Of General Dmitry Polyakov, CIA Director James Woolen said that of all the agents recruited by the US, he was the jewel in the crown. For 25 years, Polyakov supplied Washington with the most valuable information, and this practically paralyzed the work of the Soviet special services.

He transferred secret staff documents, scientific developments, weapons data, strategic plans of the USSR, and even Military Thought magazines to the United States. Through his efforts, two dozen Soviet intelligence officers and more than 140 recruited agents were arrested in the United States.

The FBI recruited Dmitry Polyakov in the fall of 1961, subsequently the bureau transferred him to the CIA department, where he was listed until 1987.

Biography

The future traitor was born in Ukraine, fought as a volunteer at the front and was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War and the Red Star. In 1943 he transferred to military intelligence. After the war, he graduated from the Frunze Academy and was sent to serve in the GRU.

Polyakov was taller than average, a strong and stern man. He was distinguished by calmness and restraint. An important feature of his character was secrecy, which manifested itself both in work and private life. The general was fond of hunting and carpentry. He built a dacha with his own hands and made furniture for it, in which he arranged many hiding places.

Dmitry Polyakov has been a resident in the US, India and Burma. After receiving the rank of major general, he was sent to Moscow, where he headed the intelligence department of the Military Diplomatic Academy, and later the faculty of the Military Academy of the Soviet Army. After retiring, he worked in the personnel department of the GRU and had direct access to the personal files of employees.

Motives for betrayal and Polyakov's recruitment

Under interrogation, Polyakov said that he agreed to cooperate with a potential enemy because of the desire to help democracy stop the onslaught of Khrushchev's military doctrine. The actual push was Khrushchev's speech in France and the US, in which he said that the Soviet people were making rockets like sausages on a conveyor belt and were ready to "bury America."

However, the researchers are sure that the real reason was the death of the newborn son of Dmitry Fedorovich.

During Polyakov's service in the United States, his three-month-old son fell ill with an intractable illness. The treatment required 400 thousand dollars, which the Soviet citizen did not have. A request to the Center for help went unanswered, and the child died. The motherland turned out to be deaf to those who sacrifice their lives for her, and Polyakov decided that he owed her nothing more.

During the second trip to the United States, through his channels in the American military mission, Polyakov contacted General O'Neily, who brought him into contact with FBI agents.

Sly fox in the service of the CIA

The FBI and CIA gave their spy many nicknames - Bourbon, Tophat, Donald, Specter, but the most appropriate name for him would be Sly Fox. Dexterity, intelligence, professional flair, photographic memory helped Polyakov to be beyond suspicion for many years. The Americans were especially struck by the strong restraint of the spy; one could not read the excitement on his face. The same was noted by Soviet investigators. Polyakov himself destroyed the evidence and established the places of Moscow caches.

The Americans supplied their best spy with equipment no worse than the cinematic James Bond. A miniature Brest device was used to transmit information.

Secret data was loaded onto the device, and after its activation, in just 2.6 seconds, information was transmitted to the nearest receiver. The operation was carried out by Polyakov during his trolleybus ride past the US Embassy. Once the transmission was spotted by Soviet radio operators, but they could not figure out where the signal came from.

Samples of secret texts, addresses in the US, ciphers, postal communications were kept in the handle of a spinning rod, presented to the spy by the First Secretary of the US Embassy. When Polyakov was in the States, encrypted messages in the New York Times were used to communicate with him. Small camouflaged cameras were used to photograph documents.

The Americans themselves treated their spy with deep respect and considered him a teacher. The agents listened to the recommendations of Polyakov, who believed that the CIA and FBI often act in a stereotyped manner, and therefore predictable for Soviet specialists.

Arrest and investigation in the case of a traitor

It was possible to get on the trail of Polyakov thanks to a leak from the United States. Information about the "diamond in the crown" was obtained by KGB spies Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen. After collecting evidence, the counterintelligence officers went to the "mole" and were amazed at who he turned out to be. At this time, the honored general retired due to age and became a real legend of the GRU.

Polyakov's professional instinct did not let him down, and he went to the bottom, making contacts with the Americans. The Chekists managed to provoke the traitor through fake information, and he gave himself away by contacting the FBI.

On July 7, 1986, Dmitry Polyakov was arrested at a meeting of veteran intelligence officers. The spy actively cooperated with the investigation and expected to be exchanged, but the court sentenced the traitor to death.

In May of the same year, at a meeting between the presidents of the USSR and the United States, Ronald Reagan asked Gorbachev to pardon Polyakov. Mikhail Sergeevich wanted to respect his overseas colleague and expectedly agreed, but it was too late. On March 15, 1988, GRU General Dmitry Polyakov and an American intelligence officer were shot.

Major General (according to some reports, Lieutenant General) of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the USSR Ministry of Defense Dmitry Polyakov worked for the CIA for 25 years and actually paralyzed the work of Soviet intelligence in the American direction. Polyakov betrayed 19 Soviet illegal intelligence agents, more than 150 agents from among foreign citizens, revealed that about 1,500 current intelligence officers belonged to the GRU and the KGB. Former CIA chief James Woolsey admitted that "of all the US secret agents recruited during the Cold War, Polyakov was the jewel in the crown."

In May 1988, in Moscow, Mikhail Gorbachev and US President Ronald Reagan signed a treaty to eliminate intermediate and short-range missiles in Europe, which ended the nuclear standoff and ushered in a new era. The leaders of the two countries were in high spirits, and suddenly Reagan turned to Gorbachev with an unexpected proposal - to pardon or exchange former GRU general Dmitry Polyakov for one of the arrested Soviet agents. However, his request was somewhat late, by that time the traitor general had already been shot. Who was this person, the question of which was decided at the level of the leaders of the two great powers?

Front-line soldier, scout ... traitor

Dmitry Fedorovich Polyakov was born in 1921 in Ukraine into the family of a rural librarian. After leaving school, he entered the Kiev Artillery School. During the Great Patriotic War he commanded a platoon, was a battery commander, an artillery reconnaissance officer. He fought on the Western and Karelian fronts, was wounded. He was awarded the Orders of the Patriotic War and the Red Star. After the end of the war, Polyakov graduated from the intelligence faculty of the Academy. Frunze, courses of the General Staff and was sent to work in the GRU.

In the early fifties, Polyakov was sent to New York under the cover of a position as an employee of the Soviet UN mission. He was entrusted with a responsible task - undercover support of illegal intelligence officers. The work of an energetic officer was successful, but a tragic event occurred in his personal life. A severe flu gave a complication to the heart of his three-year-old son. A complex operation was performed, but the diplomatic mission did not have money for a second one, and the child died. Polyakov was in despair. Apparently, this event served as the basis for the FBI to show interest in him.

At that time, US intelligence agencies were conducting Operation Courtship - "Matchmaking", directed against Soviet citizens working in America. They created their own recruitment formula - MICE. Its name is formed by the first letters of the words Money, Ideology, Compromise, Ego, which in Russian sound like this: money, ideological considerations, compromising evidence, conceit. It was a sophisticated system, but recruiting Polyakov was no easy task. He did not drink, did not cheat on his wife, did not show much interest in money. It seemed impossible to find an approach to it. But in 1961, during his second trip to the United States, a completely unexpected event occurred - Polyakov himself offered his services to the FBI.

Then he was already a colonel and represented the USSR in the UN Chiefs of Staff Committee, being at the same time a deputy resident for illegal intelligence. The Americans staged a check on the initiator (as intelligence refers to people who go to recruitment without additional pressure). And he, in order to win the trust of the new owners, betrayed three employees of the Soviet military intelligence known to him who worked in the United States. The GRU had high hopes for the Sokolovs. They went through a lengthy process of legalization, but were arrested before they even got to work.

To divert suspicion from Polyakov, two Soviet employees of the UN Secretariat were arrested on charges of espionage. And then the FBI said that they had extradited the Sokolovs. And only after many years the truth triumphed. Polyakov played a fatal role in the life of intelligence agent Maria Dobrova. This beautiful, elegant woman ran a trendy beauty salon in New York. Her clients were the wives of many high-ranking officials, including sailors of the nuclear submarine fleet. Dobrova's merit in preventing (namely, this was the main task of military intelligence) a sudden nuclear strike on the Soviet Union is undeniable. When the FBI came to arrest her, Maria committed suicide by jumping out of the window of a high-rise building. After some time, Polyakov reported to the center that Dobrova had been recruited by the Americans, who had safely sheltered her. For many years, the brave scout was considered a defector.

The times of the Cold War are strikingly different from our days. This is the now exposed Russian intelligence agent Anna Chapman, who was operating in America along with nine other colleagues, was exchanged for four Russian citizens accused of espionage and became the heroine of glossy magazines and television programs. And then the fate of many scouts issued by Polyakov turned out to be tragic. Some of them died or received long prison terms, some were recruited.

Exceptionally valuable Soviet intelligence agents working in South Africa were the spouses Dieter Gerhardt and Ruth Johr (Dieter Felix Gerhardt, Ruth Johr), who were friends with the family of President Peter Botha (Pieter Willem Botha). Dieter, a naval officer in the South African Navy, was to be given the rank of Rear Admiral and had access to a top-secret NATO naval base that controlled Soviet ships and aircraft. When the CIA, on a tip from Polyakov, arrested Gerhardt and produced the details of his Moscow dossier, he confessed to espionage. The intelligence officer was sentenced to life imprisonment and was released only in 1992 at the personal request of Boris N. Yeltsin. Subsequently, being the head of the intelligence department of the Military Diplomatic Academy, Polyakov would hand over the lists of his students to the Americans. Already retired, "Bourbon" - this pseudonym was assigned to him by the CIA - remained working in the GRU as secretary of the party committee of the directorate. According to established practice, illegal scouts remained on the party record at the place of work. According to their registration cards, the general calculated the infiltrated intelligence officers. Did he feel regret betraying his former colleagues? It is unlikely that espionage and morality are incompatible things.

But we ran a little ahead, on the account of Polyakov there were still many "exploits".

General's epaulets and invaluable information for the CIA

In 1966, Polyakov was sent to Burma as head of the radio interception center in Rangoon. Upon his return to the USSR, he was appointed head of the Chinese department, and in 1970 he was sent to India as a military attaché and resident of the GRU. While abroad, he almost openly meets with Americans as candidates for recruitment. The volume of information transmitted by Polyakov was so great that the CIA created a special department for its processing. He gave out the names of four American officers recruited by Soviet intelligence, transmitted data on the personnel of the GRU in the countries of Southeast Asia and the methods of their training, information on the latest missile systems. Polyakov managed to make photocopies of documents showing the deep divergence of the positions of China and the USSR. This information allowed the US to improve relations with China in 1972.

Polyakov did everything possible to convince the leadership of the GRU of his exceptional abilities. To do this, the CIA regularly handed over some classified materials to Bourbon, and also framed two Americans whom he allegedly recruited. Polyakov was known as a good comrade, he distributed various trinkets brought from abroad to his colleagues, and presented a silver service to the head of the GRU personnel department, Lieutenant General Izotov. The personnel officer did not even suspect that this was a gift from American intelligence.

Polyakov's efforts were not in vain, in 1974 he received the rank of major general. His work for American intelligence becomes even more effective. "Bourbon" gives the American intelligence services a list of military technologies that were purchased or obtained in the West by intelligence, sends them more than a hundred issues of the military-theoretical magazine "Military Thought", reports information about the new weapons of the USSR, in particular about anti-tank missiles. This helped the Americans destroy the military equipment sold by the Soviet Union to Iraq during the Persian Gulf War. The information provided by Polyakov was priceless, and the damage done to the Soviet Union amounted to many billions of dollars.

The motives for Polyakov's betrayal could not be fully clarified. Money was not the main reason. During his work for the CIA, Bourbon received less than $ 100 thousand - a ridiculous amount for a super agent. The Americans believed that he was disillusioned with the Soviet regime. The blow for Polyakov was the debunking of the cult of Stalin, whom he idolized. Polyakov himself said the following about himself during the investigation: “At the heart of my betrayal lay both my desire to openly express my views and doubts somewhere, and the qualities of my character - the constant desire to work beyond the risk. And the greater the danger became, the more interesting my life became ... I used to walk on the edge of a knife and could not imagine another life.

No matter how much the rope twists ...

A natural question arises, how did Polyakov manage to work for the CIA for a quarter of a century and remain unexposed? Numerous failures of illegal immigrants abroad intensified the activities of the KGB counterintelligence. Colonel O. Penkovsky, Colonel P. Popov, who extradited Soviet illegal immigrants in Western European countries to the CIA, and GRU officer A. Filatov were arrested and then shot. Polyakov turned out to be smarter, he was thoroughly aware of the methods and techniques used by the KGB to identify enemy agents, and for a long time was beyond suspicion. In Moscow, to maintain contact with the Americans, he used only contactless methods - special containers made in the form of a piece of brick, which he left in predetermined places. To give a signal about laying the cache, Polyakov, driving a trolley bus past the US Embassy in Moscow, activated a miniature transmitter hidden in his pocket. This technical innovation, in the West it was called "Brest", in an instant threw out a huge amount of information that entered the American residency. The radio interception service of the KGB detected these radio signals, but it was not possible to decipher them.

Meanwhile, the circle of GRU officers suspected of betrayal gradually narrowed. The work of all intelligence officers and agents arrested by the Americans was subjected to the most thorough analysis. In the end, it became clear that only one person, Major General Polyakov, could know and betray them. It is possible that high-ranking CIA officer Aldridge Ames, who worked for the KGB, and Robert Hanssen, an analyst in the Soviet department of the FBI, played a role in exposing Polyakov. By the way, both were subsequently sentenced in the United States to life imprisonment.

At the end of 1986 Polyakov was arrested. During a search of his Moscow apartment, secret writing tools, cipher pads and other spy equipment were found. "Bourbon" did not unlock, he went to cooperate with the investigation, hoping for indulgence. Polyakov's wife and adult sons were witnesses, since they did not know and did not suspect about his espionage activities. In the GRU at that time, stars rained down from the shoulder straps of employees, whose negligence and talkativeness was skillfully used by Bourbon. Many have been fired or retired. In early 1988, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR sentenced Polyakov D.F. for treason and espionage to death with confiscation of property. The sentence was carried out on March 15, 1988. Thus ended the life of one of the biggest traitors in the history of Soviet intelligence.

Dmitry Polyakov is a hero of the Great Patriotic War, a retired GRU major general who has been an American spy for more than twenty years. Why did the Soviet spy betray the USSR? What pushed Polyakov to treason, and who was the first to go on the trail of the mole? Unknown facts and new versions of the loudest story of betrayal in the documentary investigation of the Moscow Trust TV channel.

traitor in general uniform

A retired general is arrested by Alpha, one of the best security forces in the world. The detention takes place according to all the rules of the special services. It is not enough to put handcuffs on a spy, he must be completely immobilized. FSB officer, writer and historian of special services Oleg Khlobustov explains why.

"Tough detention, because they knew that he could be supplied with, say, poison for self-destruction at the time of detention, if he preferred to choose such a position. He was immediately changed, things were already prepared in advance to seize everything that he had : suit, shirt, and so on," says Oleg Khlobustov.

Dmitry Polyakov

But isn't there a lot of noise for the detention of a 65-year-old man? The KGB did not think so. There has never been a traitor of this magnitude in the USSR. The material damage inflicted by Polyakov over the years of espionage activities amounts to billions of dollars. None of the traitors reached such heights in the GRU, and none worked for so long. For half a century, a veteran of the Great Patriotic War waged a secret war against his own, and this war did not go without human losses.

"He gave away 1500, mind you this figure, GRU officers, and foreign intelligence too. This figure is huge, I don't know what to compare it with," says Nikolai Dolgopolov, a historian of the special services.

Polyakov understands that for such crimes he faces execution. However, being arrested, he does not panic, and actively cooperates with the investigation. Probably, the traitor is counting on his life to be spared in order to play a double game with the CIA. But the scouts decide otherwise.

“We didn’t have any guarantees that when the big game started, somewhere between the lines, Polyakov would put an extra dash. This would be a signal to the Americans: “Guys, I’ve been caught, I’m chasing you with misinformation, don’t believe her,” says the military Viktor Baranets.

"Rotten" initiative

The court sentences Polyakov to capital punishment, deprives him of shoulder straps and orders. On March 15, 1988, the sentence was carried out. The case is closed forever, but the main question remains: why did Polyakov trample his name into the mud and cross out his whole life?

One thing is clear: he was rather indifferent to money. The traitor received about $90,000 from the CIA. If you divide them by 25 years - it turns out not so much.

“The main and urgent question is what prompted him to do this, what inspired him? Why did such a metamorphosis occur in a person who, in general, began his fate as a hero, and, one might say, was favored by fate,” says Oleg Khlobustov.

October 30, 1961, New York. In US Colonel Fahey's office, the phone rings. The person on the other end of the line is visibly nervous. He demands a meeting with the head of the American mission at the UN military staff committee and gives his name: Colonel Dmitry Polyakov, military attaché at the Soviet embassy. That same evening, Fahey calls the FBI. Instead of the military, the feds will come to meet with Polyakov, and this will suit him perfectly.

“When, for example, someone comes to the embassy and says, “I have such intelligence capabilities, let me work for you,” what are the first thoughts of intelligence? That this is a provocation, that this is crazy, that this is a swindler, who wants to start what is called a paper mill, and this person is being carefully and thoroughly checked," explains Alexander Bondarenko, a historian of the special services.

At first, the FBI does not believe Polyakov, they suspect that he is a double agent. But an experienced scout knows how to convince them. At the first meeting, he gives out the names of cryptographers working in the Soviet embassy. These are the people through whom all secrets pass.

“They already had suspicions about a number of people who could be cryptographers. Here’s a check for you, whether he will name these names or will he bluff. But he gave the true names, everything coincided, everything came together,” says Igor Atamanenko, a veteran of KGB counterintelligence .

After the issuance of the cryptographers, there are no more doubts. The FBI agents understand that they have an "initiative" in front of them. So in intelligence they call people who voluntarily cooperate. Polyakov receives the pseudonym Top Hat, that is, "Cylinder". Later, the feds will hand him over to their CIA counterparts.

“To prove that he was not a set-up, that he was a sincere “initiator”, he crossed what is called the Rubicon. The Americans understood this, because he gave out the most valuable thing in military intelligence and the foreign intelligence service. The Americans then understood: yes , give out cryptographers - there is no turning back," Nikolai Dolgopolov explains.

Beyond the foul

Having crossed the line, Polyakov feels a pleasant chill from the danger, from the fact that he walks on the edge of a knife. Later, after his arrest, the general confesses: “At the heart of everything was my constant desire to work on the verge of risk, and the more dangerous, the more interesting my work became.” KGB Lieutenant Colonel Igor Atamanenko wrote dozens of books about intelligence. He studied the Polyakov case thoroughly, and such a motive seems to him quite convincing.

"When he worked, his first trip, he was a bureaucrat, he was not an intelligence officer. Most of all he took risks when he pulled chestnuts from the fire for the central intelligence agency. That's when the risk appeared, then the adrenaline, then this drive, you know, what is now called," says Atamanenko.

Indeed, in New York, Polyakov works under the cover of the Soviet embassy. Nothing threatens him, unlike the illegals whom he supervises, and who, if they fail, will lose everything. But is Polyakov really not enough risk, because in case of danger, he is obliged to cover his employees, if necessary - at the cost of his own life.

In the meeting room of the XX Congress of the CPSU in the Kremlin. Speaker First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Nikita Khrushchev. Photo: ITAR-TASS

“This happened when agents are rescued, when illegal employees are rescued, so there is any risk in intelligence, and to consider that he had an official job when he had to work with intelligence agents, in intelligence, this no longer holds water,” says Alexander Bondarenko.

Polyakov, on the other hand, does exactly the opposite. He turns over illegal immigrants unknown to him to the FBI. For a whole hour, Polyakov names the names of Soviet intelligence officers, trying to convince of his sincerity, he drops the phrase: “I have not been promoted for more than six years.” So maybe here it is - a motive for revenge?

“Still, there was a terrible rot, there was envy of other people, there was, it seems to me, a misunderstanding of why I am only a general, but others are already there, or why I am only a colonel, and others are already here, and there was this envy ", - says Nikolai Dolgopolov.

Homecoming"

Six months after recruitment, Polyakov's stay in the United States ends. American counterintelligence offers to continue his work in the USSR and he agrees. June 9, 1962, a recruited GRU colonel returns to Moscow. But at home he is seized by panic, he shudders at every sound, he thinks about confessing everything.

“There were people who, in general, with honor and dignity, got out of such difficult life situations, who found the courage to come and say: “Yes, I didn’t behave correctly, I got into such a compromising situation, but, by that nevertheless, here, I declare that there was a recruiting approach, that there was an attempt to recruit me, "to the point that people were exempted from criminal liability," says Oleg Khlobustov.

However, the FBI seems to be reading his mind. If he hopes for forgiveness, he is informed that Agent Maisie has killed herself. This is the captain of the GRU - Maria Dobrova. Polyakov handed it over just before leaving, as a parting gift. The traitor understands: he has gone too far, and there is no turning back.

“Only after Polyakov was exposed, he said that “I, too, so I handed her over, and then the FBI told me, the Americans told me that, therefore, she preferred to commit suicide,” maybe in order to make such a hairpin, and vice versa, tie him directly with blood, the blood of a devoted intelligence officer," says Oleg Khlobustov.

Polyakov returns to Moscow with spy equipment and a suitcase full of expensive gifts. Entering the offices of the chiefs, he generously distributes gold watches, cameras, pearl jewelry. Realizing that he is beyond suspicion, he again gets in touch with the CIA. As he passes the US embassy, ​​he sends coded information using a tiny transmitter.

In addition, Polyakov arranges hiding places in which he leaves microfilms with secret documents copied on them. Gorky Park of Culture - one of the hiding places, called "Art", was located here. Having supposedly sat down to rest, the spy with an imperceptible movement hid a container disguised as a brick behind the bench.

“Here is a park of culture and recreation, a lot of people are resting, noisy and cheerful crowds - then they came there to drink beer, relax, ride a wheel - a respectable man sits, and falls off the bench, puts his hand, and the Americans receive a report,” says Nikolai Dolgopolov.

A conditional signal that the container was taken should be a strip of lipstick on the notice board near the Arbat restaurant, but it is not there. Polyakov is terrified. And only a few days later, looking through the New York Times, he sees an ad in the private column.

The encrypted message says the following: "Letter received from Art." The spy breathes a sigh of relief. And yet, in the name of what all this risk, all this effort?

It's all Khrushchev's fault

"The version is that Polyakov was an ardent "Stalinist", and after the well-known persecution of Stalin began, when Khrushchev, whose hands were not only up to the elbow, but up to the shoulders in blood after the Ukrainian executions, he decided wash off on the image of Stalin, you know, and this was supposedly such a powerful psychological blow to Polyakov’s political worldviews,” says Viktor Baranets.

When Polyakov called the enemy headquarters, Nikita Khrushchev was in power in the USSR. His impulsive actions exacerbate relations between the Soviet Union and the United States. Khrushchev intimidates the West with his catchphrase: "We make rockets like sausages on a conveyor belt."

“Under Khrushchev, the so-called“ atomic diplomacy ”began. This is the development of missile weapons, this is a transition, a refusal, as it were, from surface ships and a transition, reliance on submarines armed with nuclear weapons. And so a certain Khrushchev’s bluff began, in the sense that the Soviet The Union has a very powerful nuclear potential," says Natalia Egorova.

Nikita Khrushchev on the podium, 1960 Photo: ITAR-TASS

But few people realize that this is a bluff. Oils are added to the fire by Nikita Sergeevich's insane speeches at the UN in October 1960, during which he allegedly knocks on the table with his shoe, expressing disagreement with one of the speakers.

Doctor of Historical Sciences Natalia Egorova runs the Center for the Study of the Cold War at the Russian Academy of Sciences. Having studied the facts about Khrushchev's speech, she came to the conclusion that there was no shoe on the table, but there was an international scandal, and not a small one at that.

“Then, in general, there were fists, watches, but since Gromyko, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, was sitting next to him, he did not know how to behave in this situation, he supported Khrushchev, so the knock was powerful. Plus, Khrushchev shouted out all kinds of words of indignation,” says Natalia Egorova.

According to some reports, during this speech, Polyakov stands behind Khrushchev. At that time, he works at the UN military staff committee. The world is on the brink of a third world war, and all because of the absurd general secretary. Perhaps it was then that the future spy was filled with contempt for Khrushchev.

But Nikita Sergeevich will be dismissed in a few years, and the activities of the mole-record holder will by no means stop there. But what if Polyakov hates not so much Khrushchev as the entire Soviet ideology.

genetic dislike

Military journalist Nikolai Poroskov writes about intelligence. He met with many people who personally knew the traitor, and accidentally discovered a little-known fact of his biography, and tells about it for the first time.

“Most likely, there is such unconfirmed information that his ancestors were prosperous, his grandfather was there, maybe his father. The revolution broke everything, he had a genetic dislike for the existing system. I think he worked on an ideological basis,” Poroskov believes.

But even so, it hardly explains the betrayal. Alexander Bondarenko is a writer and historian of special services, a laureate of the Foreign Intelligence Service Prize. He studied in detail the various motives for betrayal and declares with confidence that ideology has nothing to do with it.

Petr Ivashutin

"Sorry, he fought against specific individuals. A sufficiently prepared, educated person, who understands that the system, by and large, is not cold, not hot. He handed over specific people," says Bondarenko.

While continuing to spy for the CIA, Polyakov tries to get himself sent abroad again. It will be easier to work there. However, someone nullifies all his efforts, and this someone, apparently, is General Ivashutin, who was in charge of military intelligence in those years.

“Pyotr Ivanovich said that he immediately did not like Polyakov, he says: “He sits, looks at the floor, does not look into his eyes.” Intuitively, he felt that the person was not very good, and he transferred him from the sphere of undercover strategic intelligence, transferred him first in the selection of civilian personnel. That is, there were not very many state secrets, and therefore Polyakov was cut off from them, "says Nikolai Poroskov.

Polyakov, apparently, guesses everything, and therefore buys the most expensive and impressive gifts for Ivashutin.

"Pyotr Ivanovich Ivashutin once Polyakov brought, from India already, two colonial English soldiers carved from a rare tree. Beautiful figures," says Poroskov.

Alas, the bribery attempt fails. The general is not there. But Polyakov instantly figured out how to turn the situation in his favor. He wants to be sent abroad again. Knocks out this solution bypassing Ivashutin.

“When Pyotr Ivanovich was somewhere on a long business trip, or on vacation, there was an order to transfer him, again, back. Someone took responsibility, and in the end, Polyakov, after the USA there was a long break, then he was sent resident in India," explains Nikolai Poroskov.

Double game

In 1973, Polyakov went to India as a resident. There, he again deploys active espionage activities, convincing his colleagues that he is taking the American diplomat James Flint into development, he actually transmits information through him to the CIA. At the same time, not only no one suspects him, he also receives a promotion.

"But how? He has a letter of protection - 1419 days at the front. Wounds, military awards - medals, and the Order of the Red Star. Plus, by that time, he had already become a general: in 1974 he was awarded the rank of general," says Igor Atamanenko .

In order for Polyakov to receive the rank of general, the CIA had to spend a little money. The criminal case includes expensive gifts made by him to the head of the personnel department, Izotov.

“It was the head of the personnel department of the entire GRU, by the name of Izotov. Polyakov communicated with him, because promotions and other things depended on him. But the most famous gift that was discovered was a silver service. In Soviet times, it was God knows what. Well, a gun he gave it to him, because he himself was fond of hunting, and Izotov seemed to be fond of it," says Nikolai Poroskov.

The rank of general provides Polyakov with access to materials that are not related to his direct duties. The traitor receives information about three American officers who worked for the Soviet Union. And another valuable agent - Frank Bossard, an employee of the British Air Force.

"There was a certain Frank Bossard - this is an Englishman. This is not an American, this is an Englishman who was involved in the implementation, testing of guided missiles. He handed over, again, not to Polyakov, he handed over to another officer of the Main Intelligence Directorate, pictures of technological processes: how tests are being carried out - in short, a set of secret information was handed over," says Igor Atamanenko.

Polyakov takes pictures sent by Bossard and forwards them to the CIA. The agent is immediately calculated. Bossard gets 20 years in prison. But Polyakov does not stop there. He pulls out a list of military technologies that are being obtained through intelligence efforts in the West.

“At the end of the 70-80s, a ban was imposed on the sale to Russia, the Soviet Union, of all kinds of military technologies, of any kind. And even some small parts that fell under this technology were blocked by the Americans and were not sold. Polyakov said that there are five thousand directions that help the Soviet Union to buy this secret technology from countries through dummies, through third states. It really happened, and the Americans immediately cut off the oxygen, "says Nikolai Dolgopolov.

Son's death

What is Polyakov trying to achieve? To whom and for what is revenge? His career is going great: he has a wonderful family, a beloved wife, and a couple of sons. But few people know that this family happened to experience great pain.

In the early 50s, Dmitry Fedorovich worked undercover in New York. During these years, his first child is born. But shortly after birth, the boy is near death. Only an urgent and expensive operation can save him. Polyakov turns to the leadership of the residency for help. But no money is sent, and the child dies.

“And you understand, here, it’s clear that under the influence of the waters of these negative emotions, the person himself decided:“ You are with me like that, there is no money for the operation, which means there is no one to save. What kind of native organization is this, the main intelligence department, which cannot give me any crumbs, and even more so knowing the budget of this monster. "Of course, the indignation had no limits," Igor Atamanenko believes.

It turns out that, wanting to avenge his son, Polyakov offers his services to the American intelligence services. But the child died in the early 50s, many years before the recruitment.

“Polyakov himself did not focus on this circumstance, and I think that it did not play a dominant role. Why? Because at the moment when he committed an act of betrayal at the age of 40, he already had two children, and probably he should have think about their future, about their fate, and probably, after all, this was not the dominant motive," says Oleg Khlobustov.

In addition, he cannot fail to understand the motives for the refusal of the GRU, which were far from ordinary greed. A well-known military observer - retired colonel Viktor Baranets - seriously studied the events of Polyakov's first trip to the United States, and drew his own conclusions.

“It so happened that at the very time when Polyakov’s son’s illness came to a peak, Polyakov led one very important operation. And it became necessary either to send him to the Soviet Union with his wife and child, and distract this work, or to allow him to treat son in the US," explains Baranets.

While the child is in serious condition, the Soviet intelligence department faces a dilemma: to operate on the baby in Moscow or in the States. Both threaten to disrupt the intelligence operation in which Polyakov participates. Most likely, the GRU calculated and prepared safe ways for him to save the child.

“And if you get treated in New York, it means that the father and mother will go to the New York polyclinic, which means that contacts are inevitable there, there may be a fake doctor. You understand, everything needs to be calculated here, and while Moscow put up these fine chess - time passed," says Viktor Baranets.

Unfortunately, the child dies. However, Polyakov, apparently, is well aware that this death is a tribute to his dangerous profession. There is another important fact: in the 50s, having learned about the death of a boy, the FBI pursues Polyakov, trying to recruit him. He is under close surveillance. He creates unbearable working conditions. Even the police issue huge fines for no reason.

"The first trip was indicative. The Americans tried to make a recruiting approach to him. That's why - it's very difficult to say, because recruiting approaches are made only to those who gave a reason for recruiting. This is such an iron rule. probably knew about the case with his son," says Nikolai Dolgopolov.

But then, in the 50s, Polyakov resolutely brushed aside recruitment attempts. He is forced to ask to be sent to his homeland, and in 1956 he leaves New York.

“Yes, his child died. Yes, someone didn’t give money for this. This is the official version, that is, it’s enough just to disappear from the boss’s desk or from the safe with just one paper, and the boss can be very far away. Or a car accident , or anything, but everything can be thought up if you so want to take revenge. But to take revenge on those people who didn’t do anything to you - these are clearly different reasons, "says Alexander Bondarenko.

around and around

However, there is another equally significant question in this story: who and when first went on the trail of the "mole"? How and with what help was Polyakov exposed? There are many versions of this. The well-known historian of the special services, Nikolai Dolgopolov, is sure that Leonid Shebarshin was the first to suspect Polyakov, he was the deputy resident of the KGB in India just when Dmitry Fedorovich worked there.

"Their meeting took place in India, and in 1974, if then Shebarshin's remarks had been paid attention, perhaps the arrest would have occurred not in 1987, but much earlier," says Nikolai Dolgopolov.

President of the Russian National Economic Security Service Leonid Shebarshin. Photo: ITAR-TASS

Shebarshin draws attention to the fact that in India Polyakov does much more than the position he occupies requires of him.

"A person of his profession, in fact, should be doing this - meeting with diplomats, and so on - but Colonel Polyakov had a lot of sources. There were a lot of meetings. Often these meetings lasted a very long time, and PSU foreign intelligence drew attention to this ", explains Dolgopolov.

But not only this alarms Shebarshin. He notices that Polyakov does not like his colleagues from foreign intelligence, and on occasion tries to expel them from India. It seems that they interfere with him in some way, while in public he is very friendly with them and loudly praises them.

"Another point that Shebarshin seemed rather strange (I'm not saying suspicious - strange) is that always and everywhere and with everyone, Polyakov, except for his subordinates, tried to be a close friend. He literally imposed his relationship, he sought to show that he is a kind and good person. Shebarshin could see that this was a game, "says Nikolai Dolgopolov.

Finally, Shebarshin decides to speak frankly about Polyakov with his superiors. However, his suspicions seem to stumble upon a cotton wall. They don’t even think of arguing with him, but no one gives a move to the matter.

“Yes, there were people in the structures of the GRU, they occupied small positions there, majors, lieutenant colonels, who more than once stumbled upon certain facts in Polyakov’s work that raised doubts. But again, this damned self-confidence of the leadership of the then Main Intelligence Directorate, it often , I emphasize this word - often, forced the then leadership of the GRU to dismiss these suspicions, "says Viktor Baranets.

Unexpected puncture

So far it is impossible to expose Polyakov. He acts like a high-class professional and does not make mistakes. Instantly destroys evidence. He has answers for all questions. And who knows, perhaps he would have come out unscathed if not for the mistakes made by his masters in the CIA. In the late 70s, a book by the head of counterintelligence James Angleton was published in America.

James Angleton

"He suspected every person who worked in his department. He did not believe that there are people like Polyakov who do it out of absolutely some of their convictions," says Nikolai Dolgopolov.

Angleton did not even consider it necessary to hide information about Polyakov, because he was sure that the agent "Bourbon" - as the agent was called in the CIA - was a setup for Soviet intelligence. Naturally, Angleton's literary opus is read to the holes in the GRU.

“He set up and, quite, I think, by accident, Polyakova, said that there is such an agent in the Soviet UN mission or there was such an agent, and there is another agent, that is, two agents at once. This, of course, could not but alert people who such things should be read on duty," explains Dolgopolov.

Was Angleton's book the last straw that overflowed the cup of patience, or rather trust? Or maybe the GRU got a few more pieces of evidence against Polyakov? Be that as it may, in the 80th year his prosperity ends. The traitor is urgently summoned from Delhi to Moscow, and here he is allegedly found to have heart disease, due to which foreign trips are contraindicated.

“It was necessary to somehow pull Polyakov out of Delhi. They created a commission. This did not surprise him, because all the time those who work abroad are checked quite regularly. And they also checked him and found out that his health was not good. Polyakov immediately suspected something was wrong, and in order to return back to India, he went through another commission, and this made people even more alert. He so wanted to return. And in fact, at this very moment, it was decided to part with him, "says Nikolai Dolgopolov.

Polyakov is unexpectedly transferred to the Pushkin Institute of Russian Literature. Its task is to look closely at the foreigners who study there. In fact, they simply decided to keep the spy away from state secrets.

"He is worn out, his nerves are strained to the limit. Every sneeze, whisper behind his back is already turning into the rattling of handcuffs. It already seems that they are rattling handcuffs. Well, then, when he was sent to the Russian Language Institute, well, everything became clear to him" - says Igor Atamanenko.

And yet, there is not a single convincing evidence against Polyakov. He continues to work in the GRU as the secretary of the party committee. Here, the retiree easily calculates illegal intelligence officers who have gone on long business trips. They are absent from party meetings and do not pay dues. Information about such people is immediately sent to the CIA. Polyakov is sure that this time, too, suspicions bypassed him. But he is wrong. The State Security Committee is forced to intervene in the matter.

“In the end, it turned out that the documents ended up on the desk of the head of the KGB at that time, and he set the matter in motion. Surveillance was established, all the counterintelligence departments of all departments worked together. Technicians worked. , as it seems to me, some caches were also discovered in Polyakov's country house, otherwise they would not have taken him so sure, "says Nikolai Dolgopolov.

"Spy, get out!"

In June 1986, Polyakov noticed a chipped tile in his kitchen. He understands that the house was searched. After a while, the phone rings in his apartment. Polyakov picks up the phone. The rector of the Military Diplomatic Academy personally invites him to speak to graduates - future intelligence officers. The traitor breathes a sigh of relief. Yes, they searched for hiding places in his apartment, but they did not find anything, otherwise he would not have been invited to the academy.

"Polyakov immediately began to call back and find out who else received an invitation. Because, you never know, or maybe they are going to tie him up under this pretext. When he called several of his colleagues, among whom were also participants in the Great Patriotic War , and established that yes, they were all invited to the celebration at the Military Diplomatic Academy, he calmed down," says Igor Atamanenko.

Detention of Dmitry Polyakov

But in the building of the military-diplomatic academy at the checkpoint, a capture group is waiting for him. Polyakov understands that this is the end.

"And then they immediately took me to Lefortovo, and then they immediately put me in front of the investigator. This is what is called in Alpha - it is called" shock therapy ". And when a person is in such shock, he begins to tell the truth, " - says Atamanenko.

So what pushed Polyakov to a monstrous, in its scope, betrayal? None of the versions sounded convincing enough. The general did not seek enrichment. Khrushchev was, by and large, indifferent to him. And he hardly blamed his colleagues for the death of his son.

"You know, having been analyzing the origins of betrayal, the root causes of betrayal for a long time, these starting psychological platforms that make a person go to the betrayal of the motherland, I came to the conclusion that there is one side of betrayal, which has not yet been studied either by journalists or by the scouts themselves, neither by psychologists, nor by doctors, and so on," says Viktor Baranets.

Viktor Baranets carefully studied the materials of the investigation into the Polyakov case. In addition, on the basis of personal observations, he managed to make an interesting discovery.

"It is the desire to betray, to have two faces, and even enjoy it. Today you are in the service of such a brave officer, a patriot. You walk among people, and they do not suspect that you are a traitor. And a person experiences the highest concentration of adrenaline in the mind, in the body in general. Betrayal is a whole complex of reasons, one of which serves as a small mental reactor that starts this vile complex of human deeds that makes a person betray, "Baranets believes.

Perhaps this version explains everything: the thirst for risk, and hatred of colleagues, and inflated conceit. However, even the most hardened Judas can be a faithful and devoted family man. Over the years of his espionage activities, the general was repeatedly offered to flee to America, but Polyakov invariably refused the invitation of Uncle Sam. Why? This is another unsolved mystery.

March 29, 1988 Moscow. The official visit of US President Ronald Reagan to the country, which he had previously called the "Evil Empire", went perfectly well. The Russians demonstrated their fabulous hospitality on a grand scale, and at the negotiations they were malleable, like plasticine. Only one moment darkened Reagan's mood when, after another round of negotiations at the highest level, Gorbachev asked to be left alone with the American president - for a conversation "off the record."

Collage © L!FE Photo: © RIA Novosti / Yuri Abramochkin

Mr. President, I will have to disappoint you,” Gorbachev sighed when they were alone, except, of course, for the interpreter. - I made inquiries about the person you asked me about ... I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do - this person is already dead, the sentence has been carried out.

Too bad, Reagan echoed. - My guys really asked for him. In a sense, he is also your Russian hero.

Perhaps, - Gorbachev threw up his hands, - but he was convicted in full accordance with the law.

And Gorbachev stood up, signaling that the conversation was over.

Who was this man, whose fate was taken care of by the leaders of the two world superpowers?

CIA Director James Woolsey called the man "the jewel in the crown" and the most useful agent recruited during the Cold War. We are talking about GRU General Dmitry Polyakov, who worked for the US CIA for more than 25 years, supplying Washington with the most valuable information about the political, economic and military plans of the Kremlin. He was the same "sleeper agent" who at one time was protected from counterintelligence by the KGB chief Yuri Andropov himself.

Career "serviceaholic"

Dmitry Fedorovich Polyakov was born on July 6, 1921 in the town of Starobelsk, which stands in the very center of the Luhansk region. His father worked as an accountant at a local enterprise, his mother was an employee.

In 1939, after graduating from high school, Polyakov went to study at the Kiev Command Artillery School. He met the Great Patriotic War already in the position of commander of an artillery platoon. In the most difficult battles near Yelnya he was wounded. For military exploits he was awarded two military orders - the Patriotic War and the Red Star, many medals. The archives preserved the award list of Captain Polyakov, the battery commander from the 76th separate artillery battalion, who then fought in Karelia: “Being at the turn of the Kestenga direction, he destroyed one anti-tank gun with the calculation of 4 people with the fire of his battery, suppressed three artillery batteries, dispersed and partially destroyed a group of enemy soldiers and officers with a total number of 60 people, thereby ensuring the exit of the 3OSB reconnaissance group without losses ... "

In 1943, Captain Polyakov himself transferred to artillery reconnaissance, then to military reconnaissance. After the war, he was sent to study at the intelligence department of the Frunze Military Academy, then he was transferred to work in the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the General Staff.

They immediately took Polyakov seriously and began to slowly teach all the secret tricks of the skill of the cloak and dagger - how to recruit the right person, how to lay a hiding place and get rid of surveillance, how to receive coded messages from the Center and prepare your own escape route.

In the service, Polyakov showed himself to be a real "service-holic" - he studied and worked from morning to night, even spent the night in office rooms. The authorities only shrugged their shoulders in surprise: how, with such a busy life schedule, Polyakov could marry the beautiful Nina and get two sons - Igor and Pavlik.

In 1951, the leaders of the GRU decided to send Polyakov - as the best of the best - on his first business trip to the United States. He went under the guise of an employee of the Soviet mission at the UN Military Staff Committee.

He served as a "roof officer" - this is how simple agents who ensured the activities of Soviet illegal agents were called in operational slang.

They were a kind of intelligence worker ants who blindly followed the orders of the GRU resident: in one place one container, disguised as an ordinary cobblestone, should be taken from the cache, and another "stone" should be put in its place, a prearranged signal should be fixed in another place, and left in the third car and quietly leave for half a day. The work, although simple, is dangerous: at that time, the era of "McCarthyism" had already begun in the United States, and every Soviet diplomat was literally under the hood of the FBI. Sometimes Polyakov had to spend days circling around the cache left by an unknown agent in order to confuse surveillance. And again, he proved himself the best agent - for five years of "watch" in New York, not a single failure!

Resident error

After working a five-year "watch" in New York, Polyakov returned to Moscow - for retraining and promotion. He returned to the United States in 1959 - already in the rank of colonel and as deputy resident of the GRU for illegal work in the United States.

And in the same year, a tragedy occurred in the Polyakov family, which crossed out his whole life. The eldest son Igor in the United States fell ill with the flu, which gave a complication - cerebral edema.

The boy could be saved, but this required putting him in an American clinic. And pay for treatment - Soviet intelligence officers and diplomats did not have American medical insurance at that time.

Polyakov rushed to the resident lieutenant general Boris Ivanov:

Boris Semenovich, help! Allow me to use the funds of the special fund to encourage agents. I'll give it all later, you know me, - asked Polyakov.

I can not! - cut off Ivanov, who served in the NKVD since the time of the Great Terror. - You know, I can allocate this money only by order from the Center!

So ask the Center! Please! - begged Polyakov.

Boris Semyonovich Ivanov and Ivan Alexandrovich Serov.Collage © L!FE Photo: © Wikipedia.org Creative Commons

General Ivanov made a request to the Center, but the head of the GRU, General of the Army Ivan Serov, imposed a resolution: "Refuse to misuse the funds of the special fund. If an operation is needed, let them take them to Moscow!"

While the boy was being prepared for the flight, the irreparable happened: Igor died.

The death of his son left a black burn in the soul of Colonel Polyakov. Moreover, the resident Ivanov soon left for Moscow - to be promoted. The authorities love well-trained performers.

And then Colonel Polyakov decided to take revenge. And to his bosses, and to the whole soulless system that doomed his child to death because of the rules of accountability.

Recruitment

On November 16, 1961, during a secular reception organized in the house of the head of the American military mission at the UN Military Staff Committee, General O'Neily, Colonel Polyakov himself turned to the owner of the house with a request:

Could you arrange for me to have a secret meeting - one on one - with any of the representatives of American intelligence?

What for? - General O'Neally looked into the eyes of a Soviet intelligence officer, about whom there were rumors in the American mission that he was the most inveterate Stalinist.

To transmit important military-political information, he snapped.

They will come to you in an hour,” the admiral replied. - Have some champagne.

CIA agent Sandy Grimes, who worked with Polyakov, recalls that he always emphasized that he himself volunteered to work for the Americans, and not for money, but purely for ideological reasons.

Of course, he received fees from us, but these were very meager amounts - about a tenth of the money that we usually paid agents of a much lower level. But Polyakov emphasized that he did not need money. I think he believed that the US was not strong enough to fight the Soviet system, that we would not have a chance if he did not participate on our side, Grimes recalled.

Collage © L!FE Photo: © Wikipedia.org Creative Commons, flickr Creative Commons

According to American estimates, for 25 years of work for the American special services, Polyakov received only 94 thousand dollars - though not counting expensive gifts and souvenirs. Being a passionate hunter, he adored expensive guns, which he managed to take out to Moscow by diplomatic mail, not paying any attention to the sidelong glances of his colleagues. Polyakov also liked to make furniture with his own hands, he often ordered American scouts to bring him either expensive American tools or bronze nails for upholstery of sofas. For his wife, he ordered jewelry, but not too expensive.

In the service of the FBI

But no matter how humanly understandable Polyakov’s motives, nevertheless, betrayal remains a betrayal, because the decision to go to the service of the enemy affected not only Polyakov himself and his family, but also colleagues, comrades and subordinates of the deputy resident who risked their lives for their country.

It was the lives of colleagues that the defector sacrificed. Of course, high political motives are good, his new masters reasoned, but it would be best to immediately bind a traitor defector with the blood of his colleagues.

And at the very first meeting, representatives of the FBI demanded that Polyakov name six surnames of the embassy cryptographers - this is the most important secret of any residency, which counterintelligence is constantly hunting for.

Polyakov called. Then the Americans set a date for a second meeting - at a hotel with the intriguing name The Trotsky.

At this meeting, at the request of the head of the Soviet department of the FBI, Bill Branigan, Polyakov dictated a text on a tape recorder with Soviet military intelligence officers known to him working in New York. Then he gave a subscription to agree to cooperate with the FBI.

Later, Bill Branigan recalled that at first the FBI, where Polyakov was given the nickname Tophat, that is, "hat-cylinder hat", did not really trust the Soviet "defector". The Americans believed that Polyakov deliberately portrayed himself as a traitor in order to reveal the existing scheme of work of counterintelligence units in the US intelligence services.

Therefore, the FBI agents who spoke with Polyakov demanded more and more secret information from him about American agents recruited by Soviet intelligence, expecting that sooner or later he would give himself away.

Polyakov's first victim was a highly valued GRU agent, David Dunlap, a staff sergeant at the National Security Agency (NSA). Feeling that he was being followed, Dunlap realized that he had been betrayed. And at the very moment when the capture team broke into his apartment, the sergeant committed suicide.

Following Polyakov handed over Frank Bossard, a high-ranking official of the British Air Ministry, whose information went to the very top. Bossard was recruited as early as 1951 while serving in the Scientific and Technical Intelligence Unit of the British intelligence service MI6. He worked in Bonn, where he interviewed scientists who fled from the GDR and the USSR. For a long time, Frank supplied Soviet intelligence officers with important information about the state of the British Air Force, transmitted drawings of the latest aircraft and plans for individual combat operations. As a result, Bossard was caught red-handed - while photographing secret documents. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison.

The traitor's third victim is Staff Sergeant Cornelius Drummond, the first black soldier to rise to the position of assistant chief of the secret part of the US Navy headquarters. He himself went to Soviet intelligence and for five years, in fact, handed over to the GRU all the more or less significant documents from the chief’s desk for free. According to American experts, Staff Sergeant Drummond caused such material damage that the United States had to spend several hundred million dollars to restore the necessary state of secrecy.

It is interesting that the leaders of the FBI deliberately arranged the arrest of Drummond for the arrival in the United States of the then Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrei Gromyko. One can only imagine how Gromyko felt when, after his speech at the UN General Assembly, he was bombarded with questions about the arrests of Soviet spies. As a result, Drummond was sentenced to life imprisonment without the right to appeal.

Polyakov also betrayed Air Force Sergeant Herbert Bockenhaupt, who worked in the secret part of the headquarters of the US Strategic Air Command and transmitted to the GRU all information about ciphers, codes, and cryptographic systems of the US Air Force. As a result, Bockenhaupt was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

The price of betrayal

Following Polyakov began to hand over Soviet intelligence officers. The FBI was the first to arrest agents Cornelius Dramont's liaison agents, GRU officers Yevgeny Prokhorov and Ivan Vyrodov. Despite the status of diplomats, the FBI beat the Soviet agents to a pulp and brought them to a secret prison. When the Americans saw that it was impossible to get anything from the GRU officers by torture and intimidation, they were thrown out half-dead near the Soviet embassy. On the same day they were declared "persona non grata" and given 48 hours to pack.

Polyakov also betrayed a married couple of illegal intelligence officers known as the Sokolovs, who had just gone through the difficult process of legalization. After that, the FBI even gained confidence in the traitor and did so in order to avert possible suspicions from Polyakov - literally on the eve of the arrest of illegal immigrants, FBI agents arrested a married couple - Ivan and Alexandra Yegorov, Soviet employees of the UN Secretariat, who did not have diplomatic immunity. The Yegorovs went through the interrogation conveyor without breaking down. Nevertheless, in the press, everything was presented exactly as if they were the ones who betrayed the illegal immigrants. As a result, the Yegorovs served several years in prison, their career was broken.

The fate of illegal Karl Tuomi, who was also extradited by Polyakov, turned out differently. Tuomi was the son of American communists who arrived in the Soviet Union in 1933 and became employees of the Foreign Department of the NKVD. Karl also became an employee of the USSR Ministry of State Security, and in 1957 he was transferred to help the GRU on a responsible assignment in the United States. He legalized in 1958 as Robert White, a successful Chicago businessman with an interest in the latest developments in aviation and electronics. In 1963, he was arrested on a tip from Polyakov and, threatened with the electric chair, agreed to become a "double agent." However, the GRU suspected something and summoned Tuomi to Moscow. But he categorically refused to return, leaving his wife and children in the Soviet Union.

Vital Miss Macy

But the biggest blow for the GRU was the betrayal of the legendary Soviet intelligence officer Macy - Maria Dobrova. She was born in 1907 in a working-class family in Petrograd, received a good education - in 1927 she graduated from a musical college in vocal and piano classes, as well as the Higher Foreign Language Courses at the Academy of Sciences. Soon she married a border guard officer Boris Dobrov, gave birth to a son, Dmitry. But in 1937, the well-established life seemed to have fallen into turmoil. First, my husband died - in battles with the Japanese in the Far East, where he was sent on a business trip. In the same year, his son Dmitry also died of diphtheria.

In order to somehow get away from grief, she went to the draft board and asked to volunteer for the civil war in Spain.

In battles with the Nazis, Franco Maria Dobrova spent more than a year, earning the Order of the Red Star. Returning, she entered the Leningrad University, where she found the Great Patriotic War and the blockade. And Maria got a job as a nurse in a hospital, where she worked until the very Victory. Then a sharp turn takes place in her fate: she goes to work at the USSR Foreign Ministry and, as a translator, leaves to work at the Soviet embassy in Colombia. Returning home after 4 years, she becomes a full-time employee of the GRU, or rather illegal military intelligence.

In the USA, she legalized herself as Miss Macy - or rather, as Glen Marrero Podzeski, the owner of her own beauty salon in New York.

Soon, her salon became a real "women's club" for ladies from the New York establishment and artistic bohemia. Wives of congressmen, generals, famous journalists and businessmen shared the secrets with her. Moreover, most often the information received by "Miss Macy" in women's conversations was more complete than all other data obtained through other channels. For example, "Miss Macy's" friend was Marilyn Monroe, who, as if by chance, spoke with President Kennedy about the limits of the concessions that the White House could make in the course of negotiations with Moscow. The very next day, a printout of this conversation lay on Nikita Khrushchev's desk.

Having received a tip from Polyakov, American counterintelligence established surveillance of the beauty salon, but Maria Dobrova somehow sensed the danger. Having warned the residency, she decided to hide from the country. And she would have succeeded, but the route of her evacuation was made by Colonel Polyakov himself.

In Chicago, where she stayed in one of the respectable hotels, FBI agents tried to detain her.

When an uninvited "maid" knocked on her room, she understood everything.

Wait, I'm not ready yet, - Maria answered calmly, stepping back to the window. Below were cars with flashing lights and armed agents, all exits from the hotel were blocked.

Open immediately, this is the FBI, - the door cracked from the powerful blows of the battering ram. - Quickly open!

But no sooner had the door collapsed than Maria threw herself down from the window.

Many years later, the KGB officers who interrogated General Polyakov asked if he felt sorry for Maria Dobrova and other illegal immigrants devoted to them, whom he ruined their lives. Polyakov pulled his head in as if from a blow, and then calmly said:

This was our work. Can I have another cup of coffee?

With a stone in the bosom

In 1962, Colonel Polyakov was recalled to Moscow and appointed to a new position in the central apparatus of the GRU of the General Staff. And the FBI agents handed him over to American intelligence officers from the CIA, who assigned the colonel a new operational pseudonym - Bourbon.

Also, CIA agents gave him a special spy microcamera and taught him how to use his special containers for transferring microfilm.

The first laying of the cache took place in October 1962 - on the instructions of the Americans, Polyakov, right in his office, re-shot the secret telephone directory of the General Staff. He put the film in an iron container, which he covered on all sides with orange plasticine, and then rolled it in brick chips - as a result, he got an ordinary piece of brick, completely indistinguishable from thousands of others. He laid the container under a bench in the conditional place of the Gorky Central Park of Culture and Leisure - as it turned out, in a very crowded place, but, apparently, the Americans simply did not know about the existence of other parks in Moscow.

Having laid the hiding place, he - literally in front of the police squad - left a symbol on the pole - an ink stain, as if accidentally splashed out of a broken fountain pen.

Central Park of Culture and Leisure named after M. Gorky. Photo: © RIA Novosti / L. Bergoltsev

The Americans asked to leave the next hiding place in an old telephone booth near the house on Lesteva Street - directly opposite the hostel for cadets of the Higher School of the KGB. F. E. Dzerzhinsky. It was here that the cadets ran to call home, but the American agent did not know this - there was no sign on the building.

Calling agents to a meeting, he announced that from now on he himself would develop a plan for laying caches and prearranged signals for the CIA. Moreover, he himself will manage his espionage work, determining the schedule of his activity. And most importantly - no more personal meetings! Communication only through hiding places and the New York Times, which Polyakov read in his official duties. If Polyakov himself wanted to send a message to the Americans, he would write an article in the magazine "Hunting and hunting economy", of which he was a regular contributor.

The Americans agreed to the new rules of the game - just the day before, GRU Colonel Oleg Penkovsky, who also worked for the CIA, was arrested in Moscow. As it turned out later, Penkovsky was accidentally handed over by the Americans themselves, who held secret meetings with him once a week in the most crowded places.

Polyakov took into account all the mistakes of Penkovsky, and this allowed him to remain beyond suspicion for a long time - especially when purges began in the GRU and the search for Penkovsky's accomplices began. Counterintelligence then literally filtered hundreds of personal files of officers under a microscope, but the GRU could not even imagine that the traitor himself would coordinate the search for the "mole".

Nixon's personal agent

But even the most thorough instructions of Polyakov could not protect him from the initiative of the Americans. Wanting to help Bourbon, they published an article in American newspapers about the beginning of the trial of the Yegorovs, in which the name of Polyakov was also mentioned - they say, some traitor betrayed him. After this article, Polyakov was removed from the American line and transferred to the GRU, which was engaged in intelligence in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Not wanting to incur even more suspicion, he announced to the CIA handlers that he was going into "sleep" mode.

Soon Polyakov passed all the checks and even went for a promotion - he was sent to the Soviet Embassy in Burma as a GRU resident. After working in this country for 4 years, he moves to a department related to illegal intelligence in China. During all this time, he only once violated the "sleep" mode, when he handed over to the CIA a report on the contradictions in relations between the USSR and the PRC, just on the eve of President Nixon's visit to Beijing, which became a brilliant diplomatic success for the Americans and a turning point in the Cold War.

After that, the attitude of the CIA towards Bourbon changed in the most radical way: from a source of secret information, Polyakov turned into a figure of influence and a particularly valuable agent. And the Americans began to help him make a career. So, when Polyakov served as a GRU resident in India, American curators began to let him down to recruit Americans. For example, one of the first recruits was Sergeant Robert Martsinovsky from the American attache's office. Following, in the interests of the cause, the CIA "donated" several more military men - later they were all sentenced to death for espionage in favor of the USSR.

Thanks to the help of the Americans, Polyakov soon gained fame as almost the most successful intelligence officer in the entire GRU system. His career grew by leaps and bounds - he soon received the rank of major general, a new position - in the Military Diplomatic Academy, while remaining in the elite personnel reserve of the GRU.

The Americans also appreciated it. For example, Bourbon was given an experimental model of a pulse radio transmitter - this device, a little larger than a matchbox, made it possible to transmit a packet of encrypted information to a special receiver in a second. Having received this device, Polyakov simply began to ride a trolley bus past the American embassy, ​​"shooting" information at the right moment. He was not afraid of the direction finding of the radio technical service of the KGB - how to guess where exactly the agent was "shooting" from?

Camera "MINOX". Wikipedia.org Creative Commons

Polyakov was so convinced of his safety that he even began to use confiscated spy equipment from the GRU warehouses. For example, when the Minox camera sent from the USA suddenly broke down, Polyakov simply took exactly the same camera from the GRU archive and calmly re-photographed the documents. But soon the American masters showed that such work was not enough for them.

Under the hood

The year 1979 began with the Islamic Revolution in Iran, when power in the country passed to Islamic fanatics - the Revolutionary Council, headed by Ayatollah Khomeini. Diplomatic relations between the United States and Iran were terminated, the countries were actively preparing for war. And US President Jimmy Carter ordered the CIA to use all Soviet agents to find out details about the relationship between Moscow and Tehran.

Demonstration in Iran during the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Wikipedia.org Creative Commons

But just at that moment, Polyakov was preparing for a new foreign trip to India. He considered an urgent contact with the CIA resident a suicidal risk. Therefore, the signal about the meeting was ignored.

It was then that the Americans used the whip, wanting to teach a lesson about who really is the boss here. One of the American magazines published a chapter from John Barron's forthcoming book "KGB", dedicated to Carl Twomey. In the entire text, the name of Polyakov was not mentioned even once, although everyone knew that it was Polyakov who was Tuomi's immediate superior. But the magazine publication was illustrated with a photograph that could not possibly have been in the United States - a photograph from Tuomi's personal file in military uniform. That is, the authors seemed to be hinting that someone in Moscow stole this photo from a secret file and handed it over to the Americans.

But the Americans overdid it. The publication was also noticed in Moscow. Soon, after going through all the candidates, the Chekists came to the conclusion that the only one who could inform the Americans about the agent Tuomi was General Polyakov.

But Polyakov politely stopped her - apparently, he was not sure that the Americans, who had actually betrayed him, really wanted to save his life, and not organize a high-profile murder, in which, of course, the KGB would be blamed.

Thank you, but I will never go to the United States, - Polyakov sighed. - I was born in Russia and I want to die in Russia, even if it is an unmarked mass grave.

However, at that time, Polyakov escaped with only a slight fright - Andropov forbade him to touch without clear evidence of guilt.

If you now start planting generals without evidence, then who will work ?! he said.

In addition, Andropov was already preparing for the upcoming battle for the throne and did not want to quarrel with the army clans ahead of time.

As a result, Polyakov was simply dismissed, having read out the order of dismissal from the service. Say, a new, younger candidate for the resident position has been prepared.

Arrest and execution

The Iranian crisis ended badly for Jimmy Carter, and soon the new US President Ronald Reagan ordered the intelligence officers to forget about Iran and return to the fight against "world communism" represented by the USSR. And Polyakov was "woken up" again, although he, being a pensioner, could no longer hand over secret documents. But the White House appreciated his political reviews.

It is difficult to say how much more Polyakov would have worked for the Americans, but in the spring of 1985, Aldrich Hazen Ames himself, the former head of the Soviet department of the CIA’s foreign counterintelligence department, was recruited by one of the leaders of the Soviet residency in Washington. Ames, who gave out huge sums to encourage Soviet defectors, also wanted to swim in money, have a luxurious house and a Jaguar sports car. And then he decided to get money in Moscow, offering the KGB to buy a list of 25 names of "sleeping" agents in the leadership of the Soviet special services. And the first number on the list was General Polyakov.

Polyakov was arrested on July 7, 1986, the day after the celebration of his 65th birthday. When Polyakov was celebrating his anniversary in a restaurant, an unofficial search took place at his house - in a dozen hiding places, operatives found American spy equipment, microfilms, CIA service instructions.

After the end of the banquet, they tied him up - and so carefully that the Americans simply did not know what happened to him for several years. Agent Bourbon seemed to have disappeared into the Moscow hustle and bustle, cutting off all contacts behind him.

Only after negotiations with Gorbachev did it become known that the Military Collegium of the USSR Supreme Court in February 1987 sentenced Polyakov to death by firing squad. On March 15, 1987, the sentence was carried out.

The place of burial of his body is unknown.

This "mole" for his twenty-five years of treacherous activity for foreign intelligence gave the FBI and the CIA over one and a half thousand GRU agents. It is believed that the death of a three-month-old son prompted General Polyakov to cooperate with Western intelligence services - the Main Intelligence Directorate “squeezed” $ 400 for an operation on a child, and this was a big blow for Dmitry Fedorovich.

Was a scout since the war

The beginning of the career of the future traitor was quite successful - D.F. Polyakov studied at the artillery school after school, fought from the first day of the Great Patriotic War. He fought, judging by the orders of the Patriotic War and the Red Star, with dignity. He was demobilized as a major, the last place of service was the military branch of the army headquarters. In 1942 Polyakov joined the party.
After the war, D. F. Polyakov studied at the Frunze Academy, on the courses of the General Staff, after which he was sent to serve in the GRU.

Why a promising specialist went for it

Until the 1960s, an officer of the Main Intelligence Directorate worked in America in the representation of the Soviet Union in the Military Staff Committee of the United Nations. Polyakov's three-month-old son fell ill and needed an emergency operation that cost $400. Not having such an amount, Dmitry Fedorovich wanted to borrow it from the GRU resident I. A. Sklyarov. But he, having contacted the Center, received a refusal "from above". The boy died as a result.
Historians of the special services believe that the ardent Stalinist Polyakov long wanted to annoy the Khrushchev regime, which debunked the cult of the “father of nations,” and the death of his son only catalyzed the process of betrayal.

Who and to whom did he hand over

It is believed that D. F. Polyakov took his first step towards betrayal in November 1961, when he approached an FBI officer with a proposal for cooperation. The intelligence officer by that time was the deputy resident of the GRU for illegal work in America. First, Polyakov handed over to US internal intelligence several cipher clerks who worked undercover in Soviet missions in America.
For the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the GRU “mole” worked under the operational pseudonym “Tophat” (translated from English as “cylinder”). Two weeks after the first contact with the FBI, a second, more “productive” one took place - Polyakov surrendered almost 50 of his colleagues and KGB agents who were operating in America at that time. Subsequently, the traitor "leaked" to the American intelligence service information about illegal agents of Soviet intelligence, suggested which of them could be recruited. He handed over classified documents, which were later used as training aids by the FBI.
Less than a year after starting work for the FBI, D. F. Polyakov began to cooperate with the CIA.

Double Bourbon

Under such an operational pseudonym, Polyakov worked for the CIA from the beginning of June 1962. Meanwhile, his career in the GRU grew rapidly. "Mole" oversaw the intelligence apparatus of the special services in New York and Washington. While in Moscow, Polyakov passed secret documents and valuable information through hiding places. Thus, he facilitated the transfer to the West of the telephone directories of the military General Staff and his own organization.
When one of the American newspapers, in a publication telling about the trial of those who had been extradited by Polyakov, mentioned him himself, the GRU officer was no longer allowed into America. In the future, the "mole" was engaged in the organization and control of residency in the Afro-Asian direction, in the 70s he worked in India, taught at the Military Diplomatic Academy.

How he was exposed

After retiring in 1980, Polyakov continued to work in the personnel department of the GRU as a civilian and for another 6 years he did not stop regularly supplying the CIA with secret information, to which he now had access.
It was already possible to open it with the help of one of the American "moles" from the CIA, recruited by Soviet intelligence. In July 1986, Polyakov was arrested, tried and sentenced to capital punishment. In the early spring of 1988, the "mole" was shot. It was said that in May of the same year, Reagan himself asked Gorbachev for Polyakov. But the President of the United States was two months late.
It is estimated that in the quarter of a century of his betrayal, Polyakov handed over to Western intelligence a total of over 20 boxes of secret documents and handed over more than 1,600 agents of the Soviet special services.