As you know, information rules the world. That is why the "profession" of a spy is no less ancient than another well-known occupation. But in this environment, not everything is always decided by money. Sometimes secret agents put their lives on the line for high ideas. In this compilation of the 10 most mysterious spies in history.

Richard Sorge

The Soviet intelligence officer of German origin, under the guise of a journalist, carried out secret missions for Soviet intelligence for many years. He spent the last ten years of his life in Japan, a loyal ally of Nazi Germany. There he created a high-class intelligence network, which allowed him to transfer unique secret information to the Soviets. In particular, long before the war, the notorious “Plan Barbarossa”, to which Moscow did not react in any way. In 1941, Richard warned Headquarters that Japan was not going to attack the USSR until the end of 1942. This made it possible for the Soviet government to transfer several fresh divisions from Far East to the front near Moscow. It was these events that largely predetermined the outcome of the entire war. In 1944, Sorge was declassified by the Japanese and hanged after much torture.

Chevalier d'Eon or Charles de Beaumont


Perhaps one of the most mysterious personalities in history. No one still knows what gender the chevalier was. Rumor has it that, having been born a girl, d'Eon was dressed as a boy from childhood in order to receive an inheritance on the maternal side. Becoming an agent of the secret intelligence network of Louis XV, he carried out secret missions in Russia and England. While in London under the guise of a French creditor, d'Eon aroused considerable interest among the highest circles of the English aristocracy. On the London Stock Exchange, they even made bets on what gender d'Eon belongs to. After the death of the king, Charles put an end to espionage activities. Declaring to everyone that he was still a woman, he went to rest.

Olga Chekhova


The famous actress and relative of the famous Russian writer has long been suspected of collaborating with the USSR, although no official data on this matter has been preserved. Hitler's "muse", a close friend of Goebbels and Mussolini - she was an ideal ally for Soviet intelligence. There is an assumption that it was she who was entrusted with the assassination of Hitler. Subsequently, Stalin personally abandoned this idea, considering the Fuhrer too predictable. What could have happened after his death? Olga Chekhova herself denied any connection with the Soviet Union until the end of her life.

Robert Hanssen


Robert Hannsen has never been an adventurer. As a child, he dreamed of becoming a dentist. On the slippery path of espionage, he was pushed by one thing - the lust for profit. Working as an FBI officer in the main department in New York, in the midst of cold war Robert regularly "sold" useful information USSR. In general, he handed over about 6,000 secret documents. And he was incredibly careful. No one knew the double agent by sight. Packages with "information" and money were always in different secluded places. Even his wife didn't know anything about his secret life. After the collapse of the USSR, Hanssen continued to cooperate with Russia. In 2001, he was declassified and sentenced to life in prison.

Mata Hari


Margaret Gertrud Zelle was the wife of a respectable husband in Holland. After divorcing him, she moved to Paris and took the pseudonym Mata Hari, which means "sun" or "eye of dawn." She made a living by performing exotic dances. In her lovers, she had the most senior people: politicians, military, officials. Having access to secret documents, Margareta began to sell them the right people. Many agree that she was not a secret agent at all, but simply a desperate adventurer, thirsty for profit. For this she paid with her life.

Klaus Fuchs


Klaus Fuchs was renowned nuclear physicist, in his youth, carried away by socialism. After the Nazis came to power, he moved to England, continuing to engage in scientific activities. In the midst of the "nuclear race" between the West and the USSR, the scientist absolutely disinterestedly gave the Soviet residents all the information available to him about the development of the atomic bomb. Eventually Soviet Union thanks to the secret information received, he developed a new weapon not in 10 years, as expected, but in just three years. The exposed scientist was sentenced to 14 years in prison. After 9 years in prison, Klaus Fuchs was released from prison and sent to the GDR.

Sydney Reilly


This man is deservedly called the "king of espionage". It is also known that he is the prototype of the legendary James Bond. Born in Odessa, Solomon Rosenblum, his real name, left his homeland at the age of 19, sailing aboard an English ship to South America. Subsequently, it turned out that the crew of the ship, under the guise of geological exploration, was performing a secret mission M6. Soon, agent Sydney Reilly, recruited by British intelligence, went to the USSR to spoil the life of the Bolsheviks, which he did very well. He even prepared an assassination attempt on Lenin. But all luck comes to an end. In 1925, Sidney Reilly was caught by NKVD agents and shot.

Kim Philby


Kim Philby was born into the family of an English officer. But unlike his father, the boy had no sympathy for British imperialism. Communism is the future of humanity. While studying at Cambridge, Philby was recruited by Soviet intelligence. Later, he became an agent of the British Army Intelligence and headed the anti-communism department. Of course, throughout his service, he leaked invaluable information to the Soviets. When things started to smell fried, the USSR secretly sent their best agent to Moscow. This was the end of Philby's espionage activities. Being in the heart of world communism, which he had dreamed of for so long, Philby became bored, and he slowly began to drink.

Aldrich Ames


Another virtuoso double agent. But unlike Philby, this man was driven to exploits not by an idea, but by money. Collaborating with the USSR, the head of foreign counterintelligence of the CIA, Aldrich Ames, earned about $ 4,000,000. Thanks to his work, the intelligence network of the United States and many European countries was almost completely destroyed. Aldrich was the one hard nut. When all suspicions of betrayal fell on him, he "cheated" the lie detector several times. However, the CIA still managed to collect evidence of his guilt and put Aldrich Ames in prison for life imprisonment.

Ian Fleming


The famous English writer and "father" of James Bond worked for a long time in the secret service of the Royal Navy. But risk your life to Fleming in real life was not to my liking. But in the fictional world, he became a virtuoso spy.

Unfortunately, espionage is indispensable: diplomacy is diplomacy, but every government wants to know. They write novels and films about spies (think of Mr. Bond!), but often the truth about them is more interesting than any fiction.
So, the top 10 most famous spies in history!
1

One of the best Soviet spies in Japan, who gained great fame in spy circles, a Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously). By the way, Sorge is an exception to one important rule, which says that a scout must have an inconspicuous appearance: as a result of injuries received in the First World War (where, by the way, he fought as part of the German troops), he limped noticeably and did not have three fingers . After leaving the army, Richard was imbued with the ideas of Marxism, was recruited by the Soviet Union and began traveling around Europe, introducing himself as a journalist. In fact, he collected information about possible communist uprisings. He came to Japan in 1933 and collected secret information for the USSR, which was then interested in whether Japan was preparing an attack. Sorge was arrested in Tokyo, in the house of his beloved woman. Even under torture, he did not confess to espionage, and the USSR did not exchange him for captured Japanese, since they denied that Richard Sorge was working for him (the government denied this fact for a long time, until 1964). The Soviet spy was executed.

2

Yes, yes, and he too! In his famous diary, the famous lover confesses to working for the Venetian Inquisition. In 1792, he was expelled from Venice for slandering the urban aristocracy, after which he left for Bohemia and became ... a librarian.

3

Why isn't she number 1? Because in fact there is no evidence of her achievements in espionage and, quite possibly, the reality was greatly embellished. And yet: Margatera Gertrude Zelge (this is the real name of the spy) began her career with exotic dances (however, exoticism consisted only in the maximum frankness of her stage costumes). She was then allegedly recruited German intelligence, and when the French guessed this, Mata Hari herself came to the French secret services and said that she agreed to spy for them (France still denies this). They pretended to agree, and then they arrested this woman double agent and sentenced to death. It is interesting that her body was transferred to the anatomical theater, her head was embalmed and preserved in the Paris Museum of Anatomy, and then completely disappeared to no one knows where ... Which looks strange: a museum exhibit after all.

4

We are talking about a group of Soviet spies who spied in the UK in the early 50s. Very little is known about them: most likely, their purpose was to misinform the Nazis about the plans of the Soviet Union. In fact, it is not even known how many people were actually part of the "Cambridge Five". The most valuable agent of them all was Guy Burgess, secretary to the British Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs!

5

Another female spy! Isabella Maria Boyd during civil war in the US she spied for the Confederacy. She was arrested twice, but both times failed to prove Belli's guilt. After the war, she traveled all over the states, telling stories about espionage. She died of typhus at the age of 56.

6

American communists who passed nuclear secrets to the USSR. A married couple with two children, they even spied somehow purely in a family way: Ethel's brother told her about US nuclear developments, and gave her husband a cross-sectional drawing nuclear bomb. The Rosenbergs were executed in the electric chair.

7

In the years american war for independence - the captain of the continental army (and before that - school teacher). He was caught and hanged by the British. The 21-year-old boy said before his execution: "I'm sorry that I can only give one life for my Fatherland."

8

Another spy from the American Revolutionary War. A young, handsome, brilliant orator, this officer was a member of the best houses in New York and Philadelphia, including the house of Benjamin Franklin. He was captured in civilian clothes with a plan of an enemy fortress in his boot and sentenced to death by hanging.

9

Very interesting personality! German theoretical physicist who fled Germany to England after the establishment of the Nazi regime and worked on the creation of the atomic bomb - first in the UK, then in the USA. All this time, Klaus "leaked" information to the KGB about the development of uranium, and for ideological reasons - he believed that the USSR had the right to know about the enemy's developments. After serving 9 years, he left for Germany, where he happily lived to old age.

10

Many people remember this scandalous story of the espionage of the former head of counterintelligence of the CIA for the USSR, because the trial of Ames took place relatively recently: in 1994. With the help of the information transmitted by him, the KGB uncovered about 100 CIA agents (and executed 10 of them). But then the American intelligence services compared 2 facts: the loss of "assets" and the fabulous expenses of Ames - cars, jewelry, a house for 500 thousand dollars ... Now he is serving a life sentence in Pennsylvania.
Here they are, spies - heroes for one country, traitors for another ...

Is it possible? Well, why not, on the other hand? The image of Stirlitz, although literary, has prototypes in reality. Who among those interested in that era has not heard of the “red chapel” - the Soviet intelligence network in the highest structures of the Third Reich? And if so, then why not be similar to the Nazi agents in the USSR?
The fact that during the war there were no high-profile revelations of enemy spies does not mean that they did not exist. They really couldn't be found. Well, even if someone had been discovered, they would hardly have made a big deal out of this. Before the war, when there was no real danger, espionage cases were fabricated from scratch to settle scores with objectionable people. But when a disaster struck that was not expected, then any exposure of enemy agents, especially high-ranking ones, could lead to panic in the population and the army. How is it so, in the General Staff or somewhere else at the top - treason? Because then, after the execution of the command Western Front and the 4th Army in the first month of the war, Stalin no longer resorted to such repressions, and this case was not particularly advertised.
But this is a theory. Is there any reason to believe that Nazi intelligence agents really had access to Soviet strategic secrets during the Great Patriotic War?

Agent network "Max"

Yes, there are such reasons. At the very end of the war, the head of the Abwehr department "Foreign armies - East", General Reinhard Gehlen, surrendered to the Americans. Subsequently, he headed the intelligence of Germany. In the 1970s, some documents from his archive were made public in the West.
The English historian David Ken spoke about Fritz Kauders, who coordinated the Max network of agents in the USSR, created by the Abwehr at the end of 1939. The famous general of state security Pavel Sudoplatov also mentions this network. Who was a part of it is unknown to this day. After the war, when the chief of Kauders changed owners, the Max agents began to work for US intelligence.
It is better known about the former employee of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, Minishkiy (sometimes called Mishinsky). It is mentioned in several books of Western historians.

Someone Minishky

In October 1941, Minishkiy served as a political worker in the troops of the Soviet Western Front. There he was captured by the Germans (or defected) and immediately agreed to work for them, indicating that he had access to valuable information. In June 1942, the Germans smuggled him across the front lines, staging his escape from captivity. At the very first Soviet headquarters, he was greeted almost like a hero, after which Minishkiy established contact with the Abwehr agents previously sent here and began to transfer important information to Germany.
The most important is his report on the military conference in Moscow on July 13, 1942, which discussed the strategy of the Soviet troops in the summer campaign. The meeting was attended by the military attaches of the United States, Britain and China. It was stated there that the Red Army was going to retreat to the Volga and the Caucasus, to defend Stalingrad, Novorossiysk and the passes of the Greater Caucasus at any cost, and to organize offensive operations in the regions of Kalinin, Orel and Voronezh. Based on this report, Gehlen prepared a report to the Chief of the German General Staff, General Halder, who then noted the accuracy of the information received.
There are several absurdities in this story. All those who escaped from German captivity were under suspicion and subjected to a lengthy check by the SMERSH authorities. Especially the political workers. If the political worker was not shot by the Germans in captivity, this automatically made him a spy in the eyes of the inspectors. Further, Marshal Shaposhnikov, mentioned in the report, who allegedly attended that meeting, at that time was no longer the chief of the Soviet General Staff.
Further information about Minishki says that in October 1942 the Germans organized his return crossing through the front line. Until the end of the war, he was engaged in the analysis of information in the department of General Gehlen. After the war, he taught at a German intelligence school, and in the 1960s he moved to the United States and received American citizenship.

Unknown agent in the General Staff

At least twice the Abwehr received reports from an unknown agent in the General Staff of the USSR about Soviet military plans. On November 4, 1942, the agent reported that by November 15, the Soviet command planned to launch a series of offensive operations. Further, the areas of offensives were named, which almost exactly coincided with those where the Red Army launched offensives in the winter of 1942/43. The agent made a mistake only in the exact place of strikes near Stalingrad. According to historian Boris Sokolov, this can be explained not by Soviet disinformation, but by the fact that at that moment the final plan for the operation near Stalingrad had not yet been determined. The original date of the offensive was really planned for November 12 or 13, but then was postponed until November 19-20.
In the spring of 1944, the Abwehr received a new report from this agent. According to him, the Soviet General Staff considered two options for action in the summer of 1944. According to one of them, Soviet troops plan to deliver the main blows in the Baltic and Volhynia. In another way, the main target is the German troops of the Center group in Belarus. Again, it is likely that both of these options have been discussed. But in the end, Stalin chose the second one - to strike the main blow in Belarus. Hitler decided that it was more likely that his opponent would choose the first option. Be that as it may, the agent's report that the Red Army would launch an offensive only after the successful landing of the allies in Normandy turned out to be accurate.

Who is under suspicion?

According to the same Sokolov, a secret agent should be sought among those Soviet military men who, in the late 1940s, while working in the Soviet military administration in Germany (SVAG), fled to the West. In the early 1950s in Germany, under the pseudonym "Dmitry Kalinov", a book by an allegedly Soviet colonel entitled "Soviet marshals have the floor" was published, based, as stated in the preface, on documents from the Soviet General Staff. However, it has now been clarified that the true authors of the book were Grigory Besedovsky, a Soviet diplomat, an émigré defector who fled the USSR back in 1929, and Kirill Pomerantsev, a poet and journalist, the son of a white émigré.
In October 1947, Lieutenant Colonel Grigory Tokaev (Tokaty), an Ossetian who was collecting information about the Nazi missile program in the SVAG, learned about his recall to Moscow and the impending arrest by the SMERSH authorities. Tokayev moved to West Berlin and asked for political asylum. Later he worked in various high-tech projects in the West, in particular - in the NASA Apollo program.
During the war years, Tokayev taught at the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy and worked on Soviet secret projects. Nothing says anything about his knowledge of the military plans of the General Staff. It is possible that the real agent of the Abwehr continued after 1945 to work in the Soviet General Staff for new, overseas masters.

Encyclopedia of delusions. Third Reich Likhacheva Larisa Borisovna

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Thoughts aloud of a SMERSH worker

John Lancaster alone, mostly at night.

He clicked his nose - an infrared lens was hidden in it,

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Vladimir Vysotsky

There is an opinion that in Nazi Germany they prepared perhaps the most invulnerable spies in the world. Say, with the notorious German pedantry, they could take care of all, even the seemingly most insignificant little things. After all, according to the old spy saying, it is on them that the best agents always “burn”.

In reality, the situation on the invisible German-Allied front developed somewhat differently. Sometimes the Nazi "knights of the cloak and dagger" were ruined by their scrupulousness. A similar story in the book "Spy Hunter" is given by the famous English counterintelligence officer, Colonel O. Pinto. At the beginning of World War II, British counterintelligence had a lot of work: refugees from European countries conquered by the Reich flocked to the country in an endless stream. It is clear that under their view of the land of foggy Albion, German agents and collaborators recruited in the occupied territories strove to penetrate. O. Pinto had a chance to deal with one such Belgian collaborator - Alfons Timmermans. By itself, Timmermans did not arouse suspicion in anyone: a former sailor merchant fleet in order to be in safe England, he went through a lot of difficulties and dangers. In his simple belongings, too, there was nothing from the espionage arsenal. However, the attention of Colonel O. Pinto was attracted by 3 completely harmless, at first glance, things. However, we will give the word to the counterintelligence officer himself: “The one who instructed him before the trip to England took into account every little thing and thereby betrayed the newcomer to the British counterintelligence. He supplied Timmermans with three things necessary for "invisible" writing: pyramidon powder, which dissolves in a mixture of water and alcohol, orange sticks - a writing medium - and cotton wool for wrapping the tips of the sticks, in order to avoid treacherous scratches on paper. The trouble with Timmermans was that he could buy all these things at any pharmacy in England and no one would ever ask him why he was doing it. Now, because his mentor was too scrupulous person. he had to answer some questions for me ... Timmermans - the victim of German scrupulousness - was hanged in Vandeworth prison ... "

Very often, German pedantry turned out to be fatal for agents who had to work under the guise of US Army soldiers. Perfectly owning the "great and mighty" English language, fascist intelligence officers turned out to be completely unprepared for American slang. So, quite a few carefully conspiratorial and legendary spies came across on the fact that at army gas stations, instead of the typical jargon “ges”, they used literary title gasoline - "petrol". Naturally, no one expected to hear such a clever word from a simple American soldier.

But the possible troubles of the German spies did not end there. As it turned out, the Yankee soldiers even military ranks renamed it differently. The sabotage group, supervised by the most venerable German spy - Otto Skorzeny, was convinced of this on their own sad experience. The Scarred Man's subordinates arrived on captured American self-propelled guns at the location of the 7th armored division near the Belgian city of Potto. The commander of a group of spies bravely jumped out of the car and introduced himself, according to the charter, introducing himself as a company commander. It could not have occurred to him that in the US Army such a name for a military rank has long become an anachronism, and various slang abbreviations are used instead. The Yankee soldiers immediately recognized the forgery and shot their pseudo-colleagues on the spot, led by their "company" ...

It was even more difficult for pedantic German agents to work in the USSR. Let's take an example. Nazi Germany was preparing a group of spies to be sent to Soviet territory. All scouts were thoroughly trained and were fluent in Russian. Moreover, they were even introduced to the peculiarities of the Soviet mentality and the mysterious Russian soul. However, the mission of these almost ideal agents failed miserably at the first check of documents. The treacherous trifle, "with the head" betraying the fighters of the invisible front, turned out to be ... passports! No, the “red-skinned passports” themselves, made by the best German counterfeiters, did not differ in any way from the real ones and were even worn and battered accordingly. The only thing in which the "pro-fascist" documents differed from their original Soviet counterparts was the metal staples with which they were sewn together. The diligent and punctual Germans made fake "ksivs" in good conscience, as for themselves. Therefore, the pages of the passport were fastened with staples made of high-quality stainless wire, while in the Soviet Union they could not even conceive of such a wasteful and inappropriate use of stainless steel - the most common iron was used for the main document of every citizen of the USSR. Naturally, over the long years of operation, such a wire oxidized, leaving characteristic red marks on the pages of the passport. It is not surprising that the valiant SMERSH became very interested, finding among the usual "rusty" passports little books with clean, shiny stainless steel clips. According to unverified data, only at the beginning of the war, Soviet counterintelligence managed to identify and neutralize more than 150 such spies - "staplers". Truly, there are no trifles in intelligence. Even if it is intelligence of the Third Reich.

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Mistakes of scouts There are times when an experienced agent loses a briefcase with secret papers in the subway, taxi or train. No scout is immune from such cases, no matter how well prepared he may be. The "inexplicable" and "sudden" attack of absent-mindedness can be explained

Spies ... Such mysterious, brave and desperate personalities that appeared in the history of any country from its very first pages. Heroes for one state and traitors for another. Becoming a spy, a person lost absolutely everything - from a reliable roof over his head to his pets. An incredibly dangerous job that required simply incredible courage and many honed skills. They worked in the name of their Cause, in the name of their Faith, knowing that they could give themselves away at any moment, and realizing that even the smallest mistake could lead to their death. The most interesting person in all of history. We present you the top 10 most famous spies in the world!

Emil Julius Klaus Fuchs has been a member of the German Communist Party since the early thirties. The theoretical physicist worked for a long time on the atomic bomb, was engaged in the development of models of the hydrogen bomb. When the Nazis came to power, he fled to England and began working there for the Soviet Union. He transmitted data on the production of uranium in the United States, the creation of a hydrogen bomb. Fuchs' activities in the USSR helped to significantly shorten the period of creation of the atomic bomb. I would like to note that Klaus Fuchs worked for ideological reasons, and not for remuneration. He was convicted for transferring military secrets to 14 years, of which he served 9, returned to Germany, was awarded the highest award of the GDR - the Order of Karl Marx, and lived there until the end of his days.

American beauty Isabella Maria Boyd became a spy during her country's civil war in the 19th century, siding with the Confederacy. The girl's career in the field of espionage began quite abruptly and unusually: a group of drunken soldiers of the North broke into her house, intending to plant a US flag on the roof. At the same time, they began to insult Isabella's mother, which the girl did not tolerate, and, grabbing her personal pistol, shot the impudent one. She had just turned seventeen that year. During the investigation, Belli was acquitted, however, she was placed under observation. Isabella was able to learn very important information about the forces of the enemy by charming the military army of the enemy. Many years later, she recalled: "From this young man I received several ardent confessions, dried flowers and an incredible amount of important information." The girl told the secrets she heard to high ranks with the help of her maid, Eliza Hopewell. One evening in 1862, Isabella Boyd overheard a plan to weaken the military influence of the Northern Army at a place called Front Royal. That same evening, Belli told the Confederate army general about it. And on May 23 of the same year, the young spy witnessed the Battle of Front Royal, and was able to personally warn the soldiers of the South about the intentions of the enemies - the destruction of crossings over the Shenandoah River. However, trying to convey these news in time, the girl came under fire, and was awarded the Cross of Honor. Boyd was arrested on July 29, 1862. The reason for the arrest was the betrayal of one of Isabella's lovers. Soon, the girl was released, having spent only a month in prison. A little later, she was arrested again, however, she was just as quickly released. Isabella Boyd died of typhus at the age of fifty-six.

The boy was born in a family of scientists in 1922, after the death of his father he was sent to relatives in the United States. After living abroad for several years, Konon returned to Moscow and graduated here high school. From the first days he participated in the Great Patriotic war, was awarded several medals and orders. After the army, he graduated from the Faculty of Law of the Academy foreign trade and then stayed to teach there Chinese. He served in foreign intelligence from the middle of the twentieth century. He worked in Canada (where he received documents with a "new" name), in the USA, Great Britain. Molodoy's task was to collect materials on the development of bacteriological weapons and nuclear reactors. While Konon Trofimovich lived in England, he became a successful businessman, his bank account reached a million, goods invented at his enterprises receive gold medals at international exhibitions, he travels a lot and makes the necessary acquaintances. Lonsdale (namely, that's what Molodoy was now called) for many years has been transmitting to the USSR a lot of necessary and important secret information that saves our country billions of dollars. After the failure, the court failed to prove Lonsdale's involvement in Soviet intelligence.

One of the most famous and talented spies. His biography is filled with bright and dangerous events, because it was thanks to him that the famous James Bond appeared! Many facts of Reilly's biography are known only from his words, however, this is often found in people of this profession. Rosenblum (his real name) was born in Odessa, in late XIX century left his home and went to America, and then to Europe. There he took a new name and surname and began working for British intelligence. At the turn of the two centuries, he appears in St. Petersburg and is engaged in espionage activities. Here he lives in a "big way" - he is engaged in antiques, financial scams, starts dizzying novels, etc. But his main goal is the fight against the Bolsheviks. Throughout the country, he is trying to create a spy network, organizes conspiracies against the Bolsheviks, tried to bribe the personal guards of V.I. Lenin with the aim of kidnapping him, to seize the State Bank, telegraph and other state institutions. In general, Reilly's plans were grandiose. It was he who helped A. Kerensky escape from the country. Operation Trust was last thing where Reilly participated. Reilly was arrested in 1925, and so that no help from England could be announced his death on the border. Reilly was shot in November of that year.

The Rosenberg couple were American communists. The ideas of communism fascinated them at an early age. Ethel was already considered "politically unreliable", and Julius in 1936 was the leader of the Communist Youth League. In the early forties, Julius began working for Soviet intelligence, then he recruited his wife and her brother David, who worked at a nuclear center. David transmitted information through the Soviet intelligence liaison G. Gold, because he had access to top-secret documents, and specifically, to documents containing information about atomic bomb. Surprisingly, David managed to hold out in this classified facility for a long time. In the 50th year, after the failure of the Soviet intelligence network, many agents were arrested, including David Greenglass, and he already betrayed his sister and her husband. Unlike all arrested agents, the Rosenbergs completely refused to admit their guilt. But the Rosenbergs were found guilty and executed in the electric chair. Although experts say that the documents that Greenglass handed over to the Rosenbergs were not particularly valuable and dangerous, there are still doubts about the guilt of this married couple.

"Mata Hari" is the pseudonym of Margaret Gertrud Zelle, who was an exotic dancer and courtesan originally from Holland. Margaret adopted a pseudonym in 1905, after she divorced her husband and decided to start a career as an exotic dancer. "Mata Hari" meant "sun", or "eye of dawn". Zelle often agreed to pose in very revealing outfits, or even completely naked. And, despite this, the girl positioned herself as the princess of the whole island - Java, which, in principle, due to the obvious lack of telecommunications, was quite feasible and got away with it. Later, having joined the secular society, she completely becomes a courtesan. Being in touch with many high-ranking at that time military, politicians and other influential persons who were representatives different countries. This position made Mata Hari just the perfect person to collect secret information. This is what she took advantage of. During the First World War, the Netherlands, which remained neutral, became for Margaret a convenient “guide” and a place for unhindered border crossing. When interrogated by the British secret services, Mata Hari admitted her spying for France, however, and at present France continues to categorically deny their cooperation. Margaret Zelle was arrested on February 13, 1917, after French intelligence intercepted a German signal that contained the encoded name of the scammer, which they deciphered in favor of Mata Hari. The spy was shot on the fifteenth of September of the same year, when she was forty-one years old.

This man came to intelligence in 1962, but did not achieve success in the first years of his service. Over time, Ames was transferred to the department in charge of operations in the USSR. Soon he became the head of the Soviet department of the CIA's foreign counterintelligence department. Around the same period, O. Ames began to have problems in his personal life (a difficult divorce process), serious problems with alcohol and mindless huge spending. Accordingly, financial problems soon began. The search for a solution to the problem led Aldrich to the Soviet embassy in Washington, where he offered his services for good pay. He had full access to information about agents working on the territory of the Soviet Union in the KGB and Soviet army. The information that Ames provided was indeed invaluable, with his help all the CIA employees were identified, and some were even executed. The "labor" of this man was highly paid, and this immediately affected his well-being. And when the CIA finally noticed how quickly they were "losing their people" and began an internal investigation, Aldrich immediately became the main suspect. For Soviet foreign intelligence, Ames was an invaluable shot, because he almost completely "bled" the intelligence network not only of the United States, but also of some European countries. By the way, Ames received a lot of money from the USSR, more than four million dollars. In 1994, Aldrich Ames was sentenced to life imprisonment, which he is serving to this day.

Harold Adrian Russell Philby was born in India in 1912. He grew up in a wealthy family and continued the old English family. While still very young, he received from his parents the “prophetic” nickname Kim in honor of the spy boy from the work of R. Kipling. Philby brilliantly graduated from high school and went to college, where he became interested in Marxism, which was fashionable in those days. In 1934 Philby was invited to work for the intelligence of the country of the Soviets, and the young man's goal was to get into the army intelligence of Britain (SIS). And soon this goal was achieved. Thanks to Kim's service in the SIS, the USSR was finally aware of all its operations. The information Philby obtained was invaluable. Even the CIA themselves later admitted that all the efforts of Western intelligence during the years of Philby's work were useless, it would probably be better if these intelligence did nothing at all. Kim built brilliant career, he even headed the department "to combat communism"! When there is a threat of failure, he is secretly smuggled into our country. In the USSR, Kim was awarded several orders, received the rank of general, sometimes he was attracted to advise the special services. He died in 1988.

This man is one of the best scouts who worked in Japan. After being seriously wounded while serving on the German-Belgian front, he retired from the army and fled to the USSR. In the Soviet Union, he was recruited as a spy. He "became a journalist" and worked in various European countries. And from 1933 he was sent to Japan to create an agent network. Sorge conveyed important information about the plans of Germany and Japan, is the USSR in danger from these countries? During the time spent in Japan, Sorge learned the language, was well versed in the nuances of the country's politics, economy, and culture. He created a well-concealed organization in Japan (more than thirty people worked under his leadership). Sorge transmitted information about the preparation of fascist aggression, he knew and reported to Moscow about the "Plan Barbarossa" (not yet approved). But this important information was ignored. During the period of work, Sorge demonstrated his unsurpassed mastery of conspiracy. He worked with his organization for almost eight years, the circumstances of the failure of his group have not yet been clarified. Despite the terrible torture, Richard Sorge did not admit that he was working for the USSR. He was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously), although for a long time our country denied Sorge's participation in intelligence operations.

His true name is William Genrikhovich Fisher, his parents are Russian revolutionaries who were expelled from Russia back in 1901. In 1920, the Fishers returned, but they did not renounce their English citizenship. In the army, William became an excellent radio operator, later he gets into intelligence, where his knowledge and skills were appreciated. After 4 years, he and his family go to England on a special business trip, where they install many secret radio stations. He then worked in France and Belgium. During the war years, he trained radio operators for reconnaissance groups and partisan detachments who worked in the territories occupied by Germany. In the same years, he met Rudolf Abel, whose data he would use later. After the end of the war, Abel was sent to the United States to obtain information about atomic research. He was arrested on a tip from a defector radio operator, but William did not agree to cooperate with the American intelligence services and completely denied his connection with Soviet intelligence. He was sentenced to 32 years in prison, but five years later the USSR exchanged him for an American pilot. Returning to the Soviet Union, Fischer again began his service in intelligence and taught young people. Bright life V.Fischer, became the basis of the book "Shield and Sword" and the film "Dead Season".