated to the study of the special disciplines. Here
I want to unveil them:
Special discipline No 1, operational activities of KGB departments.
Special discipline No 2, the intelligence and counter-intelligence
departments of the main enemies (USA, German Federal
Republic, Britain, France, Israel).
Special discipline No 5, work of the KGB in war.
Special discipline No 6, intelligence activities of the KGB.
And there were many others. Some of these disciplines warrant
greater detail.
Special discipline No 1 is the main one in the training of officers
at School No 311. Its significance is quite evident from its designation,
operational activities of KGB departments. Much attention was paid
to counter-intelligence. Here we studied the following questions:
The task of KGB departments.
The agents branch of departments (i.e. the selection and
preparation of individuals for recruitment as agents, training
and education of agents, methods of working with them, etc).
Conducting various operations (combined operations,
"games").
Misinformation.
Work against enemy intelligence services.
Work against anti-Soviet personalities.
Work against the church and sects.
Work against the intelligentsia.
Countering the "ideological diversions" of the enemy.
The KGB makes use of the most varied methods. I want to describe
some of those we studied to use in recruiting agents. Two principles
govern recruitment: 1, "Idealist-patriotic basis", that is, when the
recruitment of an individual is carried out on the basis of his political
convictions (Communist, simply a convinced Soviet citizen, friend of
and sympathiser with the USSR, this refers to foreigners). 2,
"Dependence basis". It is here that the real face of the KGB shows
itself. In these cases, it is permissible to resort to everything: blackmail, bribery, and threats, to exert pressure. In this process, great
attention is paid to working psychologically; the strong and weak
sides of the victim's character are determined, and these are exploited
later. For instance, if he is deemed to be a coward, he is intimidated;
if he is fond of his relations, then threats are made against them;
if he is a careerist, his career is put in jeopardy, and so on.
46
AT SCHOOL WITH THE KGB 46
For blackmail, false documents or photographs manufactured in

the KGB laboratories are often used. For the recruitment of men,
especially married ones, use is made of women who are instructed to
establish intimate relations with the person to be recruited, and the
resulting photographs are used for blackmailing him.
However, in recent times, this method often does not achieve the
desired results. This is evidently accounted for by the general permissive trend of the last few years, with free love and amorality in
matrimonial relations. For instance, a couple of years ago, the KGB
made an attempt in this way to recruit one of the foreign diplomats
in Moscow, who shall be nameless. A beautiful and clever woman
was "prepared" for him. The woman played her part well and said,
apparently, that all was going well. The diplomat had been "hooked".
He fell under the influence of this woman, and established sexual
relations with her. Employees of the KGB's Technical Section
managed to take "classic photographs". After all this had been done,
the decision was taken that the case had "ripened" and that the
diplomat could be recruited.
One day when the diplomat turned up at the flat of his mistress,
he was met not by his loved one, but by KGB men. Without wasting
words, they went into action. At first an offer was made to the foreign
"Romeo" to co-operate on a voluntary basis. On his refusal, he was
shown "interesting and unmistakeable photographs" which would
compromise him. But this time the trap was sprung in vain: the
diplomat said he liked the photographs and would willingly accept
several as a souvenir of his conquest, while the KGB could send the
rest wherever it liked, to his wife and to his superiors. Learning from
such failures, the KGB has lately been making use of this blackmail
method less often and with greater caution. To compensate, other
brutal methods are being used even more frequently.
The next discipline worth mentioning is "the history of the State
Security Departments of the USSR; their work and way of development from the Cheka to the KGB". Those who believe that the
history and development of the departments began after the establishment of Soviet power are mistaken. The historical fact that the
Cheka (Extraordinary Commission) was established on 20 December
1917 is indisputable.
The structure and tasks of this organisation were quite new. It
had to fight for the preservation of the Bolshevik regime. But in
organising its activities, it made use of many of the methods of the
Tsarist Okhrana (secret political police). It was not only the Cheka
that made use of these methods; they persist to this day, and are
being extensively used by the KGB. At the school we had to search
the archives of the Okhrana (copies, of course). I recollect that we
47
were all astonished at the similarities between the Tsarist system

and the KGB's in the way of working with agents. Even the written
reports of the Okhrana sleuths differed little from the communications of our agents. Moreover, the departments of State Security of
the USSR have adopted.many other things from the Tsarist experience,
so it can be said that the history of the Soviet departments does not
begin from the year 1917, but from the times of the Oprichina in
the reign of Ivan the Terrible. The KGB sticks to many of the old
traditions, the cruelty and ruthlessness of the Oprichina, the cunning
and tricks of the Tsarist Okhrana, the implacability and unscrupulousness of Bolshevism towards its enemies.
State Security during these periods was presented to us in a curious
way. The activities of the Cheka and Vecheka during the first years
of Soviet power in Dzerzhinski's days were studied in detail.
Dzerzhinski himself was held up as an ideal Chekist. Many successful
operations of his period were described to us.
We got only a superficial account of the activities under Yagoda,
Yezhov, Abakumov and Beria (when Stalin was in power); the only
comment was that the departments made a number of mistakes during
those years. However, it was not the Chekists who were at fault but
Stalin, because the NKVDMGB (People's Commissariat for Internal
AffairsMinistry of State Security, as it was then called) acted in
accordance with his orders. Details about these "mistakes" were,
naturally, not mentioned to us. To the instructor, Major Aleksandr
Sergeevich Larin, they appeared insignificant. It seemed as if as a
result of these insignificant "mistakes", only a few persons perished
in the camps, and not millions of people. It was in this guileless way
that the "glorious" work of the Chekists during Stalinisminvolving
millions of liveswas portrayed to us. As the Russian proverb says,
"When the forest is being cut down, chips fly". The millions of
citizens who perished are still called in the USSR "Stalin's chips".
In building the new happy socialist society, it was necessary first of
all to do away with the capitalist past, and so the human chips flew
to prisons, camps, executions.
Only now and then did our instructor, when in a talkative mood,
relate some details about those days, and what he had himself gone
through and seen. "Yes, those were stormy times. We worked mainly
at night. From 10 to 12 in the morning we dealt with papers, till 18
hours, rest. From 18 to 24 hours practical work. Contacts with
informers, and each one of us had from 60 to 80 of them, not all of
them known by sight as some of them sent us their reports by post.
Later, around midnight, the interrogation of those arrested. At the
English equivalent is "You cannot make an omelette without breaking
eggs."
1
48
end of such a working day, we reported to our superiors how many

reports we had collected during the day, how many confessions had
been obtained from those arrested. The more such results the employee
produced, the more valuable he was considerd to be."
In reply to our question whether it was permitted to beat and
torture arrested persons, he replied simply: "Yes, this was an obligatory and daily phenomenon." When asked whether he himself had
resorted to such methods, Major Larin, as was to be expected, replied:
"Personally, I did not beat anyone, I managed without it." None of
us believed him and talked about this openly. Many thought that
Larin himself had been under arrest. Lately, there has been a good
deal of talk in the KGB on this subject, not in a critical sense, but
rather with a nuance of regret that now such measures could not
be used openly.
The KGB, as one of the most important branches of the state
essential to the regime, selects its men with great thoroughness.
Intelligence, counter-intelligence and political control of the population
demand highly qualified specialists loyal to the existing system. The
KGB leadership appreciates this fully and does not stint manpower
or resources for training. The future employee must have a good
general education; be intelligent and possess such qualities as selfreliance, self-control, a capacity for establishing connections, resolution
and courage. The main aspect is the political reliability of the
candidate. All these requirements present the personnel department
with a problem of enormous complexity. In the Soviet Union there
are more than enough people with good general education, intelligence
and intiative, but only a small percentage are convinced Communists.
On the other hand, among the convinced Communists absolutely
loyal to the regime, there are often individuals whose personal qualifications do not meet the essential requirements.
Preference is given to the convinced Communists, following the
principle that it is better to have fewer successes, making up for this
by having a reliable, tested organisation. However, the KGB would
not have been able to function so successfully without the help of the
second group, namely those who have become Communists out of
necessity. They reason that "as one is living in a Communist state
and wants to attain something in life, you have to be a Communist".
This does not mean that they are enemies of Communism or of the
regime; I would describe them as opportunist or "pro forma Communists", who show little concern for political problems; paying more
attention to their own personal affairs, including professional success.
I would estimate the percentage proportion of representatives of
the two groups among KGB employees as 70: 30 in favour of the
so-called "convinced Communists". I say "so-called" because their
49
conviction is often based on what can be gained; they have definite

privileges and are, therefore, satisfied with Communism. Of really
convinced Communists, very few remain; the days of Pavel Korchagin
have passed into history.
I have shown the most striking differences, but in life the demarcation line is often difficult to find. The question "who is really who" in
most cases remains unanswered. It is especially difficult to get an
answer to this question under the conditions prevailing in a dictatorship, where most people take great care to conceal their real political
convictions.
The "convinced Communist" group is, as a rule, satisfied with
the status quo, its position, privileges, and power over others. They
work hard and all of them (with very few exceptions) serve their
time safely to pensionable age. The exceptions are those who take
advantage of their service status, appropriate public money or resort
to extortion. They are liable to be discharged prematurely. If they
do not have influential relations, they do not achieve a great career;
the "ceiling" for them is the rank of colonel.
The "unconvinced Communists" find themselves in a different
situation. After three to five years' service, many come to realise
that the KGB is concerned not only with intelligence and counterintelligence, but with the ruthless suppression of the slightest attempt
by citizens to show any kind of opposition to the injustices of the
regime. Sooner or later they are faced with the question: "What to
do?" By that time, some of them have been corrupted by the sense
of power over others and eventually work diligently, often achieving
a good career in this way. Others have families and consequently,
despite being conscious of the injustices, continue to carry out their
duties.
But a small percentage in this group cannot live with their
consciences and resort to radical measures. Some become alcoholics;
others contrive to get their discharge, and some not only sever their
connection with the KGB but with the whole system and go over to
the West.
The group in which I found myself under training at School No 311
comprised 26 persons. What was their fate after five years of practical
work? I cannot say what happened to all of them, but what I know
about some of them is enough to confirm my conclusions. One of
them, Vladimir Kornilin, managed to get himself discharged on the
grounds that he did not hav6 the qualities of a counter-intelligence
officer. The second, Vladimir Maksimovich Bykov, after becoming
disillusioned with his work which he latterly did not hide, began
to drink heavily; stopped working and was discharged. A third member
of that group myselfturned up in the West.
50
Representatives of the most varied sections of Soviet society find

themselves working for the KGB. They include children of workers
and peasants (very rarely), of the intelligentsia, and, more often, sons
of party and other important functionaries. All of them must, of
course, to some extent have the qualities demanded of them. A person
whose parents have lived abroad; have been tried in court or who
are specially recorded by the KGB in the lists of suspects, cannot
become an employee. The question of nationality also plays a big
part. For instance, the doors are closed to Crimean Tartars and
Jews, giving a hollow ring to the slogan "Brotherhood, Equality,
Happiness of all the peoples".
Employees of secret services are often described in stories of
adventure, and in films, as "supermen" who are always shooting,
chasing after someone or escaping from pursuit. I will not disillusion
readers by asserting that this is not so, for there are such occasions,
but very seldom. The first priority is intellectual work, demanding
great patience. The winner is the one who methodically overcomes
his enemy, by anticipating his intentions. The work of intelligence
and counter-intelligence is, first of all, a battle of wits. Operatives
are called upon to show an ability to analyse and evaluate events
or facts, to think in reverse, to draw correct and timely conclusions.
The main implements are often paper and pencil. They tried to
teach us all this at school, and it must be said that our instructors
were successful. The majority of them were officers with great practical experience in counter-intelligence work and sound theoretical
grounding. Almost all were good methodologists.
Our schooling consisted of lectures, seminars and training in
practical operations. The seminars were particularly interesting, always
lasting several hours. Each trainee had to solve an operational problem
alone and to expound his solution in the form of a concept on paper.
Then the instructor would call upon several trainees to explain their
solutions. After this, a free discussion started. Each expressed his own
opinion, and was himself subjected to criticism. This method compelled each trainee to take an active part throughout the whole of his
schooling. We developed the quality of independence, ability to find
the best solution to a problem, to appraise our actions and the possible
actions of the enemy.
In learning ways of recruiting agents, great attention was paid to
the psychological aspect of how to arrive at a correct appreciation
and description of the potential recruit, and the ability to fathom
his real self and his views on life. Training in this sense was carried
out not only theoretically but in practice. For instance, we were asked
to select a "target" for recruitment from among the cadets, and then
to indicate the most promising method. In this way, instructors not
51
only inculcated methods of recruitment, but gained an insight into

the characters of future officers with the help of their own colleagues.
The person in charge of the secret library of the school at the time
was a woman, a spinster of about 40. Because her private life had been
unfortunate, her attitude towards men was sceptical. For several years,
the instructors used her in the role of a candidate for recruitment.
One of the pupils would "recruit" her in a room equipped with a
television camera and microphones. The others remained in the lecture
room and watched the "recruitment" on the television screen. For
those sitting in the room this was an entertainment, but not for the
pupil. Having been "recruited" hundreds of times, the library woman
knew her role very well, while the trainee knowing that his actions
were being watched by his comrades often stammered or forgot his
lines. It then depended on the woman; often her conduct and replies
not only compelled the trainee to abandon the "recruitment", but
proved to him that it was unnecessary. Such an outcome caused the
spectators much amusement and the unlucky wretch had to bear
much teasing later.
We had arrived at Novosibirsk from various parts of the Soviet
Union; from the western frontier of the USSR and from the Far
East, from the southern part of the country and the North. About
80 per cent of us were married, but as we were not permitted to
bring wives with us, there was little difference between single and
married officers. We all lived in officers' quarters, two or three to a
room. Conditions were the same for all, and on Sundays men went
off to the town for "free hunting", the current term applied to making
the acquaintance of a woman. This did not commit us to anything
and was terminated after a couple of months of so. To avoid any
complications, the governing body advised trainees to steer clear of
permanent attachments.
Although throughout the training period we remained together for
a whole year, no special friendships were formed; everyone lived for
himself, putting little trust in the others. This was understandable
for among the trainees were many voluntary "informers". Conversations were usually trivial. Friendship had to be between two, so
that in the event of a denunciation it became clear at once who was
responsible.
The evenings were usually spent playing cards. The exceptions were
the first few evenings after pay-day which were a bright interlude
in the gloomy barrack life of young officers. From early morning,
vodka was bought and in the evening a general drinking bout started.
The governing body was, of course, aware of this, but no one took
steps against the practice. And this was a correct decision: our
instructors chose the lesser of two evils. If the trainees had been
52
forbidden to consume spirits at the school, then most of them would

have started to drink inordinately in the town. Yet despite such
subterfuges by the governing body, it nevertheless had enough troubles
with the trainees.
After three to four months training at the school, many of us
understood that we belonged to an elite with great rights. Although
we still did not have identity cards as KGB men, this did not stop
some trainees from trying to test the power of the three magic letters.
Once, after a payday, one of the trainees, Vladimir Vorontsov, after
drinking spirits, turned up in a "happy" state at one of the town's
cafes and demanded that several tables should be freed immediately
for a specially important KGB operation. The manager naturally
wanted the doubtful Chekist to produce an identity card. Instead,
he got a blow in the face and a fight started. Soon the police arrived
and the trainee was taken back to the school. Next day he was
severely reprimanded and the incident was then forgotten. This was
the usual procedure for such incidents.
I established fairly close relations with Vladimir Bykov, who was
in my group. We spent many evenings together. He was trusting and
often expressed his opinion on various questions. He read a great
deal. At that time he was enchanted with the KGB, often mentioning
this to me. Though I did not feel that way, I never attempted to
argue about this for obvious reasons. In the end Bykov's views
changed radically as I was able to observe for myself because we
landed in the same sectionbut more of that later.
Our training was coming to an end. Passing out examinations were
impending, and after that postings. In spite of the doubts in a corner
of my mind about the Soviet regime, the training at the school and
the mastering of the art of counter-intelligence aroused an interest
in me. So I studied successfully; passed out as one of the best trainees
at the end of 1968, and awaited posting to one of the sections of the
Third Directorate. We had at the outset of our training been told
that we would go back to work in the sections from which we had
been sent to the school, but now rumours spread that about 20 men
would have to serve at strategic missile bases. None of us wanted
to be selected for these bases because, usually, they are far from
inhabited places and officers are obliged to live for a long time away
from the civilised world. Each one of us thought: "As long as it's
not me."
At last, posting day arrived. We were assembled in one of the
schools halls and the names were read out. I awaited the decision
about my fate with impatience, but to my alarm my name was not
called. "Can it really be to missile troops?" I wondered. Just then
the school's commandant, Colonel Voronov, announced that those
53
officers whose names had not been mentioned must report to him. It
turned out that there were five of us, including Bykov. The commandant informed us that we, as the best trainees, were to be posted
abroad. "Where you are actually going, you will find out in Moscow,
in the central organisation of the KGB." But first we were given a
month's leave.
I spent my leave in Moscow and at the end of January went off
to the Personnel Directorate of the KGB. The central organisation
is in a massive building in Dzerzhinski Square. To gain admission a
single certificate is not enough; it is also necessary to have a special
pass, issued in the passes bureau of the KGB. After completing all
the formalities, I received a pass on which was recorded my surname,
the number of the entrance to the building, the floor and number
of the room in which I was expected.
On each floor, my papers were carefully checked by sentries. It
seemed that these checks would never end. But eventually I found my
way to a room where I was received by a lieutenant-colonel. He asked
me to sit down; checked my papers and put them in one of the
drawers in his desk. Noticing my look of surprise, he said that they
would no longer be needed by me, as I would be issued with new
ones.
He expressed interest in the way I had spent my leave, and inquired
about my health. I answered that everything had gone normally for
me, while I thought to myself: "Why does he spin out time, instead
of starting straight away to talk business." As if reading my thoughts,
the colonel told me that I was being posted to work in the German
Democratic Republic. The necessary documents were already completed and he handed them to me. I was ordered to arrive on 2
February 1969 in Potsdam and to report to the Directorate of Special
Sections of the KGB of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany. I
got no further instructions. The colonel said that I would be given
all details in Potsdam. The same evening I left on the MoscowWunsdorf train for Potsdam.
CHAPTER 6
Recruitment by conviction or force
N 2 February 1969, at about 06.00 hours, the train drew in at

the station of the small village called Wunsdorf, where, since
the war years, the headquarters of the Group of Soviet Forces
in Germany (GSFG) have been situated. A car sent by the KGB
Directorate was already waiting for me at the station, and was easily
located by its number, given to me in Moscow.
In the car was an officer who checked my documents. Then we
set off and in about an hour arrived in Potsdam. The KGB Directorate
attached to the GSFG was near the town centre. It occupied a
considerable area and was bounded by a high fence. I was received
by the duty officer, who found me a room in a hotel and said that
I was required to report that day at 09.00 hours to the head of the
Directorate, Major-General Titov.
A pleasant surprise awaited me at the hotel. Bykov was there; that
very same Bykov who studied with me in the school. It emerged that,
like me, he had been assigned to work in the GDR and had arrived
the day before. We were delighted to see each other again. I asked
him whether he had been given a definite appointment in a Department, but he said "Not yet", and that everything was to be decided
today. He was also to report to the general at nine o'clock. We
determined to get assigned to the same Department.
At nine o'clock, we arrived at the general's office, cleanly shaven,
in carefully ironed uniforms and with our hair neatly combed. The
duty officer informed us that the general expected us. The general
invited us to sit down at a table and inquired about our health.
Generally speaking, it was the same old conventional beginning to
a conversation. He briefly reminded us of the responsible nature of
our work, particularly abroad, then wished us every success and the
conversation was ended. As we were later to understand, the brief
encounter with the general had an educational purpose: it was meant
to show young officers what consideration was shown to them as well
as what a responsible position they held.
We received from Colonel Kostin, head of the Cadre Department
of the KGB Directorate, all necessary details and were given our
appointments. The colonel was short, fat and completely bald. His
eyes were of indeterminate colour and had no flicker of life. He
created the impression of being a typical apparatchik, used to living
54
56 RECRUITMENT BY CONVICTION OR FORCE
55
according to instructions from above, avoiding any personal initiative.

This later proved to be a true impression. In about 20 minutes, the
question of our appointment was decided: we were both to work in
the department handling the 6th Motorised Rifle Guards Division.
The Department was located at Bernau. A car from there was to
collect us at 13.00 hours.
Colonel Kostin, as a cadre officer, then switched the conversation
to indoctrination. For the next two hours, Bykov and I had to listen
to loud praises of the Politburo, the KGB leadership and the government. There was also high praise for Chekists' honourable work.
During this time Kostin, without apparently noticing, repeated the
same thing about three times. Finally, when Bykov and I had lost
all hope of ever leaving his office, the talk ended. When we got out
we looked at each other, our eyes bemused by such a chat and then
burst out laughing. "Some talk that," I remarked. "The old man's
probably gone a bit off his head," was Bykov's comment.
Nothing remained in our heads of all those loud-sounding but
empty phrases which Kostin poured over us for two hours. Any speech
made up of such commonplace expressions, devoid of real meaning,
is always difficult to remember, especially if it is in turgid Party
language, with words like Party, Communism, Socialism, Congress,
Politburo repeated a hundred times.
When we returned to our hotel, an officer from Bernau who had
come to collect us was waiting. He was about 40, tall and kindhearted
looking. "Captain Davydov," he said introducing himself. "Ah, so
you are coming to work in our department? That's good. Tell me,
did you bring some of our Russian vodka with you? "
When we replied in the affirmative, he promptly suggested that
then and there we should drink to our meeting. I took a bottle of
vodka from my case and poured some into glasses standing on the
table. I naturally gave more to Davydov than to ourselves and without
unnecessary words, we drained them dry. Ten minutes later we
climbed into the Gazik which had been waiting for us. Davydov
ordered the driver "Home to Bernau" and at about 14.00 hours we
left Potsdam. "At 17.00 hours, we shall be there," Davydov
announced.
Bernau is about 20 kilometres to the north-east of Berlin, making
it about 100 km from Potsdam. There were two ways of getting
there, either via Berlin or by-passing Berlin. Davydov announced
that he wished to show us Berlin, so we chose the first route. Our
Gazik sped merrily along the motorway. After the vodka he had
drunk Davydov was in a happy mood, talking away and even singing.
After an hour's drive, I asked Davydov when we would finally reach
Berlin. "What time is it?" he asked me. "It's already three o'clock,"
t
56
RECRUITMENT BY CONVICTION OR FORCE 56
I replied.
"Three! " exclaimed Davydov. With that, he told the driver to stop
the car; took out a map and, after some thought, announced that we
had "slightly" lost our way. Instead of driving towards Berlin, we
had been driving in the opposite direction towards Leipzig for a whole
hour. Davydov cursed the driver and having turned the car round,
we drove off in the right direction. Then we found that neither
Davydov nor the driver knew the way in Berlin. To add to our
confusion, it became dark. Davydov stopped the car near an old
woman and we awaited Davydov's conversation in German. We
waited in vain. Although he had been two years in Germany, the only
word pronounced by Davydov in German was "Frau". Verbatim
his question was as follows: "Frau, how to go [in Russian] to
Bernau?" The old woman started to say something quickly in
German. Davydov kept nodding and repeating in Russian "Yes, yes,
yes! " Then he slammed the car door and told the driver to drive on.
"Where?" "How do I know?" In fact, he did not understand a
word of German, but he did not seem offended by our laughter, only
muttering that it was high time the East Germans learned to speak
Russian. For about two hours, we drove around aimlessly until a
signpost pointing to Bernau saved us. At about 21.00 hours, we
arrived at the Special Department for the 6th Motorised Rifle Division,
housed in a small two-storey detached villa, standing in a garden
surrounded by a high fence.
Both Bykov and I felt tired from the journey and, therefore, went
to bed immediately, looking forward to a peaceful night. However,
our hopes proved to be premature. At about two o'clock, we were
awakened by a loud knock and a senior lieutenant stood before us.
"Get up you devils," he shouted. "Let's get acquainted."
It was obvious that he was rather tipsy. His overcoat was
unbuttoned, his cap was askew and his face was smiling in welcome.
"Koroteyev is my name," he stammered, "Kostya" (short for
Konstantin). He offered me an opened bottle of cognac. There were
no glasses to hand and I had two mouthfuls straight from the bottle.
It was cheap GDR cognac, the taste was awful. Noticing my grimace,
Kostya said: "Never mind chaps, you'll get used to it," then he
embraced us and disappeared.
"What a man," said Bykov. "He is so drunk that he stammers."
However, it later emerged that Kostya had stammered since childhood.
Next day, we were summoned by Major Aleksandr Petrovich
Boychenko, head of the KGB Department. I had to go in first.
Boychenko was tall, well-built and dark-skinned. There was something
Asiatic about his features although by nationality he was Ukrainian.
RECRUITMENT BY CONVICTION OR FORCE
57
I liked his eyes, which were attentive and clever. During our conversation, he was always in motion, indicating an energetic personality.
He listened carefully as I said my piece, and he made notes. He
asked in detail about my studies at the school. He told me that I was
assigned to three battalions of the 82nd Motorised Rifle Guards
Regiment, quartered in Bernau itself. Davydov looked after the Regimental Headquarters and its remaining detachments. In future, I
had to co-ordinate my work closely with him. This pleased me as
I liked Davydov. Boychenko asked whether, as a KGB officer, I knew
what were my particular tasks.
I replied: "Of course I do. We were taught that at the school."
"Good," said Boychenko. "All you studied at the school was high
theory, here in contrast practical work begins and that, brother, is
altogether another matter." He asked me to pay particular attention
while he outlined my tasks and the peculiarities of Special Department work in the GDR.
"Your tasks include: first, to prevent, in the battalions assigned
to you, Western espionage agencies from recruiting any Soviet citizen
whatsoever, be it military or civilian. Second, if it so happens that
Western agencies have already recruited someone then it is your
business to find that person and render him harmless. Third, seek
out anti-Soviets, the enemies of Soviet power. Fourth, seek out
Western espionage agency agents among East German nationals
residing near your charges. And what do you need to solve all these
problems?" he asked.
"A good agent network supplying me with the necessary information and . . . " Boychenko interrupted with: "Quite right. You need
agents, more agents and yet more agents."
He explained that the units assigned to me previously had no officer
in charge of them because of the shortage of KGB staff, and that
in them there was not a single agent either among the Soviet citizens
or among the surrounding. German nationals. Such a state of affairs
meant many difficulties for me; without secret sources of information,
I would have to seek out suitable candidates and recruit them. This
was not easy. Meanwhile, Boychenko continued to announce new
"joys" to me.
"You must commence active work and create a good agent
apparatus in the shortest possible time. You must recruit ten agents
in two months." "In two months?" I asked him, reflecting that this
was an impossible task, for it normally takes three or four months
to recruit one agent. Of course, four or five people can be simultaneously prepared for recruitment and then they can be recruited
in five or six months. But to get ten agents in two months, that would
be breaking all the rules. I told Bolchenko so. But my words had
58
no effect. "Yes, that's right, ten agents and you must do it in two
months. In that time you must recruit three officers, two regular
service men, one private, two officers' wives and two German
nationals."
My further objections were cut short with the question: "Do you
know what the three letters KGB mean?" "Yes sir," I replied. "The
State Security Committee."
"No! KGB means Office of Crude Bandits" (Kontora Grubykh
Banditov). After a couple of years work, every KGB worker knows
that. We must work with impertinence, putting the pressure on, fully
conscious of our power. When recruiting agents, you must not only
convince them but also compel them to work for us. KGB has enough
power for that. If you work on that principle you will successfully
fulfil the task I have placed before you."
For the next half-hour, he continued to explain that the recruitment
of Soviet citizens, particularly servicemen, was not a complicated
affair; almost every citizen, even if he did not wish to co-operate,
could be compelled to do so. The KGB had the rights and the power
needed. If it was an officer, then his career could be threatened
(without KGB approval no officer can be sent to a military academy
or get promotion). With regular servicemen, it was even simpler; they
could just be dismissed from the army. Any Soviet citizen's life, too,
could be threatened; he could be barred from an institute or from
work in any undertaking, or be forbidden to travel abroad.
"Therefore," Boychenko maintained, "if you use your rights and
your power skilfully, you will recruit ten agents in two months." He
went into detail on how I must behave. "Don't forget you are a KGB
officer. Everything at your place of work, beginning with the unit
commander and ending with the last dirty private, depends in one way
or another on you. You are a free agent. Therefore, behave in a
confident manner and if needs be with impertinence and crudeness.
You are a defender of the Soviet regime. You have the power to
determine the political reliability of others and, therefore, frequently
their fate as well. So now get to work, Comrade Lieutenant. Providing
you defend it, the Soviet regime permits you to do almost everything."
"In spite of the fact that the GDR is officially an independent
state we, the KGB, have many rights here and can work almost as
if we were back home in the USSR." Boychenko took from his safe
a document based on the secret agreement between the Soviet Union
and the GDR. In effect the KGB:
Has the right to operate among German nationals in order
to unmask the agents of Western espionage services or persons
of anti-Soviet or anti-socialist tendencies.
Has the right to recruit GDR nationals to be used in espionage
59
activities directed against Western countries (Federal German

Republic, USA, Britain, France, etc).
Can recruit visitors, from capitalist countries on GDR soil.
Is allowed to have "conspiratorial" flats.
Can actively co-operate with the GDR KGR (MfS) and is
permitted to consult MfS card indexes. On request, MfS opens
the correspondence and monitors telegraphic communications of
GDR citizens where these are of interest to the KGB.
Is permitted to consult GDR police records and enjoys its
active police support. MfS has no rights whatsoever insofar as
the KGB is concerned. They can only ask.
At the end of the document, KGB officers were recommended to
behave politely and respectfully towards MfS officials, a cynical
gesture after all that had been said in the document.
Speaking of Germans as agents, Boychenko said: "A German is
just like a Russian; he also wants to live and does not want unpleasantness." Once again, the same methods as with our own citizens; if not
by conviction then by force. He went on: "Sometimes it is easier to
recruit Germans than Russians. They are a disciplined people and
respect strength; so, when recruiting them, behave confidently, show
them our strength. It helps."
When I told him I did not speak German, Boychenko said 80 per
cent of the Department's officers did not speak the language, although
they all worked with Germans. The problem was solved by having
an officer translator attached to each operational worker. "And in
one year, you are obliged to speak German, then that difficulty
disappears."
He added that, at first, he would meet me almost daily. Then he
sent me to see his deputy, Major Kryukov, who was a couple of years
older than Boychenko. Outwardly he looked intelligent, although his
face spoke eloquently of his love for drink. His movements showed
that he was an experienced apparatchik. "Aleksandr Gerasimovich,"
he said introducing himself. "Please sit down." I learned that I had
been given two days to settle my affairs, and that a flat was ready
for me. He told me that there were 17 people working in the Department, and that basically relations between them all were good. He
sent me to the Department's secretary who, against my signature,
handed me the key of the safe and some documents.
At last I found myself among my future colleagues. About five of
them were gathered in one of the Department's rooms. One of them
was Koroteyev, sober this time. I had to answer many questions as
most of them had not been in the USSR for about a year. I particularly liked senior Lieutenant Lavrukhin who stood out from the
others by his tidy appearance and wit. Koroteyev hinted that to get
60
better acquainted I should invite everyone over some evening for a

glass of vodka. It was decided that we would meet at my place the
day after tomorrow.
In a short while, Bykov appeared. He had been appointed to a unit
which was located about 40 kilometres from Bernau. Later Davydov
and I set off for my new flat. He asked about my conversation with
Boychenko. When I told him about the ten agents I had to recruit
in two months, he laughed. "That's how to teach you young chaps
to work, the head knows what he is doing." But he added that I
should not worry as Boychenko set high targets on purpose so as to
make his officers work harder. "If, during that time, you recruit five
agents, then the head will be pleased."
That evening Davydov and I sat in my new flat. A half-empty
bottle of vodka stood on the table in front of us and quiet music
came from the radio. The atmosphere was cosy and encouraged
conversation. Davydov was lounging in an armchair with a smoking
cigar in his hand. I noted that alcohol put him in good mood, and
after the third glass he asked that we use the familiar "thou" instead
of the more formal "you" in Russian. He said I should call him
Lev, and went on to describe the setup in the Department. "It is
double-headed," he explained, "and there is continual war between
the head, Boychenko, and his deputy Kryukov." From what he said,
it was obvious that Major Boychenko, energetic and fairly young, was
out to make a successful career in the KGB. For this, the first requirement was that his Department should produce successes. These could
be achieved only if his officers diligently sought out "enemies" of
the state, for successes are measured by the number of enemy
elements, agents of Western agencies or so-called anti-Soviet elements,
who are discovered and unmasked. So he spared no effort, with orders,
pep-talks, rewards and punishments, and personal example. He worked
night and day and demanded the same of his officers. Boychenko had
help in other ways: his wife's brother held a post in the Supreme
Soviet, and good connections play a decisive role under Soviet conditions in obtaining a "warm" place. So Boychenko could see himself
in future with colonel's or even general's epaulettes.
According to Davydov, Kryukov was also a "hard nut". He worked
at one time in the Moscow KGB headquarters, but committed errors
and was down-graded, although he kept the rank of major, and was
sent to work in the GDR. Although he had suffered a misfortune,
he nevertheless had many KGB friends in Moscow who did not forget
him. Kryukov had been, to some extent, "spoiled" by having been
at the top, and could not resign himself to his present post. He
refused to recognise Boychenko as his chief. He did not particularly
want to work; he was just waiting for his pension, and in the mean-
61
time drank. Conflicts often arose between the two men and their
quarrels were sometimes heated.
In Davydov's view, the other officers exploited this situation. When
it came to solving problems, what the head would not authorise his
deputy approved two or three days later, and vice versa. Sometimes
this game played by their subordinates passed off smoothly without
being noticed, but sometimes it was noticed by the offended side, which
promptly led to a row between the two bosses.
"However strange it may seem," said Davydov, "sometimes they
both forget their enmity for a while and together they go off somewhere on a drinking spree. The soak lasts several days. At such times,
we don't work either."
Davydov spoke well of Lavrukhin, saying he was a good chap who
not only knew how to work, but knew how to show off his work.
"Work alone does not mean anything if you don't know how to
show it off. You need to know the art of showing off your work, of
showing your brilliant results to impress your chiefs: that is the most
important thing for a successful career."
He described one officer of the Department, senior Lieutenant
Zemskov, as the chief's favourite who, on occasion, informed on his
comrades. "Be careful with him, he's a cunning fellow."
"And what is Koroteyev like?" I asked. "Koroteyev, he's a real
find for the Department." And then Davydov told me his story.
Koroteyev was the son of a colonel-general who had died about ten
years before. In his day, Koroteyev senior had been a great friend
of the present head of the KGB Directorate, Major-General Titov.
For this reason, Kostya was under his wing and made every use of
the fact. He hardly worked at all, was permanently drunk yet was
never reprimanded. Boychenko did not know what to do with him.
Davydov's assessments were fairly objective. The only false piece
of information was about Zemskov, who turned out to be a splendid
fellow and never informed on anybody, whereas Davydov himself did,
not because he wished to achieve something for himself, but simply
because it was a sort of illness which he had, as I learned later.
The two free days I had been given passed quickly. As agreed, on
one of the evenings all the officers I had invited, came to my flat.
There were eight of them. The fact is that only ten people actually
worked in Bernau; the remainder worked on the periphery such as
in Frankfurt, Eberwalde and Berlin and contact between the groups
was only on a business level. This was why the ten in Bernau formed
the collective's nucleus and they regularly spent their free time
together. So they came to my place. The evening passed in friendly
fashion. I met Lieutenant Nalishkin, the Department's translator, who
was short, strong, very calm and. talked little. He agreed to help
62
me study German. Zemskov, tall with red hair, was also there and
was obviously respected. It may be said that I found the evening
useful; it helped me to join in with the collective.
Next day my KGB work started.
CHAPTER 7
Traps for the unwary
EFORE getting down to the task of setting up a viable agent

network, I had to master the situation in the unit and its
environment. I began by seeking data about the personnel
and the characteristics of local German citizens. I had to study the
"Classified file" for the unit. This was several tomes of secret
documents of between 2,000 to 3,000 pages, covering information
vital for determining the concrete objectives of the KGB.
Operational intelligence about the personnel, which was absolutely
vital to me in preparing recruitments, revealed the total numbers of
officers, soldiers and employees working in the unit and also their
qualitative composition. Special attention was paid to the "nationalities" question. I have already indicated what an important role this
plays in the lives of Soviet citizens. Not all nationalities enjoy the
confidence of the authorities; preference is given to Russians,
Ukrainians and White Rusisans (excluding the Western Ukraine and
Western White Russia). Jews, Crimean Tartars, Latvians, Lithuanians,
Estonians and those with their origins in the regions of the Western
Ukraine and Western White Russia are suspect; anyone serving in
the army who falls into such categories receives special attention from
the KGB. It strives to place reliable agents among them to restrict
their service advancement.
For example, an obscure government directive forbids the posting
abroad of officers and soldiers of Jewish nationality. It is also forbidden
to assign Soviet citizens of German nationality to serve with troops
stationed in the GDR. All this is taken into account in the analysis
of personnel and the data, together with recommendations, is then
concentrated in the "Classified file". The number of Jews, Latvians,
Crimean Tartars serving in the unit is shown there: so is the number
of agents required to report on them.
The file also contains a list of those who, in the opinion of the
KGB, are potentially unreliable: those who have at any time expressed
the least displeasure with authority, or who have been tried for any
sort of offence, and those with relatives who are living or have lived
abroad. People maintaining any sort of contact with East Germans,
and still more so with citizens of capitalist countries, are listed in it.
My unit's brief on the German population living in the vicinity
identified individuals who had relatives in West Germany or any
63
64
TRAPS FOR THE UNWARY
other capitalist country; those previously convicted of crimes; individuals who had ever travelled abroad to a capitalist country and
also GDR citizens who had any contact with Soviet military personnel.
It also identified German shops and public houses patronised by
Soviet citizens, and listed German women of easy virtue who regularly
consorted with Soviet officers and soldiers, and more serious data
vital to the organisation of counter-espionage. Special interest was
taken in enemy intelligence activities against a military unit; in
recruitment attempts by NATO intelligence among Soviet military
personnel; and in individuals, both German and Soviet citizens,
suspected of working for Western intelligence services.
After an exhaustive study of the file, I set about acquainting myself
with the men of the unit. I began with Colonel Nikishkin, commanding
officer of the 83rd Motorised Rifle Regiment, and experienced for
the first time what power is locked into those simple words KGB,
even for me, a raw lieutenant of 24 whose mother's milk, as the
saying goes in Russia, had scarcely dried on my lips, meeting a
grey-haired colonel. Before describing our talk, it must be pointed
out that officers of the Third Directorate of the KGB serving with
Soviet troops each wear, for purposes of disguise, normal military
uniform in no way distinguishable from that of other army officers.
So, when I appeared unexpectedly in Colonel Nikishkin's office,
he stared at me angrily and barked: "What do you want, Comrade
Lieutenant, can't you see I am busy? Report to me later." When I
said that I was an officer of the KGB and was to work with his
regiment in the coming year, the expression on Nikishkin's face was
at once transformed; it became friendly and somehow obsequious.
"Please come in, Comrade Lieutenant, for you I have always got
time. I am very glad to make your acquaintance," he fawned on me.
He began to take an interest in whether I was getting myself properly
organised in my new post, inquiring if my quarters were well-equipped
and if there was anything at all that I needed. He expressed a readiness to assist me in any possible way he could.
The insincere turn which the conversation had taken had an
unpleasant effect on me; I felt ashamed of the colonel and his fear
of me and tried to bring the conversation with him to an end as
quickly as possible. But I was only just at the beginning of exchanges
like these. Other officers behaved in precisely the same way. To begin
with, this produced an unpleasant impression although, to be frank,
it also gave one a pleasant consciousness of one's own authority and
power. After working for approximately 18 months in the KGB, I
accepted all this as being quite commonplace and my rightful due.
I soon got quite a good picture of the situation in the unit and
gradually got down to preparations for recruitments among the
65 TRAPS FOR THE UNWARY
officers, soldiers and employees. It took me two weeks to select several

officers and soldiers whom I could begin to make ready, and in under
a monthan unusually short periodthey had been recruited and had
begun active collaboration with the KGB. Direct recruitment of
military personnel is not a complicated business. To begin with,
the greatest difficulty lies in the correct choice of informant. He
must possess those qualities which are vital for an agent, but he
must also be in touch with those who are of special interest to the
KGB. In recruitments, great care is devoted to conspiracy. The value
of an agent lies in his being "unblown" as an informant to those
around him, yet he must enjoy the confidence of those in whom
the Department is interested. Colonel Boychenko was following my
activities throughout this time with special care and was pleased with
the results. My recruitment of agents depended not only on my
ability as a counter-intelligence officer, but on the authority and
power of the KGB. In practice one rarely comes across a Soviet
citizen who refuses to co-operate with the notorious Chekists. Everyone thinks about the consequences and of his own future.
Faced with the necessity of having a good agent in the headquarters
of the 16th Motorised Rifle Regiment who would furnish me with
vital information about its officers, my choice fell on the chief of the
motor transport wing, Major Mezentsev. I was decisively influenced
by his lively and sociable personality: he had many friends among
the officers at regimental headquarters and he enjoyed their confidence, but at the same time he had contrived to achieve good
relations with the higher command. Success on both these contrasting
fronts demands a special sort of resourcefulness and, I would say,
almost actor-like qualities. Mezentsev possessed all of these. He was
always in the know about events and intrigues that occurred in the
life of the regiment. Many officers turned to him for advice. He tried
to satisfy them all, but not because he genuinely wanted to assist
someone. He was no idealist; he would dish out help only to put
others in his debt. His motto was: "Today I will help you, but don't
you forget that tomorrow you are obliged to help me."
In a nutshell, his qualities suited him perfectly for work as an
agent. I began gradually to prepare his recruitment. Inconspicuously,
I assembled from various sources a full personality description. I
studied carefully his service record which I obtained on a plausible
pretext from the personnel section in headquarters. From this study,
I hit upon two areas of compromising material which could be
exploited in his recruitment. The first was his friendship with one
of the GDR citizens, through whom he was organising the sale of
gold rings, coffee and radio receivers to Germans. The other was the
fact that his brother had been sentenced several years previously
66
to two years in a labour camp for robbery. Mezentsev had taken

great care to hide this information, which I gleaned from a special
card index, fearing that it could damage his career.
I found no other black marks in his biography. But these would
more than suffice to wreck his service career should this prove
necessary. I met him on several occasions under various plausible
pretexts such as games of billiards and chess, and chatted to him on
innocuous subjects. At these meetings, Mezentsev was reserved and
I had the feeling that he was frightened of the KGB, so I decided
to exploit this factor. Soon, everything was ready for his recruitment
in the officers' mess where I made use of the office of the chief of
the officers' mess, who was on leave. One evening, Mezentsev was
there as usual and I found him playing billiards. I chose a moment
when he was on his own and asked him if he could spare a few
minutes. He, of course, agreedrarely does an officer refuse to
collaborateand we marched into the chief's office.
I closed the door behind me: "So that no one else can disturb us,"
I explained to Mezentsev when I noticed his startled expression.
Knowing that he was frightened, I decided to recruit him without
any "diplomatic" ruses. Having chatted for a while on general
subjects, I explained to him briefly and simply that I wanted him to
co-operate with the KGB. To begin with, he tried to prevaricate,
saying that he was extremely busy and that his health was bad. I
retaliated by declaring that if he did not wish to collaborate, I had
sufficient means at my disposal to force him to do so. It only required
one such threatening sentence to break his resistance. "Good, then
I will work for the KGB," he sighed, "only I am afraid that someone
else will get to hear of it." "No one else will know," I reassured him.
"Just put your signature here, that you wish to co-operate voluntarily."
He did so without a further word. His attitude infuriated me; I was
expecting a struggle, but instead got a cowardly, servile readiness
to co-operate. Subsequently, he collaborated under the pseudonym
Krasnopolsky. His fear of the KGB never left him.
Of course, not everyone recruited behaves like that. Sometimes one
comes across people who accept the proposal with enthusiasm; it is
very rare for a man to refuse categorically even though subsequently
this has had an adverse effect on his life. I would give such a man
full credit for his courage. Even KGB officers commend such men
in official conversations among themselves.
In two months, I recruited eight agents of Soviet nationality in
the unit and thereby fulfilled my task to the letter. I had failed in
only one respect: I had not recruited any agents among the German
community. Sometimes Boychenko reproached me for this. I endeavoured to use my ignorance of the German language as an excuse.
On one occasion, he told me that he personally would like to help

me in the task of recruiting Germans. "I have got a good candidate
for you," he said, "a German and a Russian speaker who is in touch
with Soviet military personnel; he knows many of the residents in
Bernau. Take a look at him, he is bound to be a good agent in the
future."
After this recommendation, I set about studying the man, who
can be called K, aged about 56. He was married, had a grown-up
son, and devoted all his time to working for his family, to which he
was extremely dutiful. He was one of the small band of GDR citizens
who had remained in private business. He owned a small workshop
in Bernau where he and his son repaired radio and television sets.
They were both good craftsmen and worked hard, so their workshop
brought in a considerable profit which enabled them to live well with
their own house and three cars. Many people in Bernau jokingly
nicknamed them "socialist capitalists". Indeed, living conditions being
what they are in GDR, or for that matter in any other socialist
country, the ordinary worker in a state enterprise cannot own three
cars; very few are able to buy even one (which has to last many
years) and then only with the help of relatives in most cases.
It is understandable that K was an unpleasant phenomenon for
the local authorities of the Bernau region. His un-socialist life-style
conflicted with Party ideology and official propaganda. His example
subjected those around him to a "bourgeois influence". Party workers,
therefore, created many difficulties for him, trying thereby to force
him to give up his private workshop and compel him to work in a
state enterprise like all other citizens.
The government could simply have banned all private businessmen,
including K, and forbidden them to own their own enterprises, but
it took the view that this would be an incorrect solution, since a
veto of that sort would signify an inherent admission of the advantages of the capitalist way of life. So the authorities strove, by various
means, to compel the few self-employed craftsmen to close their
small shops and workshops and thus, in some measure, demonstrate
to the simple "worker" the power of Socialism. They imposed increased
taxes (surtax) on private businessmen and created obstacles for them
in the procurement of goods, and so on.
For me, it was a great advantage that K was in private business.
Indeed, it was subsequently possible to use this as a means of forcing
him to work for us when the time came to recruit him.
It took me a month or so to get to know him well: to compile
a detailed personality description from information I received from
many agents who knew him, and also from the police of the GDR.
Establishing contact with a German candidate for recruitment is a
68
far from simple matter. As distinct from Soviet citizens, such a

candidate must not know in the initial phase of cultivation that he
is doing business with the KGB. Therefore any sort of plausible
pretext is chosen to make his acquantaince which will allow a natural
development of the contact, but disguise its real meaning.
In K's case, I decided to kick off with a radio ploy. I searched
around for an old damaged transistor and then arrived with it at the
workshop. I was in luck: K appeared in person, not his son, to take
my instructions. I spoke to him in Russian. In the course of the
conversation, K expressed an interest in what I was doing in the
GDR. I replied, of course, that I was an infantry officer in the
Soviet Army. K concluded the conversation by telling me that my
radio would be repaired and ready to collect in a week's time.
And so the first get-together was now behind me, but I still had
to find an excuse for further contacts. I found in a radio magazine
a diagram for a high-power television aerial and I took it along to
K at the workshop. I collected my radio which was ready, and then
I put a further request: could he perhaps help me in the construction
of a special television aerial? I showed him the diagram. K studied
it and then promised to build it for me, remarking that there would
be two to three weeks' delay since he did not have any suitable
materials at the moment. His reply delighted me; it gave me an
opportunity of paying him several further visits over the next two
to three weeks.
Several days later, around six o'clock in the evening, when I knew
that K's son was usually out after dinner delivering orders to
customers, I appeared once again at the workshop. K greeted me as
though we were already old friends, but told me that unfortunately
my aerial was still being built. I thanked him for not having forgotten
my request, glanced at my watch and suggested to him: "You know,
it is long past work-time; if you have no objection, I would like to
offer you some small token of my thanks in the Russian style for your
endeavours. I have a small surprise for you, some Russian vodka
from Moscow! "
"Oh, these Russians," chuckled K, "they will always find an excuse
for a party! " He closed up his workshop and placed two glasses on
the table. I fished out the vodka bottle from my briefcase and we
began to chat. He was interested in how people lived in Russia and
I put a variety of questions about life in the GDR, his family and
his work. The conversation was a lively one and the time flashed
by. Each of us was well pleased with this conversation. As we bade
each other farewell, K invited me to call any evening. "I would not
like to remain in your debt; we Germans also know how to entertain."
"Fine," I agreed, "I will come without fail."
And so, little by little, I established close and cordial relations.

During several further meetings I tried to conduct the conversation
in a way that would encourage him to talk more about his acquaintances. He described their characteristics and, not suspecting my
sinister designs, gave me a thorough and frank account of his friends,
acquaintances and problems at home. He came to regret this later.
About a month after this, Boychenko summoned me to find out
how the preparations were going. When I had reported, he announced
that the time had come to recruit K, and we decided to effect this
the following Saturday in one of the "safe" houses.
On Wednesday, I called on K and invited him to my house on
Saturday "to improve our acquaintance and strengthen our friendship." He was agreeable, and I said I would come by car at two
o'clock to collect him. On the Saturday, we set off together for my
homethe "safe" flatwhere Boychenko was waiting. "You have got
a fine Saturday ahead of you, K," I mused to myself. "You will
have a lot to go through."
The flat was in the suburbs of Bernau in one of a number of
insignificant little houses screened by a garden from the gaze of
passers by. "So you are not too badly set up," remarked K as we
drove up to the house. "I was not expecting a junior infantry officer
to live so well." "The unexpected is only just beginning," I said as
a joke, the real meaning of which K only understood later.
We went indoors and I led K into a room where there was a table
already laid and, of course, Boychenko. "My boss," I said,
"Lieutenant-Colonel Ivanov. He also wants to celebrate a little with
us."
Boychenko extended a hand to K and invited him to sit down. "I
am very glad to make your acquaintance, I have heard a lot about
you." "Andrey [the name by which K knew me] has often talked
to me about you," said K hesitantly. It was obvious that he had no
understanding of what was happening.
"Never mind," Boychenko began, "we shall have time enough
today to get to know each other. I see that you don't quite understand
what it is all about; Andrey obviously forgot to tell you that he is an
officer of the KGB."
"KGB! " exclaimed a horrified K.
"Of course," Boychenko rejoined casually.
"But why are you telling.me all this, I don't want to know anything
at all about it. I thought that I was invited as a friend to Andrey's
home. What's the KGB doing here?"
"Now please don't upset yourself," soothed Boychenko. "We shall
explain everything to you. We just have a few questions to put to you
and I think that we can resolve them together quite successfully."
70
K endeavoured to say something but Boychenko, excusing himself,

went on: "We have had you under observation for a long time. You
are a very interesting chap, astute, you have interesting connections
and considerable experience of life. We would like to become friends
with you. We need people like you. In other words, we are suggesting
that you co-operate with us. You could render us some small services
and, of course, you will not remain out of pocket."
This was recruitment by the direct method, "on the forehead" as
the KGB calls it, and it was the right one: K was an astute man
and it was better not to beat about the bush. He reacted violently.
"Under no circumstances! I will never give my agreement to it. I
think that any further conversation on the subject is pointless." With
these words he stood up, giving us to understand that the conversation
was at an end.
"Don't be in such a hurry," Boychenko interrupted coldly. "Our
chat is only just beginning and I think that you would be better
advised not to rush over your answers and actions."
K clearly understood that it was not so simple to disentangle himself
from the KGB and sank back into an armchair.
"I shall try to explain to you briefly and simply some unalterable
things," Boychenko said in harsh tones. "We are struggling with our
enemies in the defence of Socialism, not just the USSR but the entire
Socialist camp. Therefore, every genuine [he particularly stressed
this word] citizen of the Socialist camp whom we ask to collaborate
with us is under an obligation to help us. In other words he who is
not with us is against us."
The explanation was simple but effective. Indeed, if someone being
recruited were to say "No" then indirectly he would put himself in
the ranks of the unreliable and "non-genuine". Despite this, K made
one further attempt to refuse, exploiting such arguments as his age,
the state of his health and so on.
Boychenko switched to open threats and blackmail. "We have no
desire to speak to you about unpleasant things but you force me to
do so. So then, if you refuse to collaborate, we shall act as follows:
firstly we shall compromise you. I hope that you have not forgotten
that you spent some time talking to Andrey about your acquaintances
and friends, and described them to him. Andrey recorded some of
what you told him on a tape recorder. We have the possibility, armed
with this tape, of persuading certain of your acquaintances that you
have been collaborating for a long time with the KGB. If this were
to happen, it seems to me that life in Bernau might not be very
pleasant for you. Secondly, as I understand it, you possess a private
workshop?" "Yes." "And that son of yours is hoping to study in
university?" "Yes."
"Well then, you know that we are in a position to ruin everything."

The colonel mercilessly hammered K on his most painful spot. "You
will lose your workshop, your son will never study in university. As
you see, the future of your family and its welfare lies in your hands.
Well now, what are you going to say in answer to our proposal, yes
or no?"
All this time I had kept my eyes on K. His face was pale. Beads
of sweat trickled down his forehead, his hands were shaking. He
understood that he had no way out. He had to decide today, this
very moment, the fate of his family. "Yes," he groaned from somewhere within himself.
"Well now, that puts things in a different light. I knew we would
see eye to eye," Boychenko replied approvingly and cynically.
K signed a document in which he expressed his voluntary agreement
to co-operate. He worked subsequently under the pseudonym Stefan.
When his recruitment was complete, K was invited to partake of a
glass of vodka to celebrate, but he complained of a headache and
refused, so I took him home. He spent the next two weeks in hospital
with heart trouble.
That is a sample of how the KGB recruits its agents in the GDR.
It affects not only Soviet and GDR citizens, but also some citizens
of West Germany and other capitalist states who visit that country.
The two recruitment cases described above are average, run-of-themill occurrences in the work of the KGB. But more complicated cases
do, of course, occur in which recruitment is prepared over a longer
period. In such cases all the circumstances surrounding a forthcoming
recruitment are determined. The basis is carefully prepared in what
way, and with the application of which measures, a particular
individual is to be forced to co-operate.
Such long drawn out preparations are required most often for
visitors from capitalist countries, since the prerequisites for recruitment are totally different from those which apply in the case of
Soviet or GDR citizens. As such people are neither directly nor
indirectly dependent on the KGB, the organisation has to resort to
rather more ruses and conducts itself more cautiously. However, the
basic principles still remain the same: bribery, threats or blackmail.
The recruitment of a woman from Stuttgart by the name of N
was one example. From 1966 onwards, she had visited relatives on
several occasions in Bad Griinwald in the GDR. The KGB, who as
usual were checking the arrival lists of Westerners, took an interest
in her. They decided to exploit her for the information she could
provide on West Germany. An agent made her acquaintance, as it
were, "by chance". He established a very close relationship with
romantic overtones, and later introduced her to a "friend", a KGB
72
officer. The "friend" referred to the difficulties of pronouncing her

real name and called her Mariya. "Better and simpler," he explained.
At one of their meetings, the agent handed over to N an expensive
present on behalf of his absent friend and asked her to write a note
of thanks to his address. N, quite unsuspectingly, wrote the following
note to the "friend": "Thank you for your valuable present. I am
very pleased. Mariya."
The KGB intended to use this note as a form of blackmail in N's
recruitment. Indeed, the contents of the note were very similar to
an agent's receipt working under the pseudonym "Mariya" who had
just received a reward for a task she had executed. All this provided
an opportunity, in the event of N being stubborn, of forcing her to
co-operate by threatening to compromise her and to expose her to
the West Germans as a KGB agent.
Several days later the "friend" himself turned up on N's doorstep
with the note. N thanked him for the present. Then the "friend"
declared himself to be an employee of the KGB and suggested that
she should co-operate, promising a good reward. With much hesitation,
N replied in the affirmative; a speedy acknowledgement of the efficacy
of KGB blackmail and threats.
Although the recruitment of agents certainly plays an important
part in the KGB's work, it is not the principal factor. The main one
is to force recruited agents to work productively, to hand over vital
intelligence so as to guarantee a successful outcome to the KGB's
activities.
CHAPTER 8
Creating enemies to "unmask"
HE secret service has to give visible and tangible results on

behalf of the state which it serves. The KGB is the child of
the Soviet Communist regime, "the shield and sword" of the.
state. For this reason, all its activity should be viewed as part of the
activity of the regime directed towards its defence preservation and
reinforcementV^n everyday requirement is that it should work 1'more
productively", amassing more "positive" rgST -^gainst enemies of
the state; it is unimportant whether they are internal or external.
Counter-espionage is a fruitful field for gaining "positive" results.
For the sake of objectivity, it must be noted that sometimes these
results include real counter-espionage successes, but in the majority
of cases they are invented in response to the demands made in the
"glorious" fight against the enemies of Communism. During my work
I had occasion to see both sides. I shall begin by relating a genuine
success.
Soon after my arrival in the Department in 1969, I was fortunate
enough to participate in an operation to unmask a real spy network
concerned in collecting information about Soviet troops. One of the
many MfS informers, a woman, reported that GDR citizen Rodiger,
who then lived in Bernau, kept certain mysterious chemical substances
at his home. She was instructed to steal some of these substances.
When they were analysed, it was discovered that they could be used
to prepare secret texts. Rodiger was put under close observation. Soon
it was established that, under various pretexts, he often turned up
near military emplacements and sometimes, under the pretext of
buying goods, even in Soviet shops, and he visited Soviet military
units.
All this information was promptly handed over by MfS to Soviet
counter-espionage, i.e. to the KGB Special Department in Bernau
where, at that time, I was working. The KGB went straight to work.
From that day onwards every step Rodiger took was watched by both
the KGB and MfS. Hidden observation posts were set up around all
Soviet units and they noted every appearance Rodiger made near an
encampment. His personality was carefully studied. All his connections
came to light and were noted down. At the same time, all his relations
were checked. After two or three months of such activity, it was
finally established that he worked for one of the Western espionage
T
l1t<;
73
74
CREATING ENEMIES TO "UNMASK." 74
agencies. To collect information on Soviet units, he had drawn in

his relations as well, and altogether seven people were implicated.
The security forces began to prepare for their arrest. Proof was
collected that Rodiger and his relations were gathering information
about Soviet units which Rodiger himself was handing over to the
West. Photographs were obtained showing Rodiger and his relations
in the act of observing troop movements, and of his meeting with his
relations and giving them espionage tasks. Finally, all was ready for
the arrest of the network. The operation was to be carried out by
MfS. This procedure is followed to hide to some extent the activity
of the KGB in the GDR and in order to underline yet again the
fictitious "independence" of the East German regime.
It was decided that the arrests should be carried out secretly in
September 1969, so that their friends, neighbours and those relations
still at liberty should know nothing about it for several days.
Ambushes were to be laid at the flats of those arrested and left for
several days in case any of the accomplices still unknown to the
KGB and MfS turned up. Everything happened as planned. One
night all seven people were arrested. The ambushes left behind in
their flats produced nothing. All were interrogated by MfS, in the
presence of KGB officers. Rodiger confessed that he had been working
for the French for about 14 years. He behaved bravely; accepted the
main guilt personally and tried to produce evidence to lessen the
guilt of his relations. At the trial, he was condemned to life imprisonment, his relations to various terms of imprisonment. The event was
solemny celebrated in our Department as a great success, and many
of its workers were promoted. Boychenko, as head of the Department,
was awarded an "honourable mention" by KGB Chairman Andropov.
However, unmasking Western agents is a rare occurrence although
the demand for results is never ending, each quarter, each half year,
each year. Those workers who cannot produce results are considered
either as inept or as having lost their "political vigilance", and
therefore not showing the necessary elan. I would say that it is almost
impossible for such workers to make a career in the KGB; they are
constantly criticised and sent to work in distant regions such as the
Trans Baikal, the Far North. They do not receive promotion at the
due time, and for this reason, every worker tries to produce results.
And where can these most easily be achieved? In the struggle against
internal enemies, of course. While it is difficult to catch a spythe
majority of counter-espionage workers have seen them only on the
cinema screensthere is no lack of "anti-Soviets" and other "internal
enemies" of the regime. They are to be found everywhere: you need
only take a close look to find them. It is with their help that a career
can be made.
CREATING ENEMIES TO "UNMASK."
75
I recall how the conference called to assess the year's results was
conducted in the Department in 1970. General Titov, head of the
Directorate of Special Departments of the KGB in the GDR, and
other high-ranking officers attended. Each officer, beginning with our
chief, Boychenko,-had to report. The results were far from brilliant
and the big chiefs were not pleased. In his summing up, General
Titov criticised us sharply and demanded that we increase our active
work. Of all he said, it was the following phrases which remained
in my mind, as it is a fair description of the KGB's counter-espionage
activities:
"I fully understand that it is difficult to catch spies. There are,
after all, few of them. And not one of them comes himself and
says, T am a spy'. But we must get to work. So if there are no
spies, then you must unmask anti-Soviets and other internal
enemies. They are always to be found and if you can't find any,
then create them."
The request was plain for all to see, if there are no spies then
"create" fmti-.SQyjets anHother enemies of the re^'me. This was not
difficult as every Soviet citizen who was even slightly dissatisfied
could, given the desire, be transformed into a violent enemy of
Communism and of the Soviet regime. And to unmask such an
enemy is really a result. However phoney, such an "unmasking"
means rewards and the recognition of a career by the powers that be.
Internal enemies are still enemies.
In 1970, I was implicated in the affair of an internal enemy, a
lieutenant-colonel of the army I shall call Ko. At the time Ko was
serving in the military hospital of the 20th Guards Regiment at
Bad-Frenenwald. He was the doctor in charge of the X-ray room.
Captain Tarasov of the Bernau KGB was responsible for that hospital.
One of his informers, a private also serving in the hospital, told
Tarasov that he accidentally heard Ko talking to officers of the
hospital. According to the private, ^Ko was criticising the electoral
system in the USSR, saying that they were purely formal as there
was really no one to elect, except one candidate appointed by the
Party leadership. And anyway what kind of elections could exist if
the country had only one Party? He compared elections in the USSR
with a theatrical performance. In spite of the fqct that Ko's words
corresponded to reality and were objective, .they were considered to
be anti-Soviej. This is understandable under the prevailing conditions
for according to fefficiarpropagandar|he_USSR is the most democratic
country in the world. A Ko dossier, with the title of "demagogue"
was immediately started, as well as an active check and re-check of
his activities. One of his officer friends was recruited as an agent
to collect evidence showing him to be anti-Soviet. Ko trusted this
76
agent, and most of their conversations were listened in to and taperecorded. It emerged from all the material received, that Ko was in
full agreement with a Communist regime. The only thing he wanted
was a multi-party system under Communism. And so, he was no
enemy of Communism, but in the KGB's opinion he had fallen for
a hostile ideology and so had become a dangerous social element.
"He probably listens to radio transmissions from the Voice of
America and Radio Free Europe," Boychenko remarked. This itself
was dangerous. It was also considered dangerous that Ko had
expressed his opinions aloud, and that although these were, in fact,
not anti-Soviet, they were nevertheless dangerous. Bearing in mind
that he was a distinguished officer who took part in the war, it was
decided not to take him to court. But he was transferred back to
the USSR and subsequently relieved of his army post. That was how
our Department unmasked yet another enemy, although this time
only a "potential enemy".
At the end of 1977 th^ KGB received an order fmm Andropov
toâctivate îll further itn ^v^rlT" nrtninnt riti7fnr> of Jewish nationality.
There were very few Jews in units of the 6th Guards Motorised Rifle
Division for which we were operationally responsible in connection
with the law forbidding them to serve abroad. As a rule, they were
officers' wives. After receipt of Andropov's order, we were immediately
instructed to check all Jews yet again and, if at all possible, find a
reason for sending them back to the USSR.
There wasônlv one Jewess. Birasten Lyudmilla Viktorovna, in the
16th Motorised Rifle Regiment for which I was at that time
responsible. Her husband was a senior lieutenant who had served in
the regiment for about two years. I had no negative reports at all
on either her or her husband. After a week, I reported to my chief,
Lieutenant-Colonel Strizhenko (Boychenko had by this time been
promoted and transferred to Moscow) that all was in order.
"Aleksei Alekseevich, that is no solution to the problem," retorted
Strizhenko. "All is in order! It is impossible at the present time for,
all to be in order with Jews. You^must find something. We must J
rpmnvp her
GDR in not lTss Jthan one month.
At heart I was disgusted, but did not dare disobey. Gradually I
began to look for "something" against Birasten. The only thing I
found was that she kept up a friendship with a German woman, a
shop assistant, in Bad-Frenenwald and that she sometimes jyisited
Berlin without prior permission. I reported this to Strizhenko. "That's
another matter altogether," he said, rubbing his hands. "Now we
can tip her and her husband out of the GDR."
"What for?" I asked.
"What do you mean, what for? When she knows a German
f r n r n
77
woman, a shop assistant, it means a clear case of speculation. Does

she herself travel to Berlin without permission? She does, which is an
infringement of the rules of behaviour for Soviet citizens posted
abroad. Of course, in itself that is not enough. In addition to that,
we must find something if only slightly anti-Soviet, say, a desire to
go to Israel. What do you think?" He looked at me questioningly
and then added: "I'll tell you what. We will call her into the Department and get her written confession that she is speculating and visits
Berlin illegally and that, at the same time, she would like to go to
Israel. And then that will be another positive result for our work.
It will be of use to everyone, to you as a good worker, to me as
your chief and even to Birasten herself because after that we will
leave her alone."
An order is an order and it was quite a normal one for the KGB,
that "Office of Crude Bandits" to which I belonged. Next day,
Birasten was called to the Special Department for a chat which
Strizhenko himself conducted in my presence. It was full of threats,
promises, flattery etc. The scene was disgusting. Even now, when I
recall it all, I feel sick at heart. In a short while, her husband and
Birasten were sent to serve in the Far East of the USSR and for
the KGB it meant the successful conclusion of yet another "complex
operation".
Another incident occurred at the end of 1973 and the beginning
of 1974. Major Strizhenko, at 36, was still young to occupy the post
of head of a department. For that reason, he tried to justify his
appointment by achieving extra successes. All hope lay in "internal
enemies" who could always be "created". At that time, I had been
working in the Department for five years and was considered an
experienced worker. I was then a captain. My career was not built
on "anti-Soviets". I had simply been lucky; I was concerned in the
unmasking of Rodiger. I was concerned in espionage. Also I was a
kind of expert in recruitment; as a rule, agents recruited by me
worked actively and provided valuable information. Strizhenko
behaved towards me with respect and, if we were alone, we talked
not as a chief and a subordinate, but as equals.
At the beginning of 1973, I recruited Lieutenant Shibunko, an
officer of the 16th Motorised Rifle Regiment as an agent. His code
name was "Skiba", and he-proved to be one of those agents who
co-operate with real pleasure. It was obvious that it gave him great
satisfaction to furnish the KGB with written reports about others,
perhaps because he gained a feeling of power. On each occasion when
he met me, he tried to report something "black" about his colleagues,
acquaintances and friends. Around September 1973, I received from
him a written report to the effect that one officer of the regiment,
78
Lieutenant Smirnov, occasionally listened to Radio Free Europe.

When asked by "Skiba" why he did it, Smirnov replied that he wished
to have a complete account of world events, whereas our newspapers
did not always report everything.
Information is information, and I, at first, did not attach any
particular attention to it. Just think, some lieutenant or other sometimes listens to Radio Free Europe. Of course in the USSR it is
considered an anti-Soviet station, although the fact that Smirnov
occasionally listened to it did not prove that he was an enemy of the
state. Many citizens secretly listen to these transmissions with the
sole aim of hearing true reports. Some accounts in Soviet newspapers
distort world events and describe them in a favourable light insofar
as the Communist regime is concerned, and some events are not even
reported at all.
But it was out of the question for me not to act on "Skiba's"
information about Smirnov; every written report is registered, the
KGB officer who receives it, must give his written opinion of its
content, work out what measures he intends to take and report to
his chief that the information has been received.
On the basis of "Skiba's" report, I gave a negative appraisal of
Smirnov's behaviour, although I did not consider it dangerous for
the regime. I suggested that the appropriate action would be to
inform the deputy regimental commander responsible for political
work, who would have a chat with Smirnov. Next day, Strizhenko
came to see me carrying my recommendation. "Aleksei Alekseevich,"
he began in an excited voice: "What we need are actions with a
future, leading to results, results. And what are you doing?"
"What?" I did not understand what he meant.
'Til tell you this minute what! " He took the report from his
briefcase. "Such a report. And you evaluate it as insignificant. I
did not expect it of you. Smirnov is a hidden enemy. I order you to
undertake a close check of him."
"It will all be in vain, we will not achieve any result at all
here; Smirnov is a normal Soviet citizen," I objected.
"Aleksei Alekseevich," said Strizhenko, employing a less official
tone, "do not forget that we need the results of unmasking. Therefore,
we must make Smirnov into an enemy. I personally shall concern
myself with him, along with you, of course." Thereupon he put before
me a plan. "Skiba" was to gain Smirnov's confidence by being a
kindred soul. Then, he must provoke Smirnov into a political discussion and make him pronounce some negative opinions about the
system in the USSR. It was planned to tape-record what was said.
"And that is how we_jshall make an anti-Soviet out of him/'
Strizhenko concluded.
79
I briefed "Skiba", and Strizhenko and I waited to see whether he

would gain Smirnov's confidence. I doubted it as they were complete
opposites. One of them was by nature an informer, a Shpik, an
agent provocateur, or as they are called "Seksot" (secret collaborator).
The other was an honest open-hearted, thinking chap. As I expected,
"Skiba" was unable to work up a relationship: so Strizhenko's first
plan failed.
A week later, Strizhenko came to me with a new plan. He suggested
recruiting one of Smirnov's own friends as an agent. After much
deliberation, Strizhenko and I settled on Smirnov's close friend, a
junior doctor in the regiment, Lieutenant Telinger. The fact that he
was a clever and intelligent chap spoke in his favour. He was
respected by his colleagues. He liked to enjoy himself. He was not
interested in politics and most important of all, he often spent his
free time in the company of Smirnov. It remained an open question
whether Telinger would co-operate to work against Smirnov. Here
Strizhenko placed all his faith in me. "You are an expert in such
matters, Aleksei Alekseevich. You must recruit him and prepare
him for work. I take the remaining work upon myself."
I recruited Telinger in a couple of weeks. He was given the code
name "Sedoi" (grey) and a week later, he set to work. He engaged
Smirnov in heart-to-heart discussions and gradually introduced a
political tone, provoking him into making so-called anti-Soviet
remarks by himself making careful criticism of the regime. Having
noticed that in Telinger, he had found a like-minded colleague,
Smirnov, in his innocence, readily discussed with him the government's internal policies.
A considerable amount of material had been accumulated by the
end of January 1974. In chatting with "Sedoi", Smirnov had said
that there was no true democracy in the USSR, and that he did not
like the one-party system which excluded any kind of democracy.
He compared the work of the KGB with the Inquisition, and those
persecuted in the USSR with "heretics" who, in the majority of
cases, suffered only on account of their convictions. According to
Smirnov, the KGB was even worse than the Inquisition, which more
often than not destroyed its victims physically, whereas the KGB
first attempted to destroy the spirit and morale of an individual and
only afterwards, if necessary, subjected his body to labour camp,
prison or deportation.
Strizhenko rubbed his hands in delight when he received all this
material, confirmed by tape-recordings. "Well, what did I tell you,
Aleksei Alekseevich, he is an enemy, a real enemy! Now we only
have to prove and arrange for him to be found organising an antiSoviet group and then we can put him safely away in prison for a
80
long time. And that would be a good result! "

As I listened, I was thinking of very different things. Smirnov was
speaking the truth as I myself knew after years of work in the
KGB. At that time, I was a long way away from its aims in my
convictions, and I was already taking concrete measures to make my
personal contribution to the struggle against the Cheka and against
Communism. The Smirnov case was not finished when on 2 February
1974 I found myself in the West. Smirnov, I hope, remained free.
But that is how enemies ,of_Jhe regim__are madeôut^ of innocent
people and later sent to camps and prisons.
The search for enemies is carried ût not only through KGB
informers but also through the public. KGB officers often make
public speeches and lectures about the black deeds of Western
espionage agencies, thus artificially creating a psychosis among the
population and caj. ' g forâll-round^vigfl^ceri^ne example, taken
from my personal experience, shows clearly to what such spy-mania
can lead.
I worked alongside KGB agent "Petrov" (his real name was
Malashevich), an army major in the 16th Motorised Rifle Regiment.
He was an active collaborator, fulfilling many assignments, and as
a result often had to be away from home on various pretexts.
Naturally, his wife did not like this. She wanted to know where he
went when others were sitting at home, and where the money which
he had from time to time came from. Malashevich was strictly
forbidden to tell his wife that he collaborated with the KGB and
continuously had to invent various reasons, some of which sometimes
sounded rather far fetched. He often quarrelled with his wife about
this, but always as a family quarrel, until one day. . . .
One day, someone knocked at my office door and in came
Malashevich's wife. This was quite unexpected. However, I did not
show it. I offered her a chair and asked her what had brought her to
see me.
"Not long ago, I listened to you talk on vigilance," she began with
a shaking voice. "I thought a great deal about it and finally decided
to come and see you." It was obvious that she was very upset. I tried
to calm her and asked her what was worrying her. She burst into
tears, then said: "I think my husband is a spy, he is connected with
some Americans or English people."
I expected anything, but not that. Perhaps I had heard her wrongly.
"A spy?" "Yes, a spy."
"That is a serious accusation," I said severely. "What has led you
to that supposition?"
"I shall explain everything. You know my husband is often away
from home, he goes away somewhere or other and is permanently
]l n
81
in a state of nerves. Something is wrong with him. I know there is

no other woman, he cannot even sleep with me. Then there is the
money."
"What money?" I asked.
"You know what it is like in a family, I always check my husband's
pockets and I always find money there, not much, 50 marks or 100
marks, but it is always there. And you see, he gives me all his wages
to the last penny. Where does he get the extra money from? And so
I have been thinking that perhaps he is a spy? He works at headquarters with secrct documents."
It was obvious to me. Malashevich's work for me explained his
absences and the money. But I did not hurry, because I was interested.
Sitting before me was a woman who had lived 17 years with her
husband, raised two children with him and yet she had come voluntarily with serious accusations against him. What had made her take
such a step? Jealousy, hatred or the desire to get rid of her husband?
"Do you understand what you are accusing your husband of?"
"Yes."
"Think again, perhaps you are mistaken," I suggested. "I have
already thought about it a great deal."
"So what now then?" "I've already told you that. I think he may
be a spy."
" What is your relationship with your husband? Do you often
quarrel with him? Perhaps you do not understand each other? Or
alternatively, perhaps there is another man?"
"No, I love my husband and do not forget that he is the father
of my children but, before all else I am a Communist and I tell you
there is something wrong with him."
"Right," I said. "Can you give me a written statement?" I offered
her pen and paper. She agreed and wrote down the details.
I took the written statement from her; locked it in my safe,
unhurriedly lit a cigarette and after some thought, I asked: "What
do you think will happen to your husband now?"
"I do not know."
"And what if we arrest him?"
"If my husband is a spy, then he deserves it."
"A firm reply," I thought and decided to stop it all. "Listen to me
carefully. Your husband is not a spy. He is a KGB collaborator. He
fulfills the tasks we set him, that is why he has to be away from home
and we give him money for his expenses."
"My husband collaborates with you, and I thought he was a spy! "
she exclaimed with relief.
"Never mind, it happens," I said. "Thank you for the courageous
step you took today. By that you have shown that you are a true
82
Communist. That is how it should always be, the Party first and then
-ivate life."
These high-sounding phrases meant nothing and I pronounced their
ith the secret hope that she would perhaps see the irony of it all
But she took mv remarks_serjrm y with a thankful expression. Having
revealed that her husband was a collaborator, I had to recruit her
also to keep the secret and make sure of using Malashevich in the
future. She readily agreed and assured me that she would make every
effort to help the KGB, which, even without her assurance, I did not
doubt for one moment.
Then, remembering her poor husband, she asked me not to tell
him that she had accused him of being a spy. I assured her that it
was strictly between us and ushered her out. Left alone, I took her
statement from the safe and tore it into small pieces. Such is life
where a spy-mapia psychosis reigns.
It is a well-known fact that the KGB does not always "create"
enemies and that sometimes Chekists prefer to deal with "madmen".
An example was Private Golubev. Of course, his case cannot even be
compared with that of General Grigorenko, but a mere private is
also a human being. In 1972, he was serving in the 16th Motorised
Rifle Regiment of the 6th Motorised Rifle Division. For a long time,
there was no difference between him and the others until one day an
incident occurred during political study.
His platoon commander, Lieutenant Melder, was telling his soldiers
of the advantages of Communism over capitalism and about the
bright Communist future. When he finished speaking, Private Golubev
suddenly jumped up and cried:
"Comrade Lieutenant, I do not agree with you, I consider that
the life of an ordinary worker in America is better than in our
country. How do you explain that?" The other soldiers waited
curiously to hear the lieutenant's reply. He said that Golubev was
mistaken and ordered him to be quiet. After the political study period,
he sent him to talk to the deputy head of the Political Department,
Major Konik.
Major Konik's attempts to compel Golubev to change his mind
failed. Golubev obstinately stuck to his opinion and even suggested
to Konik that he should hold a discussion with his soldiers on that
subject. The major put Golubev in the guardroom and sent a report
to the KGB. Strizhenko informed me as I was responsible for the
regiment, and on my advice, he decided not to take repressive
measures against Golubev, because the other soldiers knew what had
happened. He "advised" the head of the Political Department of the
6th Guards Division, Colonel Chelyshev, to send Golubev for observation to the Psychiatric Department of the hospital in Topitz, where
gL
83
he was to be pronounced "mentally deranged".

Golubev was taken straight from the guardroom to the hospital,
where appropriately briefed doctors awaited him. In a couple of weeks
he was pronounced "ill" and sent to the USSR, where he was
demobilised. It was explained to the soldiers who had witnessed the
incident that mental illness accounted for his "abnormal" views.
I have recounted only a little of the work of a small department.
If one looks at the activities of the KGB as a whole, then the few
examples I have quoted make it possible to imagine how many
"enemies" have been "created" throughout the USSR. These
"enemies" now sit in prisons and camps, and how many more
"mentally ill" people are undergoing forced "medical" treatment?
CHAPTER 9
The privileged ones
OVIET citizens have to live under laws created by the

Communist regime and with a myriad of regulations. Offenders
may be imprisoned in a prison or labour camp, lose a good
job or be forbidden to attend an institute and so on. A particularly
comprehensive list of regulations exists for citizens living abroad,
irrespective of whether they belong to the army or are private
citizens.
For example, army personnel as well as civilians living in East
Germany are forbidden to make "free* unorganised contacts with its
citizens, even though they are brothers in class, conviction and arms.
Officers, privates and their families are strictly forbidden to leave the
confines of the garrison where they are serving. Visits to West Berlin
are especially forbidden. It is considered particularly dangerous as
many foreigners from capitalist countries: Americans, British,
French and West Berlin citizens, Federal German nationals, are
permanently based there, and this could lead to undesirable contacts.
The KGB is also afraid that Soviet citizens may be recruited by some
Western agency or even that they may try to flee to the West. Military
commanders and Party leaders alike are afraid of such contacts, as
they fear the influence of "bourgeois ideology".
But most of these prohibitions are intended for the mass of
ordinary folk. How then do those in power and those who defend that
power live? How do KGB agents live, for examplethose who are
the "sword and shield" of Soviet power? It would seem that in fulfilling their duty of defending and strengthening the Soviet regime,
they must be among the most convinced Communists. So they are;
but they believe in their own brand of Communism, belonging as
they do to the Soviet elite, to its "Mafia".
For this "Mafia", Communism is quite a different proposition from
the one known to the simple worker; it means unlimited power over
the_masses, n irmrp life nt nther ppnpW rrpense and alj-inhiaiiig
rules and disciplines that is the kind of barrack-square Communism
in which Chekists believe. To the workers, Communists promise a
bright future with happiness, brotherhood and equality for all, but
they do not say when this will be achieved. The people compare
Communism to an elusive horizon"the more effort spent to get
closer, the quicker the horizon moves into the distance".
7
84
THE PRIVILEGED ONES
85
KGB workers have more freedom in their personal lives than other
citizens; they wield enormous power and enjoy total control of the
citizens, to whom they appear impregnable. For this reason, they are
more uninhibited when considering political problems as well; they
are often uncomplimentary in their remarks about individual Soviet
leaders and about the internal and external polices of the government.
Yet one rule is strictly adhered to: all opinions and remarks must
not go beyond the confines of the KGB. This represents a sort of
unwritten privilege ana lVexpTained by the well-known phrase: "What
is permissible to Jupiter is forbidden to the bull." They are truly the
most privileged of the Communist New Class or Soviet bourgeoisie.
While talking with colleagues, I often heard the most varied opinions
about one or another government official, including Brezhnev himself.
He was sharply criticised for the "softness" of his" internal policies
}
and for his mistakes in external policy. However, it must be said that
/
on the whole the KGB approves of him; over the past few years, h e ^ ^
has widened and strengthened the rights and power of the KGB. He ^
has given more privileges to Cheka men; încreased their pay and I
allotted more funds to the KGB as a whole. "He's not as stupid as^J
Khruschev was," said Colonel Spirin, head of the Special Department
of the KGB attached to the 20th Guards Army. "He understands that
o n e j ^ n n o t do without t h ^ J ^ G R J '
Other Politburo members come in for their share of criticism.

Chekists are particularly contemptuous about Kunaev. They reproach
him for his drunkenness and idleness, and refer to him as a useless
member of the government. Conversations among KGB workers refer
particularly cynically to political freedoms in the USSR or to such
organisations as "trade unions" and "local Soviets". These exist only
as a facade to impress the world and they play hardly any real
role at all. KGB people know all this better than anyone, and among
themselves refer to these organisations as "shop windows". As regards
the state structure, insofar as its "freedoms" and "democracies" are
concerned, KGB men often relate anecdotes for which an ordinary
mortal would immediately be sentenced under the Article "Slander
against the Soviet state and social order". There is one such anecdote.
The son of a highly-placed Party official did not work well at
school. He had particular difficulty studying the state structure. He
could not get into his head the significance of different conceptions
like the Party, the Motherland, trade unions and the people. Not
wishing that his own authority should suffer, the father decided to
teach his son himself. For two whole hours, he unsuccessfully tried
to teach his son what Party, Motherland and people meant. All was
in vain; his son did not understand. Then the father decided to use
practical methods. "Well," he said, "I am the Party, your mother
86
THE PRIVILEGED ONES 86
is the Motherland, your grandmother is the trade unions and you

are the people." And with the help of this illustration, he began to
explain everything from the beginning. But the son still did not
understand. Furious, the father put his son in the corner as a punishment for several hours. Later, he forgot about him. All this took
place in the bedroom unfortunately. During the night, the father
started to make love to his wife. Watching from his corner, the
son remembered his grandmother asleep next door and thought to
himself: "What a life! The Party rapes the Motherland, the trade
unions sleep and the people have to suffer! "
At the Special Department of the KGB in Bernau, I had fairly
quickly established friendly relations with many of its officers. Sometimes, after working hours, two or three of us joined up to visit the
town cafes, or the officers' mess to play billiards, or else we met at
someone's flat to have a glass of vodka, a chat and to criticise our
chiefs. This was part of our daily lives on weekdays, but there are
also public holidays: Revolution Day, the First of May, Victory Day
and other celebrations. The officers of our Department in common
with all other Chekists made the most of these festival dates, that
is to say to organise official drinking bouts. KGB officers refer among
themselves to such drunken orgies as "cultural-political measures"
(abbreviated as KPM). Nobody knows where this ironic title
originated, but it is a pretty fair description, firstly because these
orgies are official events which give them a political character;
secondly, they take place with the participation and under the leadership of the KGB chiefs. Before each glass a toast is obligatory, to
the CPSU, the Government, the Politburo or to Brezhnev himself.
Everyone must drain his glass. These bouts are all paid for from
public funds; the working class is not short of money for its
"servants". Never forget that the KGB serves the people!
My first experience of a KPM was on 23 February 1969, Soviet
Army Day. A couple of days before, Lavrukhin and I sat in his room
chatting. It was about nine in the evening. Suddenly, Koroteyev burst
in in his usual tipsy state. "Why are you still working? You should
be getting ready for the festivities."
"Who needs to prepare, we are always ready," answered Lavrukhin.
"You are ready, but who will organise the whole thing, good drinks
and hors d'oeuvres? Koroteyev of course," Kostya continued. ' I
have been to the head of the officers' mess and warned him. Everything will be first class."
Lavrukhin burst out laughing. "You like that job, organising
drunken bouts." "Of course, it is better than working! I have not
been home for two days and my wife will kill me! "
At about 8 p.m. on 23 February, we gathered in a room at the
THE PRIVILEGED ONES
87
officers' mess where a table loaded with drinks and hors d'oeuvres was
waiting. Most of us were in civilian clothes, it being less incongruous
to see a civilian dead drunk. At the table the places of honour were
occupied by Boychenko and Kryukov. I sat between Lavrukhin and
Davydov. Boychenko rose, glass in hand, and delivered a short speech
praising the Party, Brezhnev, the army and, of course, the KGB.
The toast was promptly honoured.
In a couple of minutes, Kryukov toasted the KGB and its leadership, and we all drank to it readily. Then he added: "I suggest that
each one of us proposing a toast should not spend longer than two
minutes over it otherwise we shall not have enough time to drink!
If anyone cannot manage in the time, he will be punished and will
have to drink a 'fine'200 grammes of vodka."
The proposal was wholeheartedly supported. Kostya Koroteyev
shouted: "Aleksandr Gerasimovich! I stammer anyway and will not
be able to manage in the time. So allow me to drink my 'fine'
straight away! "
"I'll show you whether you'll drink a 'fine' or not," threatened
Kryukov. "You must last out to the end of our drinking bout, otherwise, as usual, you will be under the table before it's over." Speeches
were made, glasses emptied, spirits rose, here and there passions were
rising It started with the chiefs.
A couple of days before the drinking session, there had been the
usual quarrel between Boychenko and Kryukov, this time over the
Department's interpreter, Lieutenant Nagishkin. He asked Boychenko
for two days' leave and was refused. Then Nagishkin approached
Kryukov, who sanctioned it. Boychenko made a scene, threatening
to report the matter to "a higher authority" and even to punish
Kryukov. Passions seemed to have calmed, but not, in his cups.
Boychenko suddenly remembered it all. "Who is in charge, you or I?"
he shouted in a drunken voice at Kryukov.
"You are a chief for them," said Kryukov, pointing to us, "but
for me you are nothing more than . . . . ! " (unprintable expression).
Boychenko grabbed Kryukov and began to shake him. With difficulty
we managed to separate them. The drinking continued. Soon the
losses became apparent. Davydov was first, and a driver was called
to take him home. Leaning on the private's shoulder and singing his
favourite song, 'When the evening lights are swaying', Davydov left
the happy company. Zemskov and Koroteyev were the next to disappear, they went to Berlin to "look for women". Having forgotten
his quarrel with Boychenko, Kryukov sat embracing one of the maids
and shortly afterwards they left together.
Lavrukhin and I also wanted to go home but Boychenko said:
"We shall all go to the Department together. I want to speak to
88
Nagishkin again officially and you must be present." To the Department the man said, so the Department it is. The four of us, Boychenko,
Nagishkin, Lavrukhin and I, got into a car and arrived in about ten
minutes. Boychenko's conversation with Nagishkin took place outside.
Swaying from side to side, he approached Nagishkin saying: "Am
I the chief or am I not?" "The chief," the latter replied. "Why the
hell don't you listen to me then instead of running to Kryukov? I'll
punch your face in for it this very minute." He took a swing at
Nagishkin, who, however, was only half as tall as Boychenko, and
the blow missed. Boychenko lost his balance and lay spreadeagled
on the ground with a bloody face. He struggled to his feet; tried to
hit Nagishkin again, but again fell and lay in the snow. We lifted
him up, brushed off the snow and drove him home. There we placed
him outside the front door; rang the bell and immediately left as we
were afraid of his wife's reaction. That was the end of my first
"cultural-political measure".
Such KPMs were a regular occurrence in the Department. Sometimes they went off smoothly, but sometimes strange things happened.
I recall how, at one such drunken bout, Boychenko and Kryukov
actually did fight. Although it was a short contest because neither
could stand properly, they managed to damage each other's faces
so badly that neither could appear for a week to the great amusement
of all the other officers. These fights provided material for all manner
of jokes among their subordinates, who, of course, did scarcely any
work while Boychenko and Kryukov were absent. It was a kind of
short holiday for the Department. A few worked a little before lunch,
but afterwards we all lolled in cafes, and on a couple of occasions
even went on a trip to the lake.
At one drinking bout to celebrate an officer's promotion in 1970,
Kryukov, as usual, got very drunk and started to look for a fight.
This time his victim was Ushakov, the clerk to the Department, a
short, weak man who always tried to avoid scandals. Kryukov started
to accuse him of something and when the clerk objected, grabbed
him by the scruff of the neck and hit him hard against the wall.
Ushakov left, but a few minutes later he reappeared in the doorway,
a pistol in his hand. "Where's that bloody bastard," he shouted. "I'll
kill him to hell." Kryukov reacted quicker than any of us, crying
from under the table: "Take the pistol away from that crazy fellow,
he will kill me." The pistol was wrested from Ushakov and Kryukov,
recovering from his fright, asked to be forgiven. In five minutes they
were drinking together to "world peace".
But it was out of character for Kryukov to suffer a defeat like
that, and he turned his anger against me and Lavrukhin. He suspected
that the pistol affair was our idea. He cursed us and threatened
THE PRIVILEGED ONES
89
punishment, so that we were soon fed up with him. "You know

what," said Lavrukhin, "I've got an idea. Let's put him in a bath
filled with cold water, perhaps it will sober him up." We filled the
bath, led Kryukov, who could hardly stand, into the bathroom; took
all documents and money out of his pockets and then lowered him
into the cold water as he was, in uniform, with all his orders and
medals. He was so drunk that he hardly reacted. After five minutes,
we took him out, put him in a car and told the driver to take him
home. Next day Lavrukhin and I waited impatiently to see what
Kryukov would do to us. At about ten o'clock he called us in. His
first question was: "Where are the documents and the money?" We
handed them back to him. He carefully counted the 700 GDR marks,
then set about us. "Have you forgotten how to behave towards a
senior officer?
(unprintable curses). Do you think that you
can do what you like at a drinking session? You are mistaken!
(unprintable curses)." This went on for 30 to 40 minutes, after which
Kryukov calmed down and finally asked us not to tell anyone what
had happened. Lavrukhin and I acknowledged our guilt and assured
him of secrecy. Thus was unofficial peace declared.
It often happened that the chiefs were to be found drinking hard
in one place, in spite of all their differences, while at the same time
their subordinates were to be found beating it up in another cafe.
At one such gathering, the majority were setting out for home but
some of the officers had not had enough, in particular Lieutenant
Kemskov and Major Yermakov, who decided to prolong the festivities.
Swaying from side to side in a close embrace, they set off in search
of a suitable place. It was already late, but they found one cafe where
lights still burned and music could be heard, just what the officers
needed. But the door was locked. When they hammered at it an
attendant explained that there was a private anniversary party in the
cafe to which outsiders were not admitted. "Who are you calling
outsiders'?" demanded Zemskov who spoke German fluently. "Soviet
officers cannot possibly be outsiders and we wish to attend this party."
Noticing that both officers could hardly stand, the attendant slammed
the door in their faces. Neither Zemskov nor Yermakov liked that.
They collected heavy stones and broke all the cafe windows and then,
paying not the slightest attention to the panic they had caused, set
off home.
Two days later, the German authorities informed Major Tyrin,
Bernau Town Commandant, of the unworthy behaviour of certain
Soviet officers. Major Tyrin, previously briefed by KGB Major
Yermakov, replied that officers could not possibly behave in such a
way, and refused to listen to anything further. Thus ended harmlessly,
on this particular occasion, a Chekist escapade. But sometimes these
90
drunken brawls got dangerous. There was in our Department a certain

Salenkov. He had not been in the KGB long and was by nature a
troublemaker and fully conscious of his powers as a KGB worker.
At the end of 1972, Salenkov, in civilian clothes, was making merry
in one of the cafes of Eberswald and became drunk. When he
ordered yet another bottle of vodka, the barmaid refused and asked
him to leave. "How dare you contradict me," yelled Salenkov. "I'm
a Soviet Chekist and I'll shoot you! " This said, he took out a pistol
and aimed at the barmaid. Many people headed for the exit in panic,
but the situation was saved by a man who managed to knock the
pistol out of Salenkov's hand. A German telephoned the Komendatura
and Salenkov was led from the cafe with hands tied. On learning that
he was a KGB officer, the Commandant, fearing repercussions, ordered
him to be taken home. Subsequently, Salenkov was punished by the
head of the Directorate of Special Departments with three days'
detention. But in a few weeks all was forgotten and at the beginning
of 1973, without serving any extra time, he was promoted lieutenant.
Our Department was not alone in this sort of conduct. Many KGB
workers spent and still spend their free time in this way. We frequently
heard of top secret orders from Andropov about "exceptional
happenings" within the ranks and about the punishment of those
found guilty. As in any other chronicle of crimes, anything at all
might turn up: suicides, car accidents with drunken KGB drivers,
drunken brawls, shootings on the streets and even crimes. One worker
of the Special Department of Ryazan organised a criminal group
which concerned itself with the sexual perversion of minors. In 1973,
after the militia had unmasked the group, the guilty official was
dismissed and the head of the Department concerned, LieutenantColonel Suslov, was reduced to the rank of major. The fact that
Suslov's career had come to an end affected him profoundly and
he died a week later from a heart attack. It remains a matter for
conjecture whether that was suicide or a natural death.
Higher ranks of the KGB behave no better. Once when Kryukov
was in a good mood, after drinking in a Bernau cafe, he started to
teach me the art of living. "You are still a young officer. There is
much you do not know, so listen carefully and learn. To make one's
career in the KGB, one needs good connections and graft as well as
being able to please one's chiefs. This is very important! The work
itself is not so important. If you are not a complete fool, you will
always manage to get good results. I myself made one mistake in my
life. I was getting on well in KGB headquarters in Moscow. And all
because of that bastard General Fedorchuk, I lost everything. At one
time, he was here in the GDR as head of the Directorate of Special
Departments. I often came here with others from Moscow to check
THE PRIVILEGED ONES
91
the work of the Special Department. Of course, Fedorchuk did everything within his power to please us. Endless drinking bouts; nights
out in Berlin with young girls and striptease. Everything we wished.
Expensive presents, all paid for officially, of course. In return, we
reported to Moscow on the excellently organised work of KGB Special
Departments in the GDR.
"In a short while, Fedorchuk was promoted to head of the Third
KGB Directorate, and hence my chief. Once, at a party organised
by Fedorchuk, I drank a bit too much and told him not to forget that
I too had a hand in his career. He did not reply, but some time later
I began to feel I had made a blunder. At work, my chiefs started
to get at me over trifles. Soon, under some pretext, I was punished
and sent to work in the GDR; once there, I was punished again and
demoted and that is how I found myself working in this particular
Department. Of course, I shall try to get back to Moscow and have
already taken steps in that direction, but my career is definitely
finished. You must learn from my example. Never speak the truth
to one's superiors, look for graft and useful connections instead. Have
a good 'sense of smell'. Don't make the same mistakes as one officer_
who never got beyond lieutenant in 20 years' service. Where he :
should have licked, he barked, and where he should have barked, J
he licked. A very dangerous mistake to make! "
*
Kryukov's story did not reveal much that was new to meI had
already noticed it all during my servicebut his words confirmed the
tainted nature of the whole system, from top to bottom, in which I
served. It is not for nothing that the popular phrase has it that "a
fish decays from its head first".
Kryukov did achieve his aim; he was transferred to Moscow as
deputy head of the KGB Special Department attached to Special
Units of the Moscow Garrison. We travelled together in the same
train from Berlin to Moscow, for I was going on leave and he was
going to his new post. Before his departure Kryukov got drunk and
fought with Boychenko for the last time. He appeared at Berlin's
Eastern Station dead drunk. He lolled along the platform dressed
in his colonel's uniform; accosted passers-by and before getting into
his carriage even urinated in the station dustbin. I took the key
from the train attendant and locked him in his compartment to prevent
unnecessary incidents.
As well as power over "simple mortals", freedom in personal ^
behaviour and the opportunity to get drunk at official expense, KGB
agents have other material privileges. An officer receives three or
four times the daily pay of a skilled worker, he also has a splendid
flat, the right to buy goods in special shops at reduced prices and
much else besides. As for the chiefs, they have absolutely everything
92
they desire.
Even so, it frequently happens that all these privileges are not
enough for some. They want still more and often use their official
positions for personal gain. This is best demonstrated by examples.
In many ways the USSR is the most powerful military force in
the world, spending huge sums on the development of its militaryindustrial potential, on military science and on supplying armaments
to "fraternal socialist countries'' and to Third World countries.
Indirectly, the USSR participates in many "local" wars (Vietnam,
the Middle East and others). All this requires money. Where to get
it? The only possibility is at the expense of the people's well-being.
Less money is spent on the consumer's needs and on the development
of light industry'. Some manufactured articles are, therefore, in short
supply, such as fridges, furniture, etc, while the quality of others
is well below world standards, particularly clothing and footwear.
KGB workers hardly suffer from this at all. Basically, they can
either buy anything or "obtain" it, although in the USSR the homeproduced goods are of inferior quality to Western products. Consequently KGB officers and civilians serving abroad feverishly buy up
all those products. At long last their wishes can be gratified and they
forget that Capitalists are supposed to be their worst enemies. East
Germany is a kind of showcase of the socialist world, where much
emphasis is placed on the population's well-being and on the production
of manufactured consumer goods, and it also receives imports from
capitalist countries.
The KGB people make full use of their opportunity; they buy
furniture, cut-glass, clothing, carpets and footwear: all to be sent
home in containers. They are paid higher wages in the GDR, but
there is not always enough, or sometimes they simply do not wish
to part with it. This is where various "combinations" and
"machinations" begin in order to get hold of the desired goods free
of charge. The Military Trading Organisation is widely employed to
this end. Military Trading (Voentorg) shops are officially subordinate
to the army. The KGB, having control over all organisations, controls
not only the army itself but also these shops.
The head of Military Trading is a Soviet citizen well acquainted
with the KGB, and he tries to cultivate a good relationship by
rendering its members services at any opportunity. As a rule it works
like this: when new supplies are received at Military Trading, the
head informs the Department to which he is responsible. KGB officials
order goods they want, goods that never find their way into the shops.
Subsequently as "old stock" they are reduced in price two or three
times below their original value, and are then despatched to the
officials' homes straight from store. This is a popular method, used
THE PRIVILEGED ONES
93
by all KGB agents as well as by Party leaders and army commanders.

But even using this method, the goods have to be paid for, not a
lot but still something. Yet it is possible to get them entirely free
through undertakings directly subordinated to a KGB Department or
to an individual worker. For example, if a worker is "responsible"
for food warehouses then the man in charge will supply him with
all he needs. Undertakings too are used for gain, whether it be a
military radio works or a furniture factory. The director of such a
factory will always find it possible to "help" the KGB agent on whom
he depends. The agents, in their turn, think about each other's needs.
One "obtains" furniture for the others, while another "obtains" spare
parts for the car. It is all done under cover; the goods are either
written off as "scrap" or are bought for a nominal price.
Not far from Bernau is the "Torpedo" Factory where light vehicles
belonging to the Soviet troops in Germany are maintained. My
Department was responsible for this factory. Colonel I. T. Shilenko,
to whom our Department was subordinated, expressed a wish to
"obtain" a Volga car, not buy it. The desire of a chief is law for
one of his subordinates. It was decided to make use of the "Torpedo"
Factory. One old Volga was designated as useless scrap by the factory
and sold to Shilenko for 100 roubles. After purchasing this wreck,
Shilenko officially transferred several hundred further roubles to the
factory's account. For this money, the factory was to put the car in
"decent order". In a few months, in 1970, Shilenko took delivery of
the "overhauled" car, which had become a new car, assembled from
new parts. The number was the only thing that remained of the old
wreck. Shilenko had more than enough money to purchase a car,
but who would buy if he can "obtain" it free. In fact, Shilenko never
spent a penny unless he had to. He personally telephoned senior
Lieutenant Arelanov, who was responsible for the clothes store, and
instructed him to obtain several pairs of white underpants and shirts
for him. Arelanov promptly complied.
Colonel Shilenko was not an exception: many KGB officers still
behave as he did. Colonel Boychenko "obtained" for his wife by the
"negative valuation method" several fur coats and "bought" furniture
and cut-glass. He also supplied them to his connections. Several times
I had to hand over as gifts, the goods he had obtained, dinner
services, cut-glass and so forth, when I travelled to Moscow on leave.
One gift was to General Soloyev, head of the Special Department
of the KGB of the Moscow Okrug anti-aircraft defence force.
At one time in 1972, Major Mikhajlov was head of our KGB
Department. He owed his career to his connections with the head
of the Personnel Department of the Third KGB Directorate, MajorGeneral Luzhin. Mikhajlov thought neither about work nor Com-
94
munism: his main preoccupation was personal gain. He "obtained"

everything, beginning with furniture, carpets and clothing and ending
with a sporting rifle. He did not forget General Luzkin, to whom he
regularly sent carpets, dinner services and pornographic literature
which could not be obtained in the USSR.
As our Department was responsible for the largest clothing store
belonging to the troops in the GDR, we often received orders from
the heads of other Special Departments in the GDR for footwear,
shirts and uniform trousers. On several occasions, on instructions
from the heads of the Department (Boychenko, Strizhenko), I
delivered items to the officers stationed in Potsdam; in 1970, to the
then deputy head of the KGB Directorate, General Alekseyev, two
pairs of shoes and several shirts; or in 1973, to the head of the
Personnel Department, Colonel Grigoryev, trousers and shirts. General
Titov, at one time head of the KGB Directorate in the GDR, was
appointed head of the Special Department for the Leningrad Military
District. For his transfer from Potsdam, he was allocated two aircraft,
one for himself and his family, the other an AN12 of 30-ton capacity
for his household goods. All this was free, of course, the working
class take good care of their "servants".
CHAPTER 10
Communism's landed gentry
N carrying out operational supervision of various units, I had

to be permanently in contact with the officers and thus became
well acquainted with their daily life, from the lowest ranks to
the highest. The whole officer cadre class may be divided into three
groups: the High Command of the army; commanders who occupy
positions fallingîthin the "nomenclature of the CC of the CPSU",
such as divisional commanders, heads of Divisional Political Departments, army commanders, their deputies and above; and officers
nr.cnpvinff ,si]frprfjinate positions. The first two groups are members
of_the "Sovie^Mafia".
The High Command, because of its position in the step-shaped
structure of society, is directly next to the Politburo and government.
Therefore, its members are among those wno enjoy great power in
the state. Though in the most privileged layer, they are not permitted
to enjoyâll that the top echelons of the "Mafia", the Politburo and
the government, can claim.
Members of the High Command have almost complete power over
the whole army and are subordinate only to the Politburo itself and
the government, which controls the army in the last resort with the
help of the KGB and highly-placed Party officials. As for material
privileges, there are practically no limits. Their enormous salaries
alone permit them to live better than many Capitalists in the West,
but by using their positions and power over the army, they can obtain
additional benefits at official expense and are able to arrange luxurious
conditions for themselves. They own comfortable villas provided by
the army's building battalions at holiday areas, on the Black Sea, on
the Baltic coast and in Moldavia. The villas are protected by army
detachments, and often the servants in them are soldiers who cost
nothing and are highly disciplined. For leave purposes, members
of the High Command usually make full use of service aircraft and
cars. I would say that the High Command have an even greater
degree of security than their "Mafia" colleagues in civilian life: the
mass of people they control are in uniform, and are subordinate to
military law, which demands immediate obedience. These officers
may be comparedwith some rare exceptionswith the great landowners of Tsarist Russia during the era of serfdom, who had almost
everything they desired and had the right of life or death over their
95
96
COMMUNISM'S LANDED GENTRY
serfs.
Other high-ranking commanders enjoy almost as much power. They
can, if need be, make any soldier or extended serviceman appear
before a tribunal and be sentenced to several years imprisonment. It
does not matter at all whether he is guilty or not; in army conditions,
a soldier can always be made to be guilty if need be. Ordinary officers,
that is those who do not belong to the so-called "nomenclature ranks",
may similarly be brought before a tribunal, if need arises. But more
usually, they are simply reprimanded and reduced in rank or given
some other form of punishment.
The similarity between highly privileged members of the army and
the great landowners is emphasised by the fact that they are both,
in a way, owners of tracts of land, lakes and forests. Large expanses
of territory in various regions are allocated to the army for training
and other purposes. Entire forests and lakes are closed to the civilian
population, and the "Soviet Mafia" use these areas for their personal
purposes.
Not far from Kaunas in the Lithuanian SSR is a field firing range
used for training by one of the airborne divisions. There is a small
but beautiful lake, and nearby a villa with its own garden, all
permanently guarded by airborne soldiers, not because of the secret
experiments carried out there but because the lake is used by their
commander, one Army General Margelov, for fishing and hunting.
He is well supplied with such lakes and hunting grounds near Kaunas,
Tula, Fergana, Pskov and Moldavia. Sometimes he makes use of
service aircraft to visit his estates.
Another example shows clearly the pretentious habits of the higher
ranking officers. In the summer of 1971, the 20th Guards Army held
manoeuvres on GDR territory. The then commander of the Group
of Soviet Forces in Germany, Colonel General Kulikov, who is now
Army General and Chief of the General Staff, directed the exercise
for the most part from his headquarters in Vunsdorf. Kulikov appeared
on manoeuvres only once, at the Magdeburg firing range, where he
watched the firing practice of the 6th Guards Division. During the
previous 24 hours, two engineer battalions spent 20 hours laying a
section of asphalt road at considerable cost in money and effort,
solely so that he could appear on the range without dirtying his
general's uniform. He spent about two hours at the range; crossed
the newly-built road only once; watched the firing practice, then
departed for Vunsdorf by helicopter. The new road was never used
again and it remains a sort of monument to the general. How many
such monuments there are on various firing ranges throughout the
Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact no one can say.
Ordinary members of the "Mafia", the "nomenclature ranks" of
97 COMMUNISM'S LANDED GENTRY
the army, are also members of a privileged class who occupy

responsible posts and enjoy many advantages beyond the reach of the
masses. They are comparatively well-informed about political events,
both internally and abroad, as well as about the Politburo's plans for
the immediate future. But the fact that they are well-informed by
no means signifies that they can influence events, for they are obliged
merely to execute decisions taken by the Politburo and government.
Information received from the Politburo, the Central Committee of
the CPSU and the Political Directorate of the Army is delivered by
a secret postal service. Special units exist to store this information,
which is closely guarded.
Because it is not easy to keep the masses in subjection, "nomenclature workers" are given privileges which free them from most
everyday worries. The posts they occupy carry salaries a great deal
higher than those of ordinary officers. They have shops of their own;
special departments are equipped for their use in military hospitals;
they spend their leave in rest houses closed to other officers. In short,
almost everything intended for their use is in some way "special".
Even visits to theatres and cincmas are free, and they get the best
seats.
In spite of all their privileges, some of them want still more. They
use every means at their disposal for personal gain, the state purse,
their official position and power over subordinates. In 1970, the
commander of Rear Supply Services of the 20th Guards Army, Deputy
Army Commander Major-General Zhirnov, made use of his position
as quartermaster to order Voentorg shops to sell meat and other
products intended for consumption by the troops. The money flowed
into his pocket. The fact that the portions served to the troops in
some units became smaller was nobody's business. This situation
continued for about a year, until one of the saleswomen in the shop
threatened, after a quarrel with her superiors, to make the facts
known. Frightened by the prospect of publicity, General Zhirnov
stopped the sale of army food. The saleswoman was subsequently
"discovered" in some kind of theft; it was all prearranged and she
was put behind bars for two years.
In the 20th Guards Army, the name of Lieutenant-General Sivenok
became a synonym for extreme greed. He was loath to spend a halfpenny of his salary if he could avoid it. Everything, furniture, carpets,
dinner services and pictures, were officially purchased for his office
or for the officers' quarters, but in reality they were sent off to his
own house. He ate and drank in the officers' messfree of course
and sometimes even at the expense of mess personnel.
These examples are not exceptions; they are daily occurrences and
no one would even notice such behaviour on the part of "real
98
Communists". Sometimes "nomenclature workers" go too far, with

unpleasant results. This happened when one of them got too wellknown among the public because of his shady dealings and cast a
stain on the "clean face" of the Party. Major-General Pitkevich, a
brigade commander in East Berlin and head of the Berlin Garrison,
had connectionsor "blat" as it is knownin the Ministry of
Defence of the USSR. For this reason, he felt secure and excelled
in his shameless passion for money. He established a criminal link
with a serviceman in charge of the food stores. At his request, the
soldier who had served about 15 years in the GDR and had many
German connections, began to sell products cheaply to the public.
Later he implicated in the illegal traffic a number of his friends in
charge of various other stores. Things went well and General Pitkevich
pocketed tens of thousands of marks. But soon many of those serving
in the brigade learned of his earnings on the side. All manner of
tales got about, and some army men referred to him as a twister and
a scoundrel. It is forbidden to even think harshly of the "Mafia", let
alone speak harshly. The KGB intervened and upon its recommendation, the Military Procurator started investigations. The inquiries^
naturally did not result in the general being blamed. He was just a
trusting individual and that corrupt serviceman had exploited and
abused his trust. Furthermore, the general had never pocketed any
money! The serviceman was sentenced to one and a half years deprivation of liberty by a military tribunal. However, too many people
knew about the general; he was transferred to the USSR, and soon
afterwards was retired on a pension.
These ordinary members of the "Mafia" behave no better in their
private lives either. There are times when they behave like the worst
drunkards, in November 1973, the commander of the 6th Guards
Division, Colonel [now General] Sotskov and the Head of the
Political Department of that same Division, Colonel Chelyshev,
celebrated October Revolution Day too well. They went for a stroll
round Bernau with their wives. The fresh air apparently had a
beneficial effect and both men decided to go into a cafe for a glass
of vodka. As usual, the second glass followed and then the third and
soon the two were drunk again. It was already late and they started
to go home without paying, but the cafe owner locked the door and
demanded the money. Sotskov and Chelyshev, and their wives, started
to shout that they had already paid and accused the owner of being
a crook. The owner telephoned the police and Komendatura and
reported the unseemly behaviour of the two officers, but he did not
know that one of them was Head of the Bernau Garrison, and the
other his deputy for political matters, or that the local authorities
were to some extent dependent on them. It is easy to imagine the
predicament of Major Tyrin, the Komendant, and of the police chief

when they arrived. Neither knew what to do, but Colonel Sotskov
saved the day. He ordered Major Tyrin to sort out this "scoundrel
and twister", and then with Chelyshev and their wives, went off home
in the Komendant's car.
Major Tyrin paid the cafe owner for the vodka and the police chief
ordered him to keep his mouth shut. The incident was forgotten by
everyone except Major Tyrin, who promptly telephoned us at the
KGB Department. Naturally, our Department took no action, but
"just in case" a note was made in the relevant documents. Who
knows? Everything may come in handy some day! The vast majority
of officers, platoon commanders, company commanders, battalion
commanders, regimental commanders and many others, do not belong
to "nomenclature workers". These ordinary officers are from all
sections of society, workers, peasants, intelligentsia, Party members
and so forth. Any young man under 21 with a high-school education
who has been politically checked may enter an Officers' Military
School. The length of study differs and may last from three to six
years. The cadets are subjected to intensive training and are indoctrinated to become convinced Communists. They are taught that the
fact of their belonging to the officers corps is evidence of the special
trust placed in them, and they must be especially proud of their gold
shoulder straps and stars. Infusion of Communist ideas does not end
with graduation from military school; indeed it is increased still
further and is continued right up to the time of retirement. The aim
of all this ideological training is the creation of a reliable officer
corps devoted to the regime.
Under the Soviet system, an ordinary officer occupies a higher
place than, let us say, engineers or technicians or sections of the
bureaucracy. He gets higher pay and more security, but there the
advantages end. Like other Soviet citizens, or even more so, he must
obey laws strictly and fulfil any instructions of the Politburo and
government. In exchange for small privileges, he must always be
ready, on orders "from above", to stand in defence of the regime
against its "external" and, if need arises, also "internal" enemies.
This happens at times of disturbances(!) among the workers which
still occur in spite of all the efforts made in the USSR and in
"fraternal socialist states". The most vivid examples showing how
the "glorious Soviet Army" .executes the orders of the leadership
were the suppression of the workers in Hungary, the GDR and
Czechoslovakia.
How do these officers live? What interests them and how do they
spend their free time? The 16th Motorised Rifle Regiment of the
6th Guard Motorised Rifle Division stationed in the GDR in Bad-
100
Freienwald provided one example. A Motorised Rifle Regiment is

a separate, independent unit, having also tank, artillery, anti-aircraft
and other detachments. In all, there are 180 officers in the regiment,
with 1,800 men. None of the officers from the commanding officer
to platoon commander, is a "nomenclature worker" and, therefore,
the regiment is not among the privileged ones. But there is still no
equality among the officers: they create their own subdivisions. This
discrimination shows not only in different duties, rights and pay, but
also in their personal lives, their behaviour and relations with each
other.
Some, like the regimental commander, his five deputies and the
secretary of the regimental Party Committee, are privileged and form
a so-called "regimental elite". They play an important role in the
unit's life, while attempting to gain everything possible out of their
positions, even though they do not enjoy the same possibilities as the
select few like "nomenclature workers" or KGB men. The first thing
they exploit is the Voentorg shop set up for officers and the extended
servicemen. The trafficking I described earlier does not occur here.
The elite cannot enjoy this facility, but nevertheless they are still
able to extract some benefit.
Goods coming up for sale in Voentorg shops are divided into those
in short supply and ordinary goods. To distribute the scarce goods
such as dinner services, carpets and furniture fairly, a "shop commission" is elected at a general meeting of officers' wives. The
commission usually consists of three to five women who make lists
of the officers' names, listing the goods in short supply bought by
officers' families punctiliously. These lists are compiled over the years
and decide the turn of each family. Officially the regimental commander and his deputies must in theory keep strictly in their turn.
In practice, when each lot of new supplies is received, the wives of
the regimental commander and his deputies go to the Voentorg shop
an hour before it opens; choose whatever takes their fancy; pay on
the spot and take it home. Everyone knows about it, but most people
prefer to stay silent.
Such incidents also happened in the 16th Regiment; the cause of
it all was the wife of the regimental commander, Lieutenant-Colonel
Morozov. Not only did she frequently buy goods in short supply out
of turn but also boasted about her purchases to other wives, which
made them jealous. In 1973, it was the turn of the wife of the senior
regimental doctor, senior Lieutenant Vizner, to buy a dinner service,
but it had been carried off by Mrs Morozova. Mrs Vizner set out
to "clarify the situation". Mrs Vizner demanded that Mrs Morozova
should return the dinner service to the shop immediately and when
Mrs Morozova refused, a fight ensued with the women slapping and
101
pulling each other's hair. Mrs Morozova's husband found a pretext

to retaliate on Vizner himself and wrote a bad report, which resulted
in his being transferred to the USSR to serve in a provincial military
district.
When in October 1973, the wives held their general meeting to
elect a new "shop commission" for 1974, senior Lieutenant Anisimov's
wife proposed that in future the regimental commander and his
deputies should take their turn with the others in buying goods in
short supply. Mrs Morozova jumped up and shouted to her husband,
who was chairing the meeting with his deputy: "You are the regimental commander, make her shut up! Stop her gob! " Colonel
Morozov, with a gesture cut short Mrs Anisimova's speech and
announced: "All of us here abroad want to buy as many rags as
we can. So do I. 1 am the regimental commander. I've always taken
things out of turn and shall continue to do so. The same applies to
my deputies. And you will get what is left over." He kept his word
and things continued in the same way.
Although the pay of the commander and his deputies was considerable, they resorted to obtaining money "on the side" to get the
quantities of goods they wanted. They took meat, butter, flour, bread
and other products from regimental stores without payment, and all
kinds of deals were arranged with East Germans.
From 1969 to 1972, Malofeyev, deputy commander of the regiment,
with the approval of his commanding officer, allowed a German
collective farmer of the Bad-Freienwald region to graze his sheep
on the firing range, and in return received 20,000 marks which were
divided equally between the commander and his deputies. Malofeyev
also sold butter and meat from regimental stores to the East Germans.
When he retired in 1972, he left for Odessa, but not before he had
despatched four container loads of carpets, furniture and cut crystal.
His replacement, Lieutenant-Colonel Tertyshnyj, decided to organise
his additional income differently, that is, not to steal but to "earn"
it. He signed a contract with the laundry and bath combine in BadFreienwald. About a hundred soldiers from the 16th Regiment daily
worked at this combine for three months and their earnings went to
Tertyshnyj and his deputies. Major Konik, deputy regimental Political
Chief, and another deputy regimental commander, Lieutenant-Colonel
Tsetskhladze, concluded similar profitable agreements with collective
farms.
The "earnings" method is popular. Wherever Soviet units are
stationed in the GDR, soldiers work at German undertakings situated
near garrisons. They operate wherever unskilled workers are needed:
they dig foundations for new buildings; collect rubbish from building
sites, and clean out pigstyes. It does not matter that the work is dirty
102
it helps their "motherland commanders" to have a good life, although

a decree of the Minister of Defence forbids the employment of Soviet
servicemen in German undertakings. Such work is, therefore, always
organised and carried out under the guise of "international assistance",
with the aim of improving friendship between German and Soviet
citizens. Occasionally these schemes are genuine, such as joint efforts
to build "houses of friendship" or equip pioneer camps, and they are
widely publicised in newspapers and the radio. But events like these
are rare. About 98 per cent of servicemen working in German undertakings earn money that goes straight into the pockets of their
commanding officers.
The higher authorities are well aware of what goes on but prefer
not to notice it officially. Their attitude is that although not members
of the "Mafia" elite, the officers are responsible specialists, and, if
they can extract some benefit from their official position which enables
them to live better than the others, that makes them satisfied, and so
more devoted to the Soviet regime. The fact that they are a bit
crooked can be forgiven. What will one not forgive a devoted and
obedient servant in order to have peace and order in one's house?
After the successful completion of deals "on the side", the regimental commander and his deputies together with all their wives
were in the habit of holding drinking sessions. Drink was paid for
by the soldiers' earnings and the hors d'oeuvres were prepared from
supplies taken from regimental stores. As a rule the sessions were
wild; vodka flowed like a river. These all-night celebrations were
often attended by East Germans, the representatives of Bad-Freienwald
authorities and directors of undertakings, where the soldiers worked.
When everyone was drunk the party became an orgy. On one occasion
the wives made Colonel Murashchenko undress completely and stand
in the middle of the room while they danced round him. "International friendships" took an unorthodox turn. It sometimes happened
that the wife of the regimental commander, Mrs Morozova, spent
the night with Lieutenant-Colonel Shemerling, of the National People's
Army of the GDR, while his own wife was sleeping with Colonel
Murashchenko. Usually everyone knew all about it, except those most
closely concerned.
And that is how the "regimental elite" lives. The other officers live
in hope of better days. Some try to "organise" something for themselves, but the possibilities are limited and most such attempts end
unpleasantly. So in the summer of 1973, the wife of senior Lieutenant
Semenov was caught red-handed trying to steal an expensive dress
from a German shop and was arrested by the German police, who
handed her over to the Soviet authorities. Mrs Semenova was warned
about her behaviour being unfitting to a Soviet citizen and sent home
to her husband. Here the incident ended. It did not cause much
commotion, as it was considered quite usual. There are still officers
who think deeply about all that happens in the Soviet Army and in
the USSR itself, but there are very few and against them stands the
KGB. Such people are dangerous, for they think too much!
CHAPTER 11
Rank-and-file privations
Y activities were concerned not only with Soviet officers

and East Germans, but also with rank-and-file soldiers. Living
conditions for these men of the Group of Soviet Forces in
Germany are even more severe than in the military districts on Soviet
territory. The two years which a soldier serves in Germany are years
of privation and torment, and they can only be compared to a term
of imprisonment.
He spends these years in barracks, on the training ground or on
the firing range. It is strictly forbidden to leave the encampment. He
never gets outside leave, even on Saturday or Sunday or on any
holiday. Only occasionally, a few soldiers in the charge of an officer
visit a German town or village where they are stationed. Such
excursions are rare and only the best and most disciplined soldiers
can go.
The barracks themselves are mostly old buildings used by Hitler's
WehrmachL The only thing that has changed is the number of people
who occupy them. Where formerly a German company was quartered
now a whole battalion lives there, and where a German battalion
lived, a regiment has to be accommodated. Thus the Bad-Freienwald
barracks, which at one time housed a motor-cycle battalion, now
houses the 16th Motorised Rifle Regiment (2,000 men) and a rocket
unit. The walls and roof of the building are original but inside everything has been rearranged. All the partitions that subdivided the
barracks into small bedrooms have been removed and large areas
have been created to hold 100 men. The attics have been converted
into living space. All cupboards and other "unnecessary" things, which
somehow softened the severity of the soldier's life, have been thrown
out. A Soviet soldier does not need such things, for he lives a spartan
existence. He folds his uniform each night and puts it on a stool; his
overcoat hangs in the corridor and his dress uniform is kept in store.
Whv should a soldier need a cupboard, if he has nothing to keep
m it? It is this rationing of space which permits the housing of_500
men where formerly there were 150 to 200 German soldiers. "Cramped
but not offended" as the Russian proverb goes.
What it is like during the night in quarters where 100 people are
sleeping cramped together can be imagined. I happened a couple of
times to be in these sleeping quarters at night. They literally stink
104
RANK-AND-FILE PRIVATIONS
105
and the first moments seem unbearable, for one wants to rush out
immediately. Only after 10 or 15 minutes does one become slightly
accustomed to it. To leave the barracks and go into the street is
simply to feel drunk with the fresh air. One can only feel astonished
how anyone could sleep under such conditions. Washing facilities are
no better. In the basement of the barracks are the shower rooms, each
with two or three showers. According to established practice, the
soldiers have to wash once a week, usually on Saturdays. The whole
regiment has to get washed in four or five hours, and that when there
is only one room with three showers per battalion, and the Motorised
Rifle battalion consists of over 400 men. The battalion gets washed su
company at a time, each being allowed an hour. /^ yo ^ f a s / W / (? &
Eating arrangements, or as they are called in military parlance,
"receipt of food", are also interesting. Each unit has its own diningroom built to feed all the men at one sitting. In the 16th Regiment
such a dining-room holds 2,000 men. Large tables with benches
attached are set out, each table seating 10 to 15 men. Just before
dinner, a pile of metal plates is placed on the table together with
two containers of food. One holds the first course, soup, and the
second holds kasha, or meat and potatoes or fish and potatoes. The
soldiers march to the dining-room singing. Each man takes his
appointed place. When all are seated, one soldier at each table serves
out the food to his comrades and the meal begins.
The scene as 2,000 men try to eat is unimaginable. There is the
cramped space, noise, and shouts, as someone has lost his portion,
someone has lost his spoon, or someone's meat has been stolen. Again,
as in the sleeping quarters, the air is thick, especially in the summer.
The smell of food mixes with the odour of sweating bodies and the
temperature is only a little lower than in a Turkish bath. They are
given only 30 minutes to eat after which, at a command, they march
back to barracks. Such eating arrangements are customary throughout
the army.
Barracks are equipped with loudspeakers which transmit Moscow
Radio's programme No 1, or the programme of the Group of Soviet
Forces in Germany, Volga Radio. The men are permitted to own
their own radios, but with certain limitations: they are kept in the
company storeroom and are issued only on Sundays and holidays.
This limitation was introduced on the initiative of the political workers
who feared that the men would otherwise listen to transmissions from
Radio Free Europe, BBC and Voice of America.
The soldier's day is so planned that he is always occupied: drill,
political indoctrination, training and cleaning weapons. Before going to
bed, he has one hour of free time, in which he must prepare for the
next day; clean his uniform; sew on a new collar and, if there is
106
RANK-AND-FILE PRIVATIONS 106
time, write a letter home. At weekends, he stays in barracks, but

sports days are arranged instead of the usual training. These usually
begin with a cross-country race of three to five kilometres and afterwards the men march to the regimental stadium to watch sporting
competitions.
Monthly pay is 15 marks. With this the soldier must buy all the
toilet articles he needs, envelopes and paper. Cigarettes are issued
freebut what cigarettesfilled with dirty tobacco with no filters!
Soldiers call them "contraceptives" or "TB" and joke about winning
a war against America by merely handing out these cigarettes to
the other side. To supplement their meagre pay, the men sell to the
East Germans cheaply such things as watches brought from home,
radios or cans of stolen petrol. As they are not allowed outside the
encampment, the sales entail great risks. They have to be carefully
prepared and usually only old hands take part. One or more pretend
to fall sick and are excused training by the doctor. They can then
take their "stock" from hiding places; climb over the fence and try
to find a buyer, sometimes offering the goods at the roadside to
German motorists. It is all very cheap, for a good watch or radio
costs 30 to 50 marks; 20 litres of petrol plus the can cost 20 marks
(a litre in the GDR costs 150 marks). If the soldiers fall into the hands
of a patrol, their profits are confiscated and they are sent to the guard
house for a week or two.
Despite the severity of service, it would all be bearable if Ihe
position of the soldiers was not affected by a fundamental discrimination between different groups, based on length of service, with one
group persecuting another. According to the Constitution, every male
Soviet citizen of 18 years is liable for military service for two years.
The call-ups take place twice a year, in spring and autumn, while
at the same time demobilisation is carried out of men who have
served their time. Therefore, there are four call-up groups in the
Soviet army at any given time. There are those who have only started
their service, those who are ending their first year, those who have
started their second year of service and finally those who are serving
out the last six months, crossing off each passing day on the calendar.
Officially, all call-up groups are considered equal and no long-service
soldier has any advantages over a young soldier. But in practice, the
mass of soldiers, isolated in barracks from the outside world, live
according to their own special laws.
The almost complete isolation and the strict discipline take all
meaning from such concepts as independence, individuality and
personal freedom, let alone alcohol and girls. They simply do not
exist. As a result, other values come into play. For example, a soldier
wants to have a good place in the barracks so that his bed stands
107
near the window where he can get enough fresh air at night. He does
not want to wear an old uniform or torn boots. He wants to be given
the largest piece of meat when the food is divided out and he does
not want to do dirty work like cleaning lavatories and collecting
rubbish. But in accordance with the unwritten laws of service life,
all the advantages go to the long-service men. Young soldiers feel it
from the first day: their new uniforms pass to the old soldiers and
in exchange they are given worn boots, worn belt, an overcoat with
holes burnt in it. Next, the old soldiers start to "teach" the young
ones the military rules. Salagi as raw recruits are calledare
compelled to clean the old soldiers' boots; wash their uniforms, and
clean the barracks and lavatories.
In the dining-room, where old soldiers and Salagi sit at the same
table, strict discipline reigns. One of the youngsters, appointed by the
old soldiers, serves the food. "You, Salaga, must dish out the food
as it is done in good families, according to merit! " one of the old
men tells him first. Long-service men are served first, and of course
with the best pieces of meat and fish, while the young soldiers get
whatever is left over. At lunch or dinner when butter is issued, it
goes mainly to the long-service men, who claim that butter is bad
for the Salagi as it might cause unnecessary fat, which is a hindrance
in doing one's duty. Salagi may not start to eat before the old soldiers.
They may not talk during the meal as that is the old men's privilege.
They must not be greedy and must give the best pieces to a senior
colleague. As for butter, the youngsters are advised to put their
minute portion on the corner of a slice of bread and to eat towards
the butter, meanwhile keeping their eye on it. This, says the old
soldier, makes one feel that the whole slice is covered in butter, and
the recruits keep strictly to this ruling.
The youngsters' pay is also raided. On receiving their miserable 15
marks, they have to give five to aid the old men, who also use shoe
polish and other items bought with the remaining ten marks. Each
evening after lights out in the barracks, the following ritual is
observed: a young soldier stands in the middle of the dormitory and
announces in a loud voice "Attention, attention! Listen everybody!
Our revered old men have 51 days 20 hours and 30 minutes left until
their demobilisation. Good night, old men! "
If a young soldier infringes one of these unwritten laws or in the
opinion of the long-servicemen simply does not show the respect due,
he has to face a "military tribunal", with one old soldier playing the
part of judge, another the defence counsel and a third the procurator.
All the young ones have to attend. The Salaga usually pleads guilty
Translator's note: Salaga is a fish found in the Neva River.
1
108
and the tribunal decides on how many "hot" or "cold" he is to be

given. "Hot" means so many blows with a spoon on bare bottom.
"Cold" means the same thing but with trousers still on. If it is 15
"hot", the victim lies on his bed and a young soldierit must be one
of the young ones, to emphasise the moral humiliationsits on top of
him and beats his backside with a spoon. Usually, after such punishment, the victim cannot sit properly for a week.
These practices are prohibited, but although the officers know what
goes on they take no action. They consider that relations between
old soldiers and new recruits strengthen general discipline. In theory,
any young soldier can complain to an officer about injustices, but it
rarely happens. The officer goes home at the end of the day after
punishing an old soldier, but the soldiers will be left together in the
barracks, and then the hour of retribution comes. They arrange a
"dark" night for anyone who has complained. They cover his head
with a blanket and start to beat him. They beat cruelly and mercilessly.
After such a thrashing, the soldier usually lands in hospital for a
couple of days. It is practically impossible to find the perpetrators.
These floggings have been known to result in death. In the summer of
1973, old soldiers serving in stores belonging to the 20th Guards
Army so beat a young soldier called Ivanchenko that he died the next
morning.
Not only do the common soldiers have to endure individual tortures,
they are also subject to suffering imposed en masse by the authorities.
Some years ago an atomic test explosion took place somewhere East
of Lake Baikal. During, or shortly after the test, a motorised rifle
regiment of the Soviet Army was ordered to drive through the radioactive area. The troops were told beforehand that there was no
danger.
After the exercise, it was found that 70 per cent of the unit had
been seriously affected by the radiation and required hospital treatment. All these soldiers were taken to a military hospital in Moscow
for persons exposed to radiation and I was told by a Soviet Army
lieutenant-colonel, who had been in the same hospital, that in 1973
they were still treating these poor bastards, who had been use as
guinea-pigs.
Some young soldiers cannot stand the hellish conditions of service
and commit suicide. In the 20th Guards Army alone, according to
secret statistics, suicides among young soldiers numbered 16 in 1971,
24 in 1972 and 33 in 1973. The figures speak for themselves.
In September 1971, one of my informers who was reporting on
whether any servicemen was thinking of deserting to the West or
had made any anti-Soviet remarks, said he had found a notebook
belonging to a soldier called Marushchenko in which he wrote of
109
his intention to commit suicide. I telephoned the deputy Political

Officer of the 16th Motorised Rifle Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel
Pustovoy, to warn him and advised him to take measures to prevent
the suicide. He told me that he knew Marushchenko, whom he
considered abnormal, so there was no question of any suicide. I did
not believe him, and although it was no affair of mine since the KGB
has no interest in suicides, I decided to summon Marushchenko to my
office. He turned out to be a small, sickly individual. He looked
frightened and it took some time before he "melted" and started to
talk.
Before call-up, he had married and a pregnant wife was waiting
for him. As a civilian, he had heard a lot of propaganda stressing
the good points of army life and he became convinced of its justice,
but the reality was different. He told me how the old soldiers
tormented the recruits. It appeared that Marushchenko had twice
complained to the deputy Political Officer and had been beaten
cruelly on both occasions by the long-service men. He ended with
the words: "I think, comrade Senior Lieutenant, that such things
only happen in our regiment. Nobody believes me, neither the
commanding officer nor the deputy Political Officer." I could not tell
him that similar things happen throughout the army but offered to
help him.
"I do not trust anyone any more," he answered. "You see, np one
trusts me, they all think I am abnormal."
Trying to comfort him, I said that if things were bad he could
come to my office at any time and I would try to help. And with that,
we parted. Three days later I was awakened at night by a telephone
call. Colonel Pustovos, the deputy regimental Political Officer, was
on the line: "Two hours ago Marushchenko shot himself. In his
pocket they found a letter addressed to you." I said that no one was
to touch the letter and in 15 minutes I was there. Maruschenko lay
on his back on the ground; there were three bullet holes in his chest,
the automatic rifle lay beside him.
"The lad died in vain," I thought. "He could have livedand a
pregnant wife waited for him at home." I took the envelope which
somebody held out to me. On the envelope was "To that rather
special Senior Lieutenant"Mauruschenko did not know my name.
Back in my office, I read it.
"Comrade Senior Lieutenant, I can stand it no longer. All round
me are untruths. The humiliations continue. The officers do not wish
to know about it. I ask you to see that all is put right in the
regiment. No one believes what I say. I give my life to confirm my
words."
"Poor Marushchenko," I sat thinking, "you died like a hero and
110
all in vain! No one will even remember you, except your relations
and your wife." And in fact, the soldiers of the 16th Regiment were
told that he was mentally abnormal, and the incident was forgotten
in a couple of weeks.
In the summer of 1973, in the same 16th Regiment, a young soldier
named Dzhavadze tried to commit suicide. A Georgian by nationality,
he spoke Russian badly, which led to unending jokes by his comrades
and many humiliations at the hands of the old soldiers. Even the
officers often called him Churka (a form of insult). Once, unable to
bear it, Dzhavadze went to the mirror, took a cut-throat razor and
cut his throat. An ambulance was called and his life was saved, but
he remained an invalid for the rest of his life. In his farewell letter,
he had asked that his relations should be told that he had been
wounded in an accident.
Not all soldiers resignedly endure the inhuman army life or commit
suicide. Some express their protests in another way: they desert,
usually taking a weapon with them. In most cases such desertions are
spontaneous; human patience is simply exhausted. It usually happens
when the Salaga is put on guard duty at a favourable spot, with an
automatic rifle and ammunition. Left alone as time drags, the
youngster recalls all the insults, and decides then and there to end
it all and deserts. The army and KGB, with the assistance of MfS
and GDR police, launch a search. Sometimes an entire division takes
part, whole regions are surrounded, armed posts are set up on roads
and railway stations. The population is warned of the danger from
an armed attacker. The operation begins to look like a war against
partisans, or, to compare it with the West, like a fight against
terrorists.
In the summer of 1970, Private Dzyuban deserted from the 16th
Regiment taking an automatic rifle and 60 cartridges. About 5,000
soldiers in armoured vehicles were deployed in the search, together
with the GDR police of Bad-Freienwald, Eberwald and Bernaud. The
hunt lasted eight days, during which Dzyuban robbed two cafes
and terrorised the population. On the ninth day he was found in a
wood near Bad-Freienwald. A battalion surrounded him and, after
several warning bursts from a machine-gun, he surrendered. He was
sentenced by a military tribunal to two years in a "disciplinary
battalion".
In 1969, a tragedy occurred in an isolated radio company stationed
near Eyzenakh in the GDR. The commander was a cruel man and
a drunkard. Conditions in the company were inhuman: soldiers were
punished for the slightest mistakes. Everyone suffered, young and old.
This time, it was one of the old soldiers, Private Ivanov, who snapped.
Once the platoon in which he served was detailed to guard a military
111
target. Ivanov had only just been relieved and with the thought of a
rest, was opening the neck of his tunic. The platoon commander
promptly sentenced him for being improperly dressed. Then the
lieutenant went into the tent where several privates and sergeants were
waiting for him to talk to them. Ivanov, who was a constant butt of
the lieutenant's complaints, took an automatic; followed the officer
into the tent; fired a number of rounds; then rushed out of the tent;
threw the automatic into the bushes and disappeared into the forest.
The shots killed the lieutenant and two sergeants, and three soldiers
were seriously wounded. Some hours later, Ivanov was arrested.
During the investigation, it was established that he was frequently
unjustly punished. About two months before this incident, he had
attempted suicide. With his last, but far from first punishment, the
lieutenant had signed his own death warrant. Ivanov was executed
by firing squad at the beginning of 1970.
In 1973, I took part in the search for a young soldier named
Yashkin belonging to the 81st Motorised Rifle Regiment stationed
in Eberwald. The reasons for his desertion were the same, humiliations
imposed by old soldiers and numerous punishments. Although about
7,000 soldiers and the whole police force of the Bad-Freienwald region
were thrown into the search for him, he managed to stay free for
14 days. He stole two cars, eventually crashing them, and looted four
cafes. Yashkin moved about at night and avoided all control posts
on roads, while during the day he slept in the woods. For three days,
he hid in a shed of a house on the outskirts of a village belonging
to a newly-married young couple. At night he slept buried deep in
straw and during the day, after the owners had left, he stole their
food. But on the third day, the young wife returned home
unexpectedly. When he demanded money, the terrified woman gave
him 70 marks, but he raped her and stole her watch before running
into the woods. Soviet patrols and German police with a dog were sent
out and in a couple of hours Yashkin was captured. He was sentenced
to three years in a forced labour camp.
Private Korneyev deserted in December 1973 after only two months
in the same regiment. He evaded capture until the fourth night when,
suffering from hunger, he broke into the house of an old German
woman who had a grown-up daughter visiting her. Armed with a
metal bar, Korneyev looked for the kitchen; stumbled and awakened
the occupants. When the old woman screamed, he struck her on
the head with the bar, but the daughter jumped out of a window
and raised the alarm. Shaken by what had happened, Korneyev stayed
in the house, awaiting the arrival of the Soviet patrols and the police
and there he was arrested. The old woman died a few hours later.
These are not isolated incidents; in fact they are a regular occur-
112
rence among troops in Germany. Soldiers frequently desert during

the summer as they can sleep outdoors then and food is not such a
problem. Up to 12 or 14 soldiers have deserted at one time in the
summer months, and many of these desertions end in crime, robbery,
rape and murder. Deserters have made off not only with automatic
rifles but armoured cars and even tanks. In 1971, in one of the tank
regiments of the 8th Guards Army, a young soldier, desperate over
treatment by his officers, decided to avenge himself in his own way.
He got into a tank, drove up to regimental headquarters, trained
the tank's gun onto the headquarters and fired, but he was in such a
nervous state that the shell whistled over the rooftop and landed on
a German house. He turned the tank round; broke through the
boundary fence and drove along the road towards the village. A
platoon of soldiers in armoured vehicles was sent after him. The
tank's engine stalled not far from the village, but the soldier stayed
in it and was quickly surrounded by curious boys. The armoured
vehicles soon arrived at the spot. The soldier opened the tank's
hatch and started to toss out hand grenades. Several boys were
killed when the first grenade exploded, and the vehicles withdrew
a short distance. The soldier continued to toss out grenades until
one of them struck the tank's hatch; fell back inside the tank and
killed him.
Officially, the GDR is an independent state and, according to the
law, Soviet soldiers who commit crimes against GDR citizens should
be judged by GDR courts. But, up to the present, not a single Soviet
soldier has answered for his crime before a German court. The
German authorities' role is merely to ensure that GDR citizens know
as little as possible of the crimes committed by Soviet soldiers, and
also to ensure that those who do know keep their mouths shut.
Unnecessary chatter from them could cast a shadow on the Soviet
Union, which is held up as an ideal for GDR Communists to follow.
Bearing in mind the living conditions of the troops, they might be
expected to become unreliable and refuse to carry out orders at
crucial moments, but, remarkable as it may seem, this is not the case.
Firstly, the Soviet Army possesses a huge politico-propaganda
apparatus equipped with the latest information techniques. It is
permanently impressed upon the soldier that all the difficulties he
suffers, are the fault of the Capitalist countries, who are prepared
to launch a new war. He is imbued with a hatred for the Capitalist
world and for other enemies of Socialism and Communism. The
so-called "World Gendarme", the United States of America, and its
"bandit army" comes in for particularly fierce attack. There are
posters hanging in the barracks showing pictures of American soldiers
killing women, children and old people in Vietnam. The West German
113
Bundeswehr is characterised as an Army of Revenge, created on the

fascist model, the majority of whose high command and part of its
officer corps are made up of former Nazis. NATO soldiers are also
generally portrayed as bandits and murderers. And all this is daily
and persistently knocked into the heads of youths of 18 to 20.
"V
Secondly, inhuman living conditions keep the soldiers tensed like J
a compressed spring. Daily drilling, shouting and punishment make
them aggressive. They dream only of the day when they can leave
the hated barrack walls, if only for a short time. They get the opportunity during exercises; there is no need then for drilling, no need
for cleaning out hated toilets and all are equal, both young and old
servicemen. They enjoy expeditions even more, as it was during the
occupation of Czechoslovakia. They can give vent to aggressive
feelings against their enemies, the real cause of all their misfortunes.
It matters little who those enemies are, Czechs, Germans, Poles or
^ Americans. Soviet soldiers fulfil their patriotic and international duty. J
CHAPTER 12
Time for decision
HE time has now come to return to my personal narrative
and to answer the question: why did I become hostile to the
A Soviet regime? The original reasons for this were my political
and, to put it simply, human convictions which were fundamentally
at variance with the ideology of the present regime in the Soviet
Union. I was not able to come to terms with the Soviet system of
inherent violence and inhuman oppression, with the repression and
persecution of everyone displeasing to the regime, with the absence
of democratic freedoms, with the unscrupulous exploitation of the
workers for the good of those in authority, with the all-pervasive
ideological conditioning directed towards completely fooling Soviet
"tizens and with the many other injustices with which Soviet society
abounds.
Behind this short answer lie long years of meditation and doubt.
I have already said that it began while I was still at school, when
small and at first glance seemingly insignificant negative manifestations in Soviet society began imperceptively to undermine my faith
in Communism: "the bright future of man". I witnessed many of the
injustices of the Soviet regime at first hand in the officers' school and
in the army. My work in the KGB played a decisive role. Only then
did I really understand what Communism was, and saw the complete
cynicism of the Soviet system with my own eyes. I personally had to
take part in such measuresor, as the KGB calls them, "operations"
when criminals were created out of innocent people and heroes and
idols out of scoundrels; when literally on account of a couple of
justifiable criticisms about the Soviet leadership people were sent to
prisons, to labour camps and to mental institutions.
Gradually and steadily there ripened within me a protest against
all this. I came to understand that it was not certain individuals,
like Stalin, Beria, Andropov, Brezhnev, who were to blame for the
crimes committed in the Soviet Union, but the whole inhuman
system, the whole Soviet regimg.
My "awakening" was a long and painful process. At one stage,
during the first two years of my employment in the KGB, I felt
that I did not want to recognise this. "What do you need?" I asked
myself. "You are numbered among the elite, the 'chosen', you have
something which many others do not have. What are others to you?
114
TIME FOR DECISION
115
Life is full of injustice anyway and you can't change it." I tried
to buy off my conscience; the more so because a promising career
lay ahead of me. Despite my youth I was achieving success in my
work, for which I had received recognition from my superiors and
had gained promotion. I had already become a captain at the age of
27. Maybe I would have remained and continued working for the
KGB if I had only been concerned with counter-intelligence and if
I had not carried out persecutions against Soviet citizens who opposed
the injustices of the regime. I probably would have tried to adjust
myself somehow to Soviet authority and to keep out of the struggle
for justice. However, counter-intelligence duties in the KGB also
include secret police functions. So both the struggle for justice and
injustice often came within the scope of my activity and of my
official responsibilities. Furthermore, in the course of my official duty,
I had to defend injustice and suppress justice, to deal^with those
who defended justice. This situation did not allow the conflict inside
me, the struggle with my own conscience, to abate.
Sometimes I despised myself: "Foul police agent," I would think
at such times, "your privileges, authority and material well-being are
ill-gotten, at the expense of innocent victims with whose persecution
you are involved. They have enough courage to fight. But you? You
rpprpcc themhangmanT^Tr ^
Of course, it was impossible to endure such an inner struggle.
Sooner or later I would have to come to a decision, for the regime
or against it. This happened in 1972 when I finally decided to make
the break, indeed not only to break with the regime but to join the
struggle against it.
It is, of course, easy to say "I have decided to fight against thq
Soviet regime", but how would this look in reality? What would I
have to do? Could I create an underground anti-Soviet organisation?
For me, an official in the KGB, there was no possibility of doing this.
In my position the risk was very great, and who would believe that
I was not an agent provocateur?
So, for me, there existed only one real possibility where, with the
use of my knowledge and qualifications, I could inflict a great deal
of harm on the Soviet regime: to establish links with one of the
Western intelligence services. Someone reading these words might say
they are akin to treason. But I did not betray my country. I betrayed
a regime which has oppressed and is oppressing my country. I no
longer wish to serve the regime which acts in a merciless fashion
internally against the workers and is dangerous and aggressive in its
external policy to the outside world. The USSR contains within itself
a threat not only to the peoples of the Soviet Union but also to the
majority of countries of the world. To defend such a regime is
mrrn11
TIME FOR DECISION 116
116
treachery, to fight it, no.

My decision endangered my life. At the first mistake, I would be
arrested and almost certainly shot. Such a mistake could be made
while establishing the very first contact with Western intelligence.
But, above all, how to establish this contact? It was very complicated
even in my position where I myself, as a member of Soviet counterintelligence, was directly involved in the struggle against the Western
intelligence services. The fact is that the intelligence war is no
ordinary war. here one does not attack with bayonets and combatants
do not meet face to face. More often than not the opposing intelligence and counter-intelligence services are far removed from each
other and merely carry on the struggle with the help of their secret
agents. Therefore, the task before me was not an easy one.
In searching for such an opportunity I pondered over many schemes
and rejected them as unsuitable. Some of these schemes are still clear
in my memory. At one time, with this aim in view, I had intended
to use a citizen of the FRG visiting the GDR- In my official capacity,
I had the right to check anyone visiting the GDR from the FRG,
using the agent card-index of the KGB and the East German Ministry
of Security, in order to tell if he was working for one of those
organisations. After making such a check, I could then establish
contact with him and prepare the ground for the decisive conversation,
the purpose of which was that on return to the FRG he was to
inform the BND of m} wish to work for them. Theoretically the
plan appeared acceptable, from a practical point of view it had drawbacks. First of all, an FRG citizen could have taken such a proposal
as a provocation and reported it to the KGB or Ministry of Security.
Secondly, people employed in secret services are very cautious and
are often afraid of their own shadows. There was no guarantee that
the BND would trust me. So I rejected this scheme.
I considered another possibility, a refinement of the first one. I had
a very good friend among the East Germans; a reliable, solid person,
whom I had known for a long time. He was visited regularly by
relatives from the FRG with whom I was also well acquainted. None
of them was a KGB agent or an agent of the Ministry of State
Security. Through them I could perhaps try' to establish contact in
the same way, but with American intelligence, who were somewhat
more audacious than the BND. However, I rejected this idea also
as too many people would be involved and thus make it too risky.
So the first half of 1973 passed, while my undetected attempts to
find a plan continued. I still had my duties as a KGB officer to
perform, and I had to perform them as well as possible, as this
1 BNDFederal Intelligence of the FRG.
1
TIME FOR DECISION
117
would play an important part in covering my future illegal activity.

At the end of the summer of 1973, KGB officials working in East
Germany were informed that following the official recognition of the
GDR by a number of countries, it was expected that in the near
future embassies and missions representing Western states would be
established in East Berlin. It was also stated that the Ministry of
Security would assume direct responsibility for work, vis a vis Western
embassies in East Berlin.
This information was of great interest to me. Would it be possible
to use one of these embassies to establish contact with Western
intelligence? Or was there some oiher way of making contact? In
the Soviet Union such action would be suicide. In Moscow, Western
embassies are under round-the-clock observation by the KGB. But
that was in Moscow. Would the GDR Ministry of Security act in a
similar manner in dealing with Western embassies in East Berlin?
These were difficult questions to answer. I began to examine the
situation, to weigh all the "pros" and "cons".
I learnt that because diplomatic relations had only recently been
established with the Western powers, the Ministry of Security was
under orders not to harass embassies and staff. This heartened me,
but the difficulties were still formidable, since even discreet surveillance
of diplomatic premises and personnel could be my undoing. Nevertheless I went on to think out the next steps of my plan.
I knew that even if I succeeded in making contact with embassy
officials, it would be no easy task to persuade them that I genuinely
wished to help the West fight the evil perversion of "Socialism"
imposed by the Communist regimes of Eastern Europe. In the world
of intelligence, one must always suspect the trick and the double-bluff.
False offers of help are often made in order to try and discover the
identities of intelligence officers or their assistants in a diplomatic
mission. It is no easy task to persuade people that you have a genuine
wish to abandon your "Socialist" masters and help the West. I
knew that I must be as open as possible from the beginning, giving
full details of my position and role as a KGB officer and that I must
ignore the disbelief with which my offer of co-operation was likely
to be greeted.
Lastly I turned to the problem of how I could best help once
contact had been established. I wished not only to leave behind the
profession I had come to hate, but I also wanted to do something to
damage the evil system for which I had worked and to atone for
some of the misery I had caused. My first thought had been to
arrange for my escape and then to take with me all the documents
I could when the moment came. However, further thought showed
me that the longer I could remain at my post after contact had
118
been made and before defecting, the more I could achieve.

Even when I had decided on the main lines of my plan, the detailed
planning and preparation took months to complete. This was not
because of my personal position, indeed my power as a KGB officer
in East Germany gave me much freedom of movment and action,
but because of the intrinsic difficulty in establishing contact, without
detection, under the very eyes of my own service and their East
German counterparts.
At last all was ready. I knew what I needed to know and I hoped
I had planned for all conceivable contingencies. In the life of an
intelligence officer, you soon realise that the unlikely and improbable
are most likely to happen and you make your plans accordingly.
At this point I should have liked to give a detailed account of how
I overcame my difficulties and successfully established contact with
a Western intelligence service. However, I cannot, for I know that
this book will be read by my masters who will wish to know how I
escaped their control. This I must, at all costs, conceal so that others,
who may share my experiences of revulsion, will be able to devise
their solution and find a wayperhaps the same as mineto make
contact.
Let others be warned that it is not an easy task. But it is not an
impossible one, as my presence in the West proves. Risks cannot be
elminated, but they can be assessed. If they are too great, then the
scheme must be abandoned and another one found. The way I chose
worked, and I hope that my silence about it will keep that way safe
for others.
Now I will return to the early days of 1974, shortly before the point
at which I started this account. I had already been in contact with
the West for a period of time, when I began to sense that all was
not well. Usually matters of intelligence work can be dealt with by
carefully following your training and the methods of work you have
been taught. But sometimes one must act on instinct. I tried to
suppress my forebodings but the feeling got worse. I felt sure I had
only a short time left. Accordingly I began to make final preparations
for my escape to the West. My Western contacts wished to help me
but I understood that the situation placed the main burden of
preparation on my shoulders.
To this end I intended utilising an excursion by officers of the 16th
Motorised Rifle Regiment to West Berlin. They made excursions like
this regularly several times a year in order to study American, British
and French military installations there. They had to be accompanied
by a KGB officer and on their next visit it would be my turn. The
dates of the excursions to West Berlin were fixed by an officer on
the staff of the 6th Guards Division who was a good acquaintance
TIME FOR DECISION
119
of mine. I asked him if he was planning a visit to West Berlin in the

near future for a group of officers. Of course, he could not give a
negative reply to a request from a KGB official, especially one with
whom he was acquainted. A trip was planned by him for the beginning
of the next month, in fact for 2 February 1974.
About a week before the trip I had a prearranged meeting with my
Western contact. Because of the great danger associated with faceto-face meeting, these were kept to a minimum and communication
was usually by other means. This one was absolutely vital. But I still
had that feeling of foreboding. About ten minutes after we parted,
my worst expectations were justified. I was being followed. The feeling
that they are hunting you down like a wild animal is extremely
unpleasant. My heart beat faster; the palms of my hand became
clammy. Not from fear; I felt no fear, but it was anticipation of
the struggle ahead. For me it was a question of life and death and
in such a situation fear is a bad companion. He who is afraid cannot
think clearly and loses.
"Don't worry, don't worry," I repeated to myself. "In a situation
like this, only sensible decisions can save you." Then I thought:
"What do my pursuers want from me? Of course they will want
to establish my address; that is what they will need." After establishing my address, the Ministry of State Security would then arrange
to place me under total surveillance, discover who I was and then
hand over the material to the KGB. This would mean arrest, prison
and perhaps even the firing squad. It was not a cheerful prospect.
Whatever happened I had to evade surveillance. But I had to be
patient. If my pursuers noticed that I had discovered them and was
trying to give them the slip, then they would possibly simply arrest
me and, as a Soviet citizen, hand me straight over to the KGB. That
would be the same again in the end, prison or shooting. Therefore
I must remain calm and pretend that I had not noticed that I was
under surveillance at all. By behaving in such a way I wanted to
show my pursuers how inexperienced I was in matters of intelligence
and counter-intelligence, thereby increasing their hopes of an easy
success and causing them to relax their attention. Then, using the
onset of darkness, exploiting the element of surprise and resorting
to various ruses, I planned to evade surveillance.
There were still three hours remaining before it became dark and
I started to wander around the centre of Berlin with a carefree air,
pausing at shop windows and at various kiosks. It suddenly occurred
to me that I could introduce myself to a girl, my roam around Berlin
would then not appear aimless to a bystander but completely normal
and explicable and to some extent would confuse my pursuers. I
liked this idea and after about 15 minutes was chatting away
120
animatedly to a cheerful young Berlin girl and paying her innumerable

compliments which she, of course, hardly believed but which,
fortunately for me, she listened to willingly.
So time slipped by and it began to get dark. I could no longer see
my pursuers; evidently they were satisfied that they had me covered
and had withdrawn some distance away from me. I was glad and
quickly said goodbye to the young woman, ignoring her obvious
disappointment.
"But I thought we could go somewhere and dance," she said,
stretching out her hand.
"Next time without fail," I replied and thought that "dance" was
exactly what I was going to have to do.
I walked around the corner and then began to run as fast as I
possibly could. I was counting on surprise and speed. I vaulted
several fences and ran down several dark passage ways, careered
around the streets and parks like a madman. After about 30 to 40
minutes of this I could see nothing of my pursuers. They could not
keep up with the mad race. I had left them behind somewhere in the
darkness.
"You should keep fit," I said aloud and maliciously about my
lagging pursuers. I slowed down to a brisk walk and headed for an
S-Bahn station where 1 caught a train back towards the centre of
Berlin. Three stations before my destination I got out of the train
and completed the journey, about eight kilometres, on foot across
fields and woods in order to make finally and absolutely sure that
there was no one following me.
I knew I was now nearly at the end of the line. What would be
there for me would depend on my own efforts and much good luck.
The longest days of my life passed at last, the 2nd of February came,
and the same night I was flying out of Berlin on a British aircraft,
with an escort of fighters, on my way to freedom. I had taken on
the KGB, and won!
121
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APPENDIX I
1 February 1968
COUNTER-INTELLIGENCE WORK OF THE STATE

SECURITY ORGANS OF THE USSR
1. Subject of course
2. Dialectical materialism as the methodological basis of the course.
3. System of the course.
4. Place of course SD-1 in the system of other SDs.
1. A worldwide--êcratisk-SSlem is the decisive factor fo the
political and economic development of the worldr~The balance of
power has shifted in favour of Socialism, but nothing can happen
by itself and victory can only be achieved through struggle. Aggressive
forces are raising a tremendous resistance to the growth of Socialist
powergrowth-resistance.
Imperialists assign a foremost place to their intelligence services,
which are global and total in character, and they continue to improve
them. The main weapon of these services is the agent network.
In these circumstances, the Soviet Government Is compelled to
employ State Security organs. According to the 1968 statutes State
Security organs are political organs responsible for defence against
internal and foreign enemies, and their basic purpose does not merely
involve technical means of defence or the use of arms, but in methods
of resolving political problems. The policy of State Security organs
is drawn up by the Communist Party according to the existing
situation.
' I t s activities are threefold:
\ 1. Administrative.
*f 2. Operational: intelligence and counter-intelligence.
3. Investigative.
Operational activities of State Security organs: This is intelligence
activity in the widest sense of the word. Intelligence activity becomes
operational when directed towards the fight against intruders, its
purpose being to obtain information on the adversary and to sabotage
his endeavours. Intelligence presupposes a cunning and clandestine
method of action, which is achieved through camouflage. The main
weapon is the agent network.
Counter-intelligence complements the work of intelligence. In this
connection the work divides in two spheres: work within the country,
collation of data, and so on; while simultaneously, the counterintelligence staff will establish their own network in the intelligence
services of the enemy. This will provide information.
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122
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It must be borne in mind that Socialist countries' intelligence
services are basically different. Intelligence services of Socialist states
emerged from the victory of revolutionary violence and are directed
to the defence of workers' interests. Blackmail, etc., is not used. Soviet
intelligence and counter-intelligence officers work whole-heartedly.
Soviet intelligence is fighting against enemies.
Intelligence activity is divided into several fields:
1. Political intelligence.
2. Economic intelligence.
3. Scientific-technical
intelligence.
Science makes the transition from superstructure to basics. Military
intelligence. Counter-intelligence on a wide scale. Operational work
is not limited to tasks only, but includes educational work aimed at
people who could fall into criminal ways. State Security organs conduct
many-sided organisational activities with the masses.
Subject of the course: objective conformity to law in the struggle
waged by Sta^_Sec3iri^Cjorâns against subversive activities of
Imperialist intelligence^services, and of anti-Soviet elements within
tne country.
""""
2. Dialectical materialism as the methodological basis of the
course. Dialectical materialism, being the overall method of scientific
knowledge, also serves as the method for counter-intelligence courses.
It reveals the fact that operational activities are profoundly conditioned
by the foreign and internal policies of the Soviet State and depend
on the international situation and its correct evaluation. In many
cases, one must rely only on one's own knowledge. In the process of
study, dialectics will help to co-ordinate the theory and practice of
operational work and to analyse and present a scientific picture of
the work. A counter-intelligence course must be based on scientific
tenets and deductions, on knowledge of the laws of class struggle.
Great attention is to be paid to political training. Lagging makes
for apathy; work uninterruptedly in support of the dictatorship of the
proletariat. Counter-intelligence work is directed against real, active
adversaries, including some who may be unknown to us. Political
convictions are of decisive strength also when working within the
country.
3. Content of the system of the course. This consists of knowledge, work and acquired practices: intelligence service against
intelligence service with the latest intelligence activities. Knowledge
consists of factual data, theoretical contentions, principles and rules
of counter-intelligence activity.
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APPENDIX III 131
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APPENDIX
*>
2 February 1968
MAIN TASKS AND DIRECTION OF COUNTERINTELLIGENCE WORK OF STATE SECURITY

ORGANS AT THE PRESENT STAGE
1. Tasks of counter-intelligence networks.

2. Main directions of counter-intelligence work.
The forces of Soviet society are headed and directed by the CPSU.
The Party illuminates the Soviet people's path in the struggle for the
victory of Communism; it guides and directs all their forces. The
organs of State Security are also directed by the CPSU.
The 22nd and 23rd Party Congresses emphasised the necessity to
strengthen State Security; to maintain vigilance, and the importance
of increasing political activity. In the future also, the CPSU is going
to increase the vigilance of the Soviet people. At the present stage,
the guiding role of the Party is growing in every sphere, including the
work of State Security.
At the 1966 October Plenum, a special question was raised in regard
to stepping up the work of State Security in connection with the
international situation (events in Greece and the Middle East). The
basic aims and tasks for ensuring State Security result from the
resolutions of the Congresses: active opposition to imperialist intelligence services and protection of USSR's state frontiers.
In the present circumstances, State Security tasks are determined
by foreign and internal factors. As today's international situation is
complex and dynamic, methods of State Security work must remain
flexible. On the one hand, Socialist forces are growing and getting
stronger, but on the other the imperialist forces of the USA and the
Federal German Republic are stepping up their aggressive policy.
They spare no means, and this pressure, therefore, must be repulsed.
A determining factor is the foreign policy of the Soviet Government. Another factor is the increasing role of the imperialist
intelligence services. In their subversive activities, the imperialist
powers come up against the fact that internal forces are working to
make the aims of imperialist intelligence more and more impossible,
and they are, therefore, obliged to engage in the formation of sabotage
units. In the period of Socialism, the Socialist system has been realised,
but it must be borne in mind that intelligence services can make use
of certain shortcomings, survivals of the past, anti-Soviet attitudes,
carelessness, talkativeness, and imitativeness; these factors have some
bearing on State Security work. The determining factors are the
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APPENDIX III
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international and internal situations.
The 1967 June Plenum gave instructions to increase vigilance, to
devote more attention to the work of the security organs. Thus State
Security workers even in peacetime must work in a special way,
remaining on the alert at all times. Tasks must be set for a sharp
increase in political intelligence obtained from the enemy's camp.
Active counter-intelligence offensives must be launched; the
despatching of agents is not to be delayed. Facilities of the different
State Security organs must be fully utilised.
The 1966 December Plenum stressed that intelligence and counterintelligence must not limit themselves to separate spheres of action.
KGB Directive No. 43 of 1967 to the counter-intelligence services
gave instructions to take active measures for discovering and foiling
enemy schemes, and so on. It is essential to take account of increasing
imperialist activity on the ideological front, which is not simply slander
but a refined and expert course of action.
1. Tasks of counter-intelligence networks are determinded by
Committee regulations. The organs are trained as skilled political
organs. Counter-intelligence networks are faced with a series of tasks:
1. Fighting against spying, sabotage, terrorism and other
activities of the imperialist intelligence services. The prime
effort must be directed against the main enemies: the USA,
West Germany, England, France.
2. Safeguarding the Soviet Army, Navy, Border Forces and
MVD Forces from penetration by capitalist intelligence networks and hostile elements.
MILITARY COUNTER-INTELLIGENCE REGULATIONS,

SEPTEMBER 1961 No. 00270 OF 8 SEPTEMBER 1961
ISSUED BY THE CHAIRMAN: 'RIGHTS AND DUTIES
GOVERNING RELATIONS WITH LOCAL UNITS AND
COMMANDERS'
Duties of Special Departments [00]
1. To prevent enemy agent networks from penetrating into units
and establishments of the Soviet Army, Navy, KGB and
MOOP Forces.
2. To identify and unmask agents and others who have penetrated
the armed forces.
3. To search for imperialist agents amongst the armed forces
and their immediate surroundings. (Indications observed, facts,
relatives.)
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APPENDIX III
125
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4. To avert cases of treason to the motherland by individual
servicemen, workers, and employees of units and establishments.
5. To ensure the preservation of state and military secrets and
to sever channels of leakage of secret information abroad.
6. To prepare and carry out, together with State Security [OGB]
and Ministry of Defence [MO] organs, special measures for
disinformation of the enemy, for recording, and for camouflaging especially important military objectives.
7. Fullest co-operation to be given to commanders and political
organs for increasing vigilance.
8. To carry out special missions for the Central Committee of
the CPSU and the Soviet Government.
9. Counter-intelligence work on special and particularly important targets and on transport.
10. Suppression of hostile actions of anti-Soviet and nationalist
eiements^thinjlifi^coiintry. ,
~
11. 'Protection of the state borders of the USSR.
12. Protection of the leadership of the CPSU and the Soviet
Government.
All State Security counter-intelligence work is carried out according
to policy directions from above.
2. Main directions of State Security counter-intelligence work. At
the foundation of strategy and tactics stands the requirement . . . to
direct KGB and State Security activities to the outside, against the
intelligence services of the imperialist powers.
1. Fight against the subversive activity of intelligence centres,
residenturas, anti-Soviet centres abroad, intelligence officers
and agents. Fight against ideological sabotage (ways to identify
and suppress), also against spying and subversive actions of
those serving under official cover of an embassy or . . . of a
representation. Identification of persons suspected of belonging
to the above category by means of a secure watch kept on
state borders, search for hostile agents and . . . illegals. Identify
intelligence officers arriving among other foreigners in order
to recruit; collect information and establish communications.
Our men travel abroad in order to safeguard the security
of our people. By planting an agent network in an intelligence
service, we intercept the communications channels (operational
games with adversary). 5th Department. The fight against
Or plays.
1
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126
APPENDIX III
SECRET
ideological sabotage is sharpened by the inflammatory activities
of China.
2. Obtaining of intelligence information in the course of operational work of counter-intelligence networks.
3. Fight against subversive activity of anti-Soviet elements within
the country. A complex of questions. Identify and unmask
anti-Soviet manifestations of Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Estonian,
Latvian nationalists. Break off capitalist gains from the
influence of VATCHMAN , which is a very flexible organisation. Search for instigators of anti-Soviet elements.
4. -Fi^ht against criminal intrusions on the security of particularly
important targets in military industries and other installations
of special importance. Ensure the safety of state and military
secrets.
5. Prepare conditions for active State Security counterintelligence work at special times and for the repelling of
possible aggression of imperialist powers against the USSR.
Sources: Textbook of Organisation of Counter-intelligence Work.
Summary of lecture. KBG Collection of writings 1967, No 2. Articles
by heads of Special Departments and Epishev's article 'Basis of
Counter-intelligence Activity of KGB Organs'.
The meaning of this phrase is somewhat doubtful.
2
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APPENDIX III
127
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APPENDIX III
REPORT
ON WAYS, METHODS AND DEVICES USED BY AGENTS

OF WESTERN INTELLIGENCE SERVICES FOR THE
COLLECTION OF INTELLIGENCE INFORMATION ON
THE GSFG [GROUP OF SOVIET FORCES IN GERMANY]
2/D 38 SS
THE ASPIRATIONS OF IMPERIALIST INTELLIGENCE
SERVICES AS REGARDS THE GSFG
Special attention is given to obtaining information on the most
important changes taking place in the armed forces, on signs of
tension, as well as the absence of any such signs. The enemy attaches
the greatest importance to information on the following:
1. Missile units.
2. Air Force and anti-aircraft units and formations.
3. Large railway junctions, railway stations used for loading and
unloading of troops and equipment.
4. Branch lines running alongside military zones.
5. All kinds of tanks, artillery installations, special means of
transport: tractors, including those without missiles; all special
vehicles; generators, charging and compressor installations,
radar stations, infra-red devices, and other things.
6. All newly built military complexes.
7. Firing ranges, bombing areas, river-crossing points.
8. All kinds of workshops for the repair of weapons and equipment.
9. Depots and stores for weapons, ammunition and food.
10. Main roads constantly being used by troops and which go to
firing ranges and concentration areas.
11. Radio-relay networks and lines of the GSFG which are
covered by the apparatus of an anti-aircraft system.
12. Lines of air-liaison going to military installations, location of
cables, thickness and number of wires in a cable.
The recruiting attempts of enemy Intelligence Services vis-a-vis
Soviet citizens which are aimed at military personnel:
1. Staff Officers.
2. Missile and radar personnel, and pilots.
3. Officers responsible for bringing the armed forces to a
heightened state of battle readiness and those responsible for
the supplying of units with ammunition.
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APPENDIX III
SECRET
4.
5.
j>J2cial
6.
y 7.
) 8.
I 9.
s. 10.
Military doctors.
Soviet citizens who have contacts with local inhabitants.
attention is devoted to persons who are:
Dissatisfied with their jobs.
In the habit of over-indulging in alcoholic drinks.
In contact with German women.
Greedy for money.
Admirers of the Western way of life, greedy for material
possessions. (All this being done with a view to intensifying
these vices even further.)
The enemy also considers the following factors to be conducive to
recruitment:
1. Critical attitude towards Soviet reality.
2. Excessive ambition.
3. Breakdown in family life or marriage.
4. Tendency to indulge in alcoholic drinks.
Individual Soviet Military personnel can come to the attention of
the Western Special Intelligence Services:
1. As a result of contacts with foreigners in the territory of the
USSR, before being posted to the GSFG, or while at home
on leave.
2. From material based on questions put by repatriates, as well
as private businessmen visiting the USSR or the GDR.
3. By publishing scientific or other articles in the open press.
4. As a result of leads followed up by Intelligence organs.
5. By sending letters of a slanderous or anti-Soviet character to
Svoboda [Freedom newspaper] and other publications.
6. Under influence of relatives or other contacts living in
capitalist countries.
7. On the basis of intimate relations with women who are agents
of foreign Intelligence Services.
8. As a result of marrying German women with relatives living
in the West.
9. As a result of amoral behaviour, speculative deals, conspicuous
peculiar behaviour, work missing operations and so on.
10. As a result of frequenting civilian [word missing] in East
Berlin.
Places which may be used by enemy Intelligence Services for
studying Soviet citizens for the purpose of eventual recruitment:
1. In establishments where official meetings take place between
representatives of enemy Armed Forces and Soviet Military
personnel.
SECRET
APPENDIX III
129
SECRET
2. In places where Soviet citizens meet with German commercial firms and/or other German organisations to arrange
food and other supply questions.
3. During unofficial contacts and visits to taverns, restaurants,
shops, cinemas.
4. Directly within Soviet military installations which have been
penetrated by Western intelligence agencies, through Germans
who are working there.
5. In Officers Club.
6. In buildings where Soviet Liaison Missions are located.
7. In places where international gatherings take place (Leipzig,
Erfurt).
8. In Sanatoria (Bad Emster).
Attempts to recruit agents from amongst the local population are
aimed at those:
1. Working in Soviet military institutions.
2. Residing in the vicinity of Soviet military installations.
3. Working in building-firms, motor-car repairs or other repair
services.
4. Working at railway stations.
5. Connected with servicing Soviet citizens, e.g. tailor-shops.
6. Women of easy virtue or prostitutes.
Some revealing traits in the behaviour of enemy agents:
1. Regular visits to areas in the vicinity of Soviet military
installations.
2. Regular journeys outside the confines of his usual place of
residence.
3. Ascertaining that the suspected person dispatches mail posted
in a place outside his place of residence.
4. Posting to West Germany of printed matternewspapers not
having a political bent.
5. Receiving letters from West Germany.
6. Finding on the suspected person town-maps printed by the
firm Dewag (with a grid).
7. Establishing friendly relations with persons residing at military
installations.
8. Journeys to Socialist countries (Yugoslavia, Cuba).
9. Posting letters to the following addresses in West Germany:
BND, Baden-Wurtenberg, Halderberg, Mannheim; American
and French Intelligence in West Berlin; Department for the
Defence of the Constitution in West Berlin, Cologne, Aachen,
Hamburg, Bonn, Wuppertal, Ragen.
SECRET
130
APPENDIX III
SECRET
Characteristic behavioural patterns in an agent engaged in visual
observation:
1. General nervousness, constrained movements, frequent looking
over one's shoulder.
2. Aim to leave quickly the place being observed.
3. Haste in showing documents justifying presence at a Soviet
military installation.
4. Confused replies regarding the reason for presence at a Soviet
Some revealing traits in the actions of an agent receiving one-way
transmissions or engaged in radio communications:
1. Keeping awake two nights running (at times of crisis, etc.).
2. Ascertaining the fact of postal correspondence being dispatched immediately after the day fixed for radio transmission.
3. Discovery of his definite frequencies, note-books with fivefigure groups.
4. Presence in the attic, in his room or in a shed of large aerials
erected for transmission, or of insulated pieces of wire which
could be used as an aerial.
5. Use of headphones.
6. Creating the impression that the suspected person is absent
from the fiat at the time of reception.
7. Refusal to receive visitors especially on the days of reception.
8. Recording radio broadcasts on a tape-recorder.
9. Concealment of knowledge in radio matters.
Some instructions given by enemy Intelligence to their agents
engaged in visual observation:
1. Not to allow any change to take place in either public or
private way of life when beginning intelligence activities.
2. Conceal sympathy for Western way of life.
3. React calmly to all provocations from various people.
4. Not to establish contacts with obvious enemies of East
Germany.
5. Before visiting the target to be observed, prepare cover story6. Go to the target to be observed accompanied by family.
7. Not to carry out observation always wearing the same clothes
and to go there at various times of day.
8. Not to allow any notes to be made while in the area of the
9. Not to carry out observation during week-ends.
10. Visit the target on days of holiday (Red Army Day, May-Day,
November).
SECRET
APPENDIX III
131
SECRET
11. For more prolonged observation of the target, make use of a
non-working activity (sun-bathing, all sorts of walks).
12. Targets to which access is difficult are to be observed in the
guise of mushroom-pickers, etc.
13. Make observations of firing ranges and training.
14. Visit Soviet troops and stores.
15. Make use of suitably-located windows of your flat.
16. Exposure of agents and illegals amongst specialist-military
personnel serving with NATO operating in areas surrounding
military installations.
Established means of agent dispatch:
!. Under covcr of returnees.
2. Going over to East Germany in the guise of deserters from
the Bundeswehr [Armed Forces, FRG].
3. In the guise of sailors on West German ships, leaving the
ship on arrival in an East German port.
4. Illegal crossing of the border.
Instructions given to "Rangers":
1. Not to do anything which would attract attention or give
cause for investigating past background (not to enlist in the
East German State Security Service, not to aim at rewards).
2. Behave in a loyal manner towards the GDR.
Give-away signs identifying an agent of enemy Intelligence, planted
by the latter on our own Intelligence Agencies:
1. Too hasty investigation of West German authorities into
agent's anti-Government attitudes.
2. Mention of relatives or friends working in various secret
establishments.
3. Suggestions for a meeting by the agent which follow all rules
of conspiracy or otherwise.
4. Target himself invites recruitment.
5. In writing down a message, target leaves a clear field at the
top, without having first received instructions to do so, etc.
6. On being given a definite task, target finds it difficult to give
an answer.
7. Target himself offering to do various things on own initiative.
SECRET

Inside The KGB - Aleksei Myagkov

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What is the book about?

What is the book about?

What is the author's role in the KGB?

What is the author's role in the KGB?

INSIDE

Second Printing, November 1977

Manufactured in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Myagkov, Aleksei, 1945Inside the KGB.

Indoctrination and disillusionment

The Soviet "Mafia's" network of fear 31

T was six o'clock in the morning. I, a Captain of the Special

A WATCHDOG SLIPS THE LEASH

be heard by all in the bus: "It would be nice if we were allowed in

3 A WATCHDOG SLIPS THE LEASH

A WATCHDOG SLIPS THE LEASH

5 A WATCHDOG SLIPS THE LEASH

searching for me must be somewhere in the vicinity. In my heart I

A WATCHDOG SLIPS THE LEASH

appeared to be about 40 to 45 years of age, short, and not at all like

7 A WATCHDOG SLIPS THE LEASH

A WATCHDOG SLIPS THE LEASH

it with all the power at their disposal.

WAS born in 1945, in a small village in central Russia. My

INDOCTRINATION AND DISILLUSIONMENT

INDOCTRINATION AND DISILLUSIONMENT

educated in the spirit of devotion to the Communist Party of the

INDOCTRINATION AND DISILLUSIONMENT

set out to give us a feeling of superiority over other mortals.

13 INDOCTRINATION AND DISILLUSIONMENT

INDOCTRINATION AND DISILLUSIONMENT

That is what would have happened to Sinitski; he would have been

15 INDOCTRINATION AND DISILLUSIONMENT

know, John, I have everything you have, only without partitions."

INDOCTRINATION AND DISILLUSIONMENT

17 INDOCTRINATION AND DISILLUSIONMENT

Gauschin, "the KGB can arrange anything." The officers continued

INDOCTRINATION AND DISILLUSIONMENT

gence and counter-intelligence was my life's dream. I emphasised the

INDOCTRINATION AND DISILLUSIONMENT

of literature?""Yes, certainly, comrade General."

THE POLITBURO'S ARMY OF SPIES

THE POLITBURO'S ARMY OF SPIES

THE POLITBURO'S ARMY OF SPIES

agent network. It will be more productive to look at unsensational

THE POLITBURO'S ARMY OF SPIES 24

Alongside all this, a campaign designed to prove an unbreakable

THE POLITBURO'S ARMY OF SPIES

conclude bilateral agreements with individual members. Just such an

THE POLITBURO'S ARMY OF SPIES

reported to have established an army of between two and three million

THE POLITBURO'S ARMY OF SPIES

observation agents, i.e. they collect information of interest to the

THE POLITBURO'S ARMY OF SPIES 28

THE POLITBURO'S ARMY OF SPIES

beginning between the Soviet Union and the Federal Republic. It

THE POLITBURO'S ARMY OF SPIES 30

task of achieving a more active and many-sided exploitation of the

HE KGB organs, in fulfilling the role of a secret political