Dmitry Polyakov: how a war hero became the most valuable agent of the CIA. In the interests of national security, Dmitry Polyakov is the main traitor in the

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

Traitor in general's shoulder straps

The retired general is arrested by members of Alpha, one of the best security forces in the world. The detention takes place in accordance with 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 intelligence historian Oleg Khlobustov explains why.

"Severe detention, because they knew that he might be supplied, say, with poison for self-destruction at the moment of arrest, if he chose to choose such a position. He was immediately changed, things were already prepared in advance to confiscate, 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 didn't think so. There has never been a traitor of this magnitude in the USSR. Material damage caused by Polyakov over the years of espionage activities amounts to billions of dollars. None of the traitors reached such heights in the GRU, and no one worked for so long. For half a century, the veteran of the Great Patriotic War waged a secret war against his own people, and this war was not without human losses.

"He issued fifteen hundred, note this figure, the GRU officers, and foreign intelligence too. This figure is huge, with what to compare it, I do not know," says the historian of the special services Nikolai Dolgopolov.

Polyakov understands that he will be shot for such crimes. However, being arrested, he does not panic, and actively cooperates with the investigation. The traitor probably expects his life to be spared to play a double game with the CIA. But the scouts decide otherwise.

“We had no guarantees that when the big game began, somewhere between the lines, Polyakov would put an extra tier. This would be a signal to the Americans:“ Guys, I'm caught, I'm giving you misinformation, don't believe her, ”says the military Victor Baranets.

Rotten Initiative

The court sentences Polyakov to capital punishment, deprives him of his epaulettes and orders. On March 15, 1988, the sentence is carried out. Case closed forever but remains main question: Why did Polyakov trample his name in the mud and crossed out his whole life?

One thing is clear: he was rather indifferent to money. The traitor received about 90 thousand dollars from the CIA. If you divide them by 25 years, you don't get much.

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

October 30, 1961, New York. The telephone rings in Colonel Feyha's office. 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 evening, Feyhee calls the FBI. Instead of the military, the federals will come to a meeting with Polyakov, and that will be fine with him.

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

At first, the FBI members do not believe Polyakov, they suspect him as a double agent. But an experienced intelligence officer knows how to convince them. At the very first meeting, he gives out the names of the encryptors working in the Soviet embassy. These are the people through whom all secrets pass.

"They already had suspicions about a number of persons who may be exactly ransomware. Here is a check for you, he will call these names or bluff. But he gave the true names, everything coincided, everything came together," says Igor Atamanenko, a veteran of the KGB counterintelligence ...

After the issuance of the ransomware, there are no more doubts. The FBI agents understand that they have an "initiator" in front of them. This is how intelligence refers to people who volunteer to cooperate. Polyakov received the pseudonym Top Hat, that is - "Cylinder". Later, the feds will hand him over to their colleagues at the CIA.

“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 away the most valuable thing in military intelligence and foreign intelligence service. The Americans then understood: yes , to give out the ransomware - there is no turning back ", - Nikolay Dolgopolov explains.

Beyond the Foul

Having crossed the line, Polyakov feels a pleasant chill from danger, from the fact that he walks along 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 brink of risk and the more dangerous, the more interesting my work became." Lieutenant Colonel of the KGB - Igor Atamanenko has written dozens of books about intelligence. He studied the Polyakov case thoroughly, and this motive seems to him quite convincing.

“When he was working, his first business trip, he was a bureaucrat, he was not a scout. He risked the most when he dragged chestnuts out of the fire for the central intelligence agency. what is now called ", - says Atamanenko.

Indeed, in New York Polyakov works under the cover of the Soviet embassy. Nothing threatens him, unlike the illegal immigrants, whom he supervises, and who, in case of failure, will lose everything. But really Polyakov really does not have 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 conference room of the XX Congress of the CPSU in the Kremlin. First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Nikita Khrushchev speaking. Photo: ITAR-TASS

"This happened when agents are being rescued, when illegal employees are being rescued, so there is every risk in intelligence, and to think that he had an official job, when he had to work with intelligence officers, in intelligence - this no longer holds up to criticism," says Alexander Bondarenko.

Polyakov does exactly the opposite. He hands over to the FBI illegal immigrants unknown to him. For a whole hour Polyakov calls the names Soviet intelligence officers trying to convince him of his sincerity, he drops the phrase: "I have not been promoted for more than six years." So maybe this is the 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 was only a general, while others were already there, or why I was only a colonel, and others were already here, and there was this envy ", - Nikolay Dolgopolov considers.

Homecoming"

Six months after recruiting, Polyakov's term in the United States ends. American counterintelligence offers him to continue working in the USSR and he agrees. On June 9, 1962, a recruited GRU colonel returns to Moscow. But at home he is seized with panic, he flinches at every sound, 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 did not behave correctly, I got into such a compromising situation, but no less, here I am, I declare that there was a recruiting approach, that there was an attempt to recruit me, "to the extent 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 Macy has committed suicide. 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 handed her over, too, and then the FBI, the Americans told me that it means that she chose to commit suicide, "maybe in order to make such a hairpin, and vice versa, tie it directly with blood, the blood of a devoted intelligence officer, "says Oleg Khlobustov.

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

In addition, Polyakov arranges hiding places in which he leaves microfilms with secret documents re-shot on them. Park of Culture named after Gorky - one of the hiding places, called "Art", was located here. Sitting down supposedly to rest, the spy, with an imperceptible movement, hid a container disguised as a brick behind a 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 he puts his hand on the bench, and the Americans get a report," says Nikolai Dolgopolov.

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

The encrypted message says the following: "Letter from Art received." The spy exhales in relief. And yet, in the name of what all this risk, all these efforts?

Khrushchev is to blame for everything

"The version is that Polyakov was an ardent" Stalinist ", and after the well-known persecution of Stalin began, when Khrushchev, whose hands are not exactly elbows, but bloodshed after the Ukrainian shootings, he decided you know, to wash off the image of Stalin, and it was supposedly such a powerful psychological blow to Polyakov's political worldviews, "says Viktor Baranets.

When Polyakov called the enemy's 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 an assembly line."

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

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

But few people realize that this is a bluff. Fuel was 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 historical sciences Natalia Egorova runs the center for the study 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.

"That, 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 all sorts of words of indignation," Natalia Egorova approves.

According to some reports, during this speech, Polyakov is 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 secretary general. Perhaps it was then that the future spy was imbued with contempt by Khrushchev.

But Nikita Sergeevich will be dismissed in a few years, and the activity of the record-holder-mole will not stop there. And 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 little known fact his biography, and talks 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 said.

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

Peter Ivashutin

"Sorry, he fought against specific people. He is still a well-trained, educated person who understands that the system, by and large, is not cold, not hot. He handed over specific people," Bondarenko says.

Continuing to spy for the CIA, Polyakov is trying to get him 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 didn’t like Polyakov right away, he said:“ Sits, looks at the floor, doesn’t look into his eyes. ”Intuitively, he felt that the person was not very good, and he transferred him from the sphere of agent strategic intelligence, translated 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.

“To Pyotr Ivanovich Ivashutin, Polyakov once brought, from India, two colonial English soldiers carved from rare wood. Beautiful figures,” says Poroskov.

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

“When Pyotr Ivanovich was somewhere on a long business trip, or on vacation, there was an order to transfer him, again, back. resident to India ", - explains Nikolay Poroskov.

Double game

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

"How? He has a security certificate - 1419 days at the front. Wounds, combat 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.

For Polyakov to receive the rank of general, the CIA had to spend a little money. In the criminal case, there are expensive gifts given to him by 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 talked to him, because promotions and so on depended on him. But the most famous gift that was discovered was a silver service. Soviet times it was God knows what. Well, he gave him a gun, because he himself was fond of hunting, and Izotov seemed to be fond of ", - says Nikolai Poroskov.

The general's rank 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, a member 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. tests are underway - in short, I have passed on a set of classified information, "says Igor Atamanenko.

Polyakov reshoots the photographs sent by Bossard and forwards them to the CIA. The agent is immediately identified. Bossard receives 20 years in prison. But Polyakov does not stop there. He pulls out a list of military technologies that are being mined in the course of intelligence efforts in the West.

"In the late 70s and 80s, a ban was imposed on the sale of Russia, The Soviet Union, all kinds of military technologies, any. And even some small parts that fell under this technology, they were blocked by the Americans and were not sold. Polyakov said that there are five thousand directions that help the Soviet Union buy this secret technology from countries through dummies, through third states. This was indeed the case, and the Americans immediately cut off the oxygen, "says Nikolai Dolgopolov.

Death of a son

What is Polyakov trying to achieve? To whom and for what is he taking revenge? His career is going well: he has a wonderful family, a beloved wife, and a couple of sons. But few people know that this family experienced 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 dying. 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 is clear that under the influence of the waters of these negative emotions, the person himself decided:" You are with me like this, there is no money for the operation, so there is no one to save. What kind of native organization, 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 limit," says Igor Atamanenko.

It turns out, wishing to avenge his son, Polyakov offers his services to the American special 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 motive was not dominant, "says Oleg Khlobustov.

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

"So the situation was that it was at the time when Polyakov's son's illness was at its peak, Polyakov was in charge of 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 his son in the United States, "explains Baranets.

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

“And if you are treated in New York, then the father and mother will go to the New York polyclinic, which means that contacts are inevitable there, there may be a fake doctor. fine chess - time passed, "says Viktor Baranets.

Unfortunately, the child is dying. However, Polyakov, apparently, perfectly understands that this death is a tribute to his dangerous profession. There is another important fact: in the 50s, upon learning of the boy's death, the FBI pursues Polyakov, trying to recruit him. He is under close surveillance. Unbearable working conditions are created for him. Even the police write gigantic fines for no reason.

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

But then, in the 50s, Polyakov decisively rejects recruitment attempts. He is forced to ask to be sent home, and in 1956 leaves New York.

"Yes, his child died. Yes, someone did not give money for this. This is the official version, that is, it is enough just to disappear from the boss's desk or from the safe with just one piece of paper, and the boss can be very far away. Or a car accident , or whatever, but you can think of anything if you want to take revenge so much. But to take revenge on those people who did nothing to you - these are obviously other reasons, "- says Alexander Bondarenko.

Around the bush

However, there is another no less important question in this story: who and when first came out on the trail of the "mole"? How and with the help of what did you manage to expose Polyakov? There are many versions on this score. 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 was working there.

"Their meeting took place in India, and in 1974, if they paid attention to Shebarshin's remarks, 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 is doing much more than the position he occupies requires of him.

"A man of his profession, in fact, should be engaged in this - to meet with diplomats, and so on, but there were a lot of sources from Colonel Polyakov. There were a lot of meetings. Often these meetings lasted a very long time, and the external intelligence of PSU drew attention to this ", - explains Dolgopolov.

But this is not the only thing that worries Shebarshin. He notes that Polyakov dislikes his foreign intelligence colleagues, and on occasion tries to expel them from India. One gets the impression that they are hindering him in some way, while in public he is very friendly with them and loudly praises them.

"Another point that Shebarshin found rather strange (I am 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 tried to show that he is kind and good man... Shebarshin could see that this was a game, "says Nikolai Dolgopolov.

Finally, Shebarshin decides to talk frankly about Polyakov with his leadership. However, his suspicions seem to bump into a cotton wall. They do not even think to argue with him, but no one gives a course to the matter.

“Yes, there were people in the GRU structures, they held small positions there, major, lieutenant colonel, who more than once came across certain facts in Polyakov's work that raised doubts. But again, this damned self-confidence of the leadership of the then Chief intelligence agency, she often, I will emphasize this word - often forced the then leadership of the GRU to sweep aside these suspicions, "says Viktor Baranets.

Unexpected puncture

It is still impossible to expose Polyakov. He acts like a high-class professional and does not make mistakes. Destroys evidence instantly. He has ready-made answers to all questions. And who knows, perhaps he would have gotten away with it if it hadn't been for the mistakes made by his masters in the CIA. At the end of the 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 this 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 in the CIA was called - was a setup for Soviet intelligence. Naturally, Angleton's literary opus is read to the holes in the GRU.

“He set up and, completely, I think, by chance, Polyakov, 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. 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? Maybe the GRU received some more 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 diagnosed with heart disease, because of which foreign travel is contraindicated.

“We had to somehow get Polyakov out of Delhi. A commission was created. This did not surprise him, because all the time those who work abroad are checked quite regularly. something was wrong, and in order to return back to India, he passed another commission, and this made people even more alarmed. He wanted to return so much. And in fact, at this very moment, it was decided to part with him, "says Nikolai Dolgopolov.

Polyakov was unexpectedly transferred to the Pushkin Institute of Russian Literature. His 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's worn out, his nerves are strained to the limit. Every sneeze, a whisper behind his back already turns into the clatter of handcuffs. It already seems that they are clattering handcuffs. Well, then, when he was sent to the Institute of the Russian Language, well, then everything became clear to him." , - says Igor Atamanenko.

And, nevertheless, against Polyakov there is not a single convincing evidence... He continues to work in the GRU as a secretary of the party committee. Here the retiree easily calculates illegal intelligence officers who have left 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 of the time, and he set the stage for the case. Surveillance was established, all counterintelligence services of all departments worked together. Technicians worked. It seems to me that some hiding places in Polyakov's country house were also discovered, otherwise they would not have taken it so confidently, "says Nikolai Dolgopolov.

"Spy, get out!"

In June 1986, Polyakov notices a chipped tile in his kitchen. He understands that the house was searched. After a while, a phone call 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 exhales in relief. Yes, they were looking 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 had received an invitation. Patriotic War, and found 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 right there they were taken to Lefortovo, and right there they were put in front of the investigator. This is what is called in“ Alpha ”- it is called“ shock therapy. ”And when a person is in such a shock, he begins to tell the truth. - says Atamanenko.

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

"You know, for a long time analyzing the origins of betrayal, the root causes of betrayal, these psychological starting points that force a person to betray their homeland, I came to the conclusion that betrayal has one side that has not yet been studied by journalists or by the scouts themselves, neither psychologists, nor 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 precisely the desire to betray, to have two faces, and to enjoy even this. 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 his mind, Betrayal is a whole complex of reasons, one of which serves as a kind of small spiritual reactor, which starts this vile complex of human deeds, which makes a person betray, "Baranets believes.

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

Dmitry Fedorovich Polyakov was born in 1921 in the family of an accountant in Ukraine. In September 1939, after graduating from school, he entered the Kiev Artillery School, and as a platoon commander entered the Great Patriotic War. He fought on the Western and Karelian fronts, was a battery commander, and in 1943 he was appointed an artillery reconnaissance officer. During the war years, he was awarded the Orders of the Patriotic War and the Red Star, as well as many medals. After the end of the war, Polyakov graduated from the intelligence department of the Academy. Frunze, courses General Staff and was sent to work in the GRU.

In the early 1950s, Polyakov was sent to New York under the guise of an employee of the Soviet UN mission. His task was to provide agents for the GRU illegal immigrants. Polyakov's work on the first business trip was recognized as successful, and in the late 1950s he was again sent to the United States as a deputy resident under the guise of a Soviet officer of the UN military staff committee.

In November 1961, Polyakov, on his own initiative, contacted the FBI counterintelligence agents, who gave him the pseudonym "Tophat". The Americans believed that the reason for his betrayal was his disillusionment with the Soviet regime. CIA officer Paul Dillon, who was Polyakov's cameraman in Delhi, says the following about this:

"I think the motivation for his actions is rooted in the Second World War. He compared the horrors, the carnage, the cause for which he fought, with the duplicity and corruption that, in his opinion, was growing in Moscow."

Polyakov's former colleagues do not completely deny this version either, although they insist that his "ideological and political degeneration" took place "against the backdrop of painful pride." For example, the former first deputy chief of the GRU, Colonel-General A.G. Pavlov says:

"At the trial, Polyakov announced his political degeneration, about a hostile attitude towards our country, and he did not hide his personal gain."

During the investigation, Polyakov himself said the following about himself:

“At the heart of my betrayal lay both my desire to openly express my views and doubts somewhere, and the qualities of my character - a constant desire to work beyond risk. And the more danger became, the more interesting my life became ... I used to walk on the edge of a knife and could not imagine another life. "

Best of the day

However, it would be wrong to say that this decision was easy for him. After his arrest, he said the following words:

“Almost from the very beginning of cooperation with the CIA, I understood that I had made a fatal mistake, a grave crime. with my wife, children, grandchildren, and the fear of shame, stopped me, and I continued the criminal relationship, or silence, in order to somehow postpone the hour of reckoning. "

All of his operators noted that he received a little money, no more than $ 3,000 a year, which was given to him mainly in the form of Black & Decker electromechanical tools, a pair of overalls, fishing tackle and guns. (The fact is that in his free time Polyakov loved to do carpentry, and also collected expensive guns.) Besides, unlike most others Soviet officers recruited by the FBI and the CIA, Polyakov did not smoke, almost did not drink and did not cheat on his wife. So the amount he received from the Americans for 24 years of work can be called small: according to a rough estimate of the investigation, it amounted to about 94 thousand rubles at the 1985 exchange rate.

One way or another, but since November 1961, Polyakov began to transmit to the Americans information about the activities and agents of the GRU in the United States and other Western countries. And he began to do this already from the second meeting with the FBI agents. Here it is worth reiterating the protocol of his interrogation:

“This meeting was again mainly devoted to the question of why I nevertheless decided to cooperate with them, as well as whether I was setting up. intelligence in New York. I did not hesitate to list all the people I know who worked under the cover of the USSR Representation. "

It is believed that at the very beginning of his work for the FBI, Polyakov betrayed D. Dunlap, a staff sergeant at the NSA, and F. Bossard, an employee of the British Air Department. However, this is unlikely. Dunlap, recruited in 1960, was led by a cameraman from the GRU's Washington station, and his connection to Soviet intelligence was uncovered by accident when his garage was searched after he committed suicide in July 1963. As for Bossard, in fact, the FBI intelligence department misled MI5 by attributing the findings to Tophat. This was done in order to protect another source from among the GRU officers in New York, who had the pseudonym "Niknek".

But it was Polyakov who betrayed the illegal GRU in the United States, Captain Maria Dobrova. Dobrova, who fought in Spain as a translator, after returning to Moscow began to work in the GRU, and after appropriate training was sent to the United States. In America, she operated under the cover of the owner of a beauty salon, which was attended by representatives of high-ranking military, political and business circles. After Polyakov betrayed Dobrov, the FBI tried to convert her, but she chose to commit suicide.

In total, during his work for the Americans, Polyakov gave them 19 illegal Soviet intelligence agents, more than 150 agents from among foreign citizens, revealed that about 1,500 active intelligence officers were affiliated with the GRU and KGB.

In the summer of 1962, Polyakov returned to Moscow, supplied with instructions, conditions of communication, a schedule for conducting secret operations (one per quarter). Places for hiding places were selected mainly along the route of his route to service and back: in the areas of Bolshaya Ordynka and Bolshaya Polyanka, near the Dobryninskaya metro station and at the Ploshchad Vosstaniya trolleybus stop. Most likely, it was this circumstance, as well as the lack of personal contacts with CIA representatives in Moscow, that helped Polyakov avoid failure after another CIA agent, Colonel O. Penkovsky, was arrested in October 1962.

In 1966, Polyakov was sent to Burma as the head of the radio interception center in Rangoon. Upon returning 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. At this time, the amount of information transmitted by Polyakov to the CIA increased dramatically. He gave out the names of four American officers recruited by the GRU, handed over photographic films of documents testifying to the deep divergence of positions between China and the USSR. Thanks to these documents, CIA analysts concluded that the Soviet-Chinese disagreements were of a long-term nature. These findings were used by US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and helped him and Nixon mend relations with China in 1972.

In light of this, it seems at least naive to assert L.V. Shebarshin, then the deputy resident of the KGB in Delhi, that during Polyakov's work in India the KGB had certain suspicions about him. “Polyakov showed his complete sympathy for the Chekists,” Shebarshin writes. “But it was known from his military friends that he did not miss the slightest opportunity to set them up against the KGB and secretly pursued those who were friends with our comrades. avoid miscalculations. But, as often happens in our case, it took more years for the suspicions to be confirmed. " Most likely, behind this statement is the desire to show off his own perspicacity and the unwillingness to recognize the unsatisfactory work in this case. military counterintelligence KGB.

It should be said that Polyakov took very seriously the idea that the GRU leadership formed an opinion of him as a thoughtful, promising employee. To do this, the CIA regularly provided him with some classified materials, and also framed two Americans whom he introduced as recruited by him. With the same goal, Polyakov strove to ensure that his two sons received higher education and have a prestigious profession. He gave his employees in the GRU many trinkets, such as lighters and ballpoint pens, making up the impression of himself as a pleasant person and a good comrade. One of Polyakov's patrons was the head of the GRU personnel department, Lieutenant General Sergei Izotov, who had worked in the apparatus of the Central Committee of the CPSU for 15 years before this appointment. In the case of Polyakov, there are expensive gifts made by him to Izotov. And for the rank of general, Polyakov presented Izotov with a silver service, bought specifically for this purpose by the CIA.

Polyakov received the rank of Major General in 1974. This provided him with access to materials that went beyond his direct responsibilities. For example, to the list of military technologies that were purchased or produced by intelligence in the West. Richard Pearl, US Assistant Secretary of Defense under President Reagan, confessed that he was breathless when he learned of the existence of 5,000 Soviet programs that used Western technology to build military capabilities. The list provided by Polyakov helped Pearl persuade President Reagan to tighten control over the sale of military technology.

Polyakov's work as a CIA agent was distinguished by audacity and fantastic luck. In Moscow, he stole from the GRU warehouse a special self-illuminating film "Mikrat 93 Shield", which he used to photograph secret documents. To transmit information, he stole fake hollow stones, which he left in certain places where they were picked up by CIA operatives. To give a signal about laying a cache, Polyakov, driving on public transport past the US Embassy in Moscow, activated a miniature transmitter hidden in his pocket. While abroad, Polyakov preferred to pass information from hand to hand. After 1970, the CIA, in an effort to fully ensure the safety of Polyakov, provided him with a specially designed portable pulse transmitter, with which it was possible to print information, then encrypt and transmit to a receiving device at the American embassy in 2.6 seconds. Polyakov conducted such broadcasts from different places in Moscow: from the Inguri cafe, the Vanda store, Krasnopresnenskie baths, the Central Tourist House, from Tchaikovsky Street, etc.

By the late 1970s, CIA officials, they said, already treated Polyakov more like a teacher than an agent and informant. They left to him the choice of the place and time of meetings and the laying of caches. However, they had no other choice, since Polyakov did not forgive them for mistakes. So, in 1972, the Americans, without Polyakov's consent, invited him to formal reception to the US Embassy in Moscow, which effectively put him at risk of failure. The GRU leadership gave permission, and Polyakov had to go there. During the reception, he was secretly given a note, which he destroyed without reading. Moreover, for a long time he cut off all contacts with the CIA until he was convinced that he had not come under suspicion of the KGB counterintelligence.

In the late 70s, Polyakov was again sent to India as a resident of the GRU. He remained there until June 1980, when he was recalled to Moscow. However, this early return was not associated with possible suspicions against him. Just another medical commission forbade him to work in countries with hot climates. However, the Americans got worried and offered Polyakov to leave for the United States. But he refused. According to a CIA officer in Delhi, in response to a desire to come to America in case of danger, where he is expected with open arms, Polyakov replied: "Do not wait for me. I will never come to the United States. I am not doing this for you. I am doing this. for my country. I was born Russian and I will die Russian. " And when asked what awaits him in case of exposure, he replied: "Mass grave."

Polyakov looked into the water. His fantastic luck and career as a CIA agent came to an end in 1985, when Aldrich Ames, a career CIA officer, came to the KGB station in Washington and offered his services. Among the KGB and GRU officers named by Ames who worked for the CIA was Polyakov.

Polyakov was arrested at the end of 1986. During a search carried out at his apartment, at his dacha and at his mother's house, material evidence of his espionage activities was found. Among them: sheets of a secret copy, made by the typographic method and embedded in envelopes for gramophone records, cipher notes camouflaged in the cover of a travel bag, two attachments for a small-sized Tessina camera for vertical and horizontal shooting, several reels of Kodak film designed for a special development , a ballpoint pen, the clamping head of which was intended for applying a cryptographic text, as well as negatives with the conditions of communication with CIA officers in Moscow and instructions for contacts with them abroad.

The investigation into the Polyakov case was conducted by the KGB investigator, Colonel A.S. Dukhanin, who later became famous for the so-called "Kremlin case" of Gdlyan and Ivanov. Polyakov's wife and adult sons were seen as witnesses, since they did not know or suspect about his espionage activities. After the end of the investigation, many generals and officers of the GRU, whose negligence and talkativeness were often used by Polyakov, were brought to administrative responsibility by the command and dismissed from service or to the reserve. In early 1988, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR sentenced DF Polyakov. for treason and espionage for execution with confiscation of property. The verdict was carried out on March 15, 1988. Officially, the execution of DF Polyakov was reported in Pravda only in 1990.

In 1994, after the arrest and exposure of Ames, the CIA recognized Polyakov's cooperation with him. It was stated that he was the most important of Ames' victims, far superior in importance to all others. The information he passed on and photocopies of classified documents make up 25 boxes in the CIA's dossier. Many experts familiar with the Polyakov case say that he made a much more important contribution than the more famous GRU defector Colonel O. Penkovsky. This point of view is shared by another traitor from the GRU, Nikolai Chernov, who said: "Polyakov is a star. And Penkovsky is so-so ...". According to CIA Director James Woolsey, of all Soviet agents recruited during the Cold War, Polyakov "was a real diamond."

Indeed, in addition to the list of interests of scientific and technical intelligence, data on China, Polyakov reported information about the new weapons of the Soviet Army, in particular about anti-tank missiles, which helped the Americans to destroy these weapons when they were used by Iraq during the Gulf War in 1991. ... He also transferred to the West more than 100 issues of the secret periodical "Military Thought", published by the General Staff. As noted by Robert Gees, the CIA director under President Bush, the documents stolen by Polyakov made it possible to learn about the use of armed forces in the event of war, and helped to make a firm conclusion that the Soviet military leaders did not consider it possible to win a nuclear war and sought to avoid it. According to Gees, familiarization with these documents prevented the US leadership from making erroneous conclusions, which may have helped to avoid a "hot" war.

Of course, Geisse knows better what helped to avoid a "hot" war and what Polyakov's merit is in this. But even if it is as great as the Americans are trying to assure all of it, this does not in the least justify his betrayal.

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

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

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

Biography

The future traitor was born in Ukraine, fought as a volunteer at the front and was rewarded with the Orders 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 above average height, a strong and stern man. He was distinguished by calmness and restraint. An important feature his character was secretive, which manifested itself both in work and privacy... The general was fond of hunting and carpentry. With his own hands he built a dacha and made furniture for it, in which he arranged many hiding places.

Dmitry Polyakov has been a resident in the United States, 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.

The motives of betrayal and the recruitment of Polyakov

During interrogation, Polyakov said that he cooperated with a potential enemy out of a desire to help democracy stop the onslaught of Khrushchev's military doctrine. The actual push is Khrushchev's speech in France and the United States, in which he said that Soviet people makes rockets like sausages on a conveyor belt and is ready to "bury America."

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

During Polyakov's service in the United States, his three-month-old son fell ill with an intractable disease. The treatment required 400 thousand dollars, which the Soviet citizen did not have. The 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 his second business trip to the United States through his channels in the American military mission, Polyakov contacted General O'Neilly, who put him in touch 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 suitable name for him would be Sly Fox.

Agility, intelligence, professional flair, photographic memory helped Polyakov to be above suspicion for many years. The Americans were especially struck by the spy's strong self-control, it was impossible to read excitement on his face. The same was noted by Soviet investigators. Polyakov himself destroyed the evidence and established the locations of Moscow hiding places.

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

The device was loaded with secret data, and after its activation, in just 2.6 seconds, the 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 detected by Soviet radio operators, but they could not figure out where the signal came from.

Samples of conspiracy texts, addresses in the United States, ciphers, postal links 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 the FBI often act in a formulaic manner, which means that it is 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 his age and became a real legend of the GRU.

Polyakov's professional instinct did not disappoint, and he went to the bottom, having rolled up contacts with the Americans. The security officers managed to provoke the traitor through fake information, and he betrayed himself 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 hoped that he would be exchanged, but the court sentenced the traitor to death.

In May of the same year, at a meeting of 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, as expected, agreed, but it was too late. On March 15, 1988, GRU General Dmitry Polyakov and an American intelligence officer were shot.

Dmitry Fedorovich Polyakov was born in 1921 in Ukraine. After graduating from high school in 1939, he entered the artillery school. Member of the Great Patriotic War, fought in Karelian and Western fronts... For courage and heroism he was awarded the Orders of the Patriotic War and the Order of the Red Star.

V post-war years graduated from the Frunze Academy, General Staff courses and was sent to the Main Intelligence Directorate. From May 1951 to July 1956, with the rank of lieutenant colonel, he worked in the United States under the guise of an officer for assignments at the USSR mission in the UN Military Staff Committee. In those years, Polyakov had a son, who three months later fell ill with an intractable disease. To save the child, a complex operation costing $ 400 was needed.

Polyakov did not have enough money, and he turned for material assistance to the resident of the GRU, Major General I. A. Sklyarov. He made a request to the Center, but the GRU leadership refused this request. The Americans, in turn, offered Polyakov to operate on his son in a New York clinic "in exchange for some services" in the United States. Polyakov refused, and the son soon died.

In 1959 he returned to New York with the rank of colonel under the guise of the post of head of the secretariat of the USSR mission at the UN Military Staff Committee (real position - Deputy GRU resident for illegal work in the United States).

On November 8, 1961, on his own initiative, he offered to cooperate with the FBI, naming at the first meeting six names of encryptors who worked in Soviet foreign missions in the United States. Later he explained his act by ideological disagreement with the political regime in the USSR. During one of the interrogations, he said that he wanted "to help Western democracy avoid the onslaught of Khrushchev's military and foreign policy doctrine."

The FBI assigned DF Polyakov the operational pseudonym "Tophat" ("Cylinder"). At a second meeting with the FBI on November 26, 1961, he named 47 names of Soviet intelligence officers, the GRU and KGB, who were working in the United States at that time. At a meeting on December 19, 1961, he reported information about the GRU illegal immigrants and the officers who kept in touch with them. At a meeting on January 24, 1962, he betrayed the American GRU agents, the rest of the Soviet illegal immigrants, whom he had not mentioned at the previous meeting, the officers of the New York GRU station who worked with them, gave tips on some officers for their possible recruitment.

At a meeting on March 29, 1962, he identified in photographs of Soviet diplomats and employees of Soviet missions in the United States, shown by FBI agents, intelligence officers of the GRU and KGB known to him. On last meeting On June 7, 1962, he extradited illegal Macy (GRU captain Maria Dmitrievna Dobrova) and handed over to the FBI a re-shot secret document “GRU. Introduction to the organization and conduct of secret work ", later included in tutorial FBI counterintelligence training as a separate section. He agreed to cooperate in Moscow with the US CIA, where he was given the operational pseudonym "Bourbon". On June 9, 1962, Colonel DF Polyakov sailed from the shores of the United States on the steamer Queen Elizabeth.

Soon after returning to Moscow, Polyakov was appointed senior officer of the 3rd Directorate of the GRU. From the position of the Center, he was assigned to oversee the activities of the GRU intelligence apparatus in New York and Washington. It was planned for the third business trip to the United States as a senior assistant to the military attaché at the USSR embassy in Washington. Conducted several secret operations in Moscow, transferring classified information to the CIA (in particular, he re-shot and transferred the telephone directories of the General Staff Armed Forces USSR and GRU).

After the mention of Polyakov's surname in the Los Angeles Times, the GRU leadership found it impossible to further use Polyakov along the American line in the report on the trial of the illegal Sanins extradited to him by the Sanins. Polyakov was transferred to the GRU directorate, which was engaged in intelligence in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. In 1965, he was appointed military attaché at the USSR Embassy (GRU resident) in Burma. In August 1969, he returned to Moscow, where in December he was appointed acting head of the direction, which was engaged in the organization of intelligence work in the PRC and the preparation of illegal immigrants for transfer to this country. Then he became the head of this direction.

In 1973 he was sent as a resident to India, in 1974 he was promoted to major general. In October 1976, he returned to Moscow, where he was appointed head of the third intelligence department of the AFA, remaining on the approved list of the reserve of appointment as military attaché and resident of the GRU. In mid-December 1979, he again left for India for the former position of military attaché at the USSR embassy (senior operational chief of the GRU intelligence apparatus of the General Staff in Bombay and Delhi, in charge of strategic military intelligence in the South-Eastern region).

In 1980 he retired for health reasons. After retiring, General Polyakov began working as a civilian in the GRU personnel department, gaining access to the personal files of all employees.

He was arrested on July 7, 1986. On November 27, 1987, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR was sentenced to death. The verdict was carried out on March 15, 1988. Official information about the sentence and its execution appeared in the Soviet press only in 1990. And in May 1988, US President Ronald Reagan, during negotiations with Mikhail Gorbachev, voiced a proposal from the American side to pardon D. Polyakov, or exchange him for one of the Soviet intelligence officers arrested in the United States, but the request was late.

According to the main version, the reason for the exposure of Polyakov was the information of the then CIA officer Aldrich Ames or the FBI officer Robert Hanssen, who collaborated with the KGB of the USSR.

According to the information available in open sources, during the period of cooperation, he transmitted to the CIA information about nineteen Soviet illegal intelligence agents operating in Western countries, about one hundred and fifty foreigners who collaborated with the intelligence services of the USSR and about 1,500 active employees of the intelligence services of the USSR. In total - 25 boxes of classified documents from 1961 to 1986.

Gave out Polyakov and strategic secrets. Because of his information, the United States learned about the contradictions between the CPSU and the CCP. He also gave out the secrets of ATGMs, which helped the US Army during Operation Desert Storm to successfully counter the anti-tank guided missiles in service with the Iraqis.

The retired general was arrested by members of Alpha, one of the best security forces in the world. The detention took place in accordance with all the rules of the special services. It was not enough to put handcuffs on the spy; it was necessary to completely immobilize him. FSB officer, writer and intelligence historian Oleg Khlobustov explains why.

“Severe detention, because they knew that he could be supplied with, say, poison for self-destruction at the moment of arrest, if he chose such a position. He was immediately changed, things were already prepared in advance in order to confiscate everything that he had: a suit, a shirt, and so on, ”says Oleg Khlobustov.

Polyakov understood that he would face execution for such crimes. However, being arrested, he did not panic and actively cooperated with the investigation. The traitor probably hoped that his life would be spared to play a double game with the CIA. But the scouts decided otherwise.

“We had no guarantees that when the big game began, somewhere between the lines, Polyakov would not put an extra tier. This will be a signal to the Americans: “Guys, I’m caught, I’m telling you misinformation, don’t believe her,” says Colonel Viktor Baranets.

The court sentenced Dmitry Polyakov to capital punishment, deprived him of his epaulettes and orders. The case is closed forever, but the main question remains: why did Polyakov trample his name in the mud and crossed out his whole life?

One thing is clear: he was rather indifferent to money. The traitor received about 90 thousand dollars from the CIA. If you divide them by 25 years, you don't get much.

“The main and topical question is what prompted him to do this, what prompted him? Why did such a metamorphosis take place in a person who, in general, began his fate as a hero, and one can say he was treated kindly by fate, "says Oleg Khlobustov.

Polyakov called the Americans the names of Soviet intelligence officers, trying to convince them of his sincerity, he said: "I have not been promoted for more than six years." So maybe this is the motive for revenge?

“Still, there was a terrible rot, he had envy of other people, there was, it seems to me, a lack of understanding why he was only a general, but others were already there, or why he was only a colonel, and others were already here, and there was envy this one, ”Nikolai Dolgopolov thinks.

Polyakov returned to Moscow with spy equipment and a whole suitcase of expensive gifts. Entering the offices of chiefs, he generously distributed gold watches, cameras, jewelry. Realizing that he was out of suspicion, he again contacted the CIA. As he drove past the US Embassy, he sent coded information using a tiny transmitter.

In addition, Polyakov arranged hiding places in which he left microfilms with secret documents re-captured on them. The Gorky Park of Culture is one of the hiding places called "Art". Sitting down supposedly to rest, the spy, with an imperceptible movement, hid a container disguised as a brick behind a bench. The conditional signal that the container was taken away was supposed to be a strip of lipstick on a notice board near the Arbat restaurant.

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 he talks about it for the first time.

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

“Sorry, he fought against specific individuals. It is enough, after all, a prepared, educated person who understands that the system, by and large, is not cold, not hot. He rented out specific people, ”Bondarenko says.

Continuing to spy for the CIA, Polyakov tried to get him sent abroad again. It will be easier to work there. However, someone nullified all his efforts, and this someone, apparently, was General Ivashutin, who was in charge of military intelligence in those years.

“Pyotr Ivanovich said that he didn’t like Polyakov right away, he said:“ He sits, looks at the floor, does not look into his eyes. ” Intuitively, he felt that this man was not very good, and he transferred him from the sphere of agent strategic intelligence, first transferred him to the selection of civilian personnel. That is, where there were not many state secrets, and therefore Polyakov was cut off from them, ”says Nikolai Poroskov.

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

“To Peter Ivanovich Ivashutin, Polyakov once brought from India two colonial English soldiers carved from rare wood. Beautiful figures, ”says Poroskov.

Alas, the bribery attempt failed. The general was not there. But Polyakov instantly figured out how to turn the situation in his favor. He made sure to be sent abroad again. Knocked out this decision, 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 as a result Polyakov, after the USA there was a long break, then he was sent as a resident to India, ”explains Nikolai Poroskov.

"How else? He has a security certificate - 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.

For Polyakov to receive the rank of general, the CIA had to spend money. In the criminal case, there are expensive gifts given to him by the head of the personnel department Izotov.

“It was the head of the personnel department of the“ all GRU ”by the name of Izotov. Polyakov communicated with him, because promotions and so on depended on him. But the most famous gift that has come to light is the silver service. In Soviet times, it was God knows what. Well, he also gave him a gun, because he himself was fond of hunting, and Izotov seemed to be fond of, ”says Nikolai Poroskov.

The rank of general provided Polyakov with access to materials that were not related to his direct duties. The traitor received information about three American officers who worked for the Soviet Union. And another valuable agent - Frank Bossard, a member 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 and testing of guided missiles. In his time, again, not to Polyakov, he gave to another officer of the Main Intelligence Directorate, pictures of technological processes: how the tests are carried out - in short, he passed on a set of classified information, ”says Igor Atamanenko.

Polyakov photographed the photographs sent by Bossard and forwarded them to the CIA. The agent was immediately identified. Bossard received 20 years in prison. But Polyakov did not stop there. He pulled out a list of military technologies that are being mined in the course of intelligence efforts in the West.

“In the late 70s and 80s, the United States imposed a ban on the sale of any military technology to the Soviet Union, any. And even some small parts that fell under this technology, they were blocked by the Americans and were not sold. Polyakov said that there are five thousand directions that help the Soviet Union buy this secret technology from countries through dummies, through third states. This was indeed the case, and the Americans immediately cut off the oxygen, ”says Nikolai Dolgopolov.

There is an essential question in this story: who and when first came out on the trail of the "mole"? How and with the help of what did you manage to expose Polyakov? There are many versions on this score. 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 was working there.

“Their meeting took place in India, in 1974, and if they had paid attention to Shebarshin’s remarks, perhaps the arrest would have taken place not in 1986, but much earlier,” says Nikolai Dolgopolov.

Shebarshin drew attention to the fact that in India Polyakov did much more than the position he held demanded of him.

“A man of his profession, in fact, should be engaged in this - to meet 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 the external intelligence of the PSU drew attention to this, ”explains Dolgopolov.

But not only this alarmed Shebarshin. He noticed that Polyakov disliked his colleagues from foreign intelligence, and on occasion tried to expel them from India. The impression was that they were interfering with him in some way, while in public he was very friendly with them and loudly praised them.

“Another point that Shebarshin found rather strange (I’m not to say 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 tried to show that he is a kind and good person. Shebarshin could see that this was a game, ”says Nikolai Dolgopolov.

Finally, Shebarshin decided to speak frankly about Polyakov with his leadership. However, his suspicions seemed to bump into a cotton wall. They did not even think to argue with him, but no one gave a course to the matter.

“Yes, there were people in the structures of the GRU, they held small positions there, major, lieutenant colonel, who also more than once came across 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 will emphasize this word - often forced the then GRU leadership to sweep aside these suspicions, ”says Viktor Baranets.

Polyakov acted like a high-class professional and made almost no mistakes. Instantly destroyed all evidence. He had ready-made answers to all the questions. And who knows, perhaps he would have gotten away with it if it hadn't been 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.

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

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

“He completely framed, I think, by accident, Polyakov, saying 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 should read such things on duty, ”explains Dolgopolov.

Was Angleton's book the last straw that overflowed the cup of patience, or rather, trust? Or maybe the GRU received some more 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 diagnosed with heart disease, because of which foreign travel is contraindicated.

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

“He's worn out, his nerves are strained to the limit. Every sneeze, a whisper behind his back already turns into a rattling of handcuffs. It already seems that they are clattering handcuffs. Well, then, when he was sent to the Institute of the Russian Language, well, everything became clear to him, ”says Igor Atamanenko.

And, nevertheless, there was not a single convincing evidence against Polyakov. He continued to work in the GRU as a secretary of the party committee. Here the retiree easily figured out the illegal intelligence officers who had left on long business trips. They were absent from party meetings and did not pay dues. Information about such people was immediately sent to the CIA. Polyakov was sure that this time, too, suspicions had bypassed him. But he was wrong. The counterintelligence of the USSR State Security Committee was forced to intervene in the matter.

“In the end, it turned out that the documents ended up on the desk of the then KGB head, and he set the stage for the case. Surveillance was established, all counterintelligence services of all departments worked together. Technicians were working. And "outdoor" found some things. I think that, as it seems to me, some hiding places in Polyakov's country house were also discovered, otherwise they would not have taken it so confidently, "says Nikolai Dolgopolov.

In June 1986, Polyakov noticed a chipped tile in his kitchen. He realized that the house had been searched. After a while, a phone call rang in his apartment. Polyakov answered the phone. The rector of the Military Diplomatic Academy personally invited him to speak to graduates - future intelligence officers. The traitor sighed with relief. Yes, they were looking 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 had received an invitation. Because, but you never know, maybe they are going to tie him under this pretext. When he called several of his colleagues, among whom were also participants in the Great Patriotic War, and found that yes, they were all invited to the celebration at the Military Diplomatic Academy, he calmed down, ”says Igor Atamanenko.

But in the building of the Military Diplomatic Academy at the checkpoint, a capture group was awaiting him. Polyakov realized that this was the end.

“And right there they took him to Lefortovo, and right there they put him in front of the investigator. This is what Alpha calls shock therapy. And when a person is in such a shock, he begins to speak the truth, ”says Atamanenko.

“You know, for a long time analyzing the origins of betrayal, the root causes of betrayal, these psychological starting points that force a person to betray their homeland, I came to the conclusion that betrayal has one side that has not yet been studied by journalists or by the intelligence officers 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 precisely the desire to betray, to have two faces, and to enjoy even that. Today you are in the service, here is 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 consciousness, in general in the body. Betrayal is a whole complex of reasons, one of which serves as a kind of small spiritual reactor that starts this vile complex of human deeds, which makes a person betray, ”Baranets believes.

Perhaps this version explains everything: the thirst for risk, and hatred of colleagues, and inflated conceit. Over the years of his espionage activities, the general was more than once offered to flee to America, but Polyakov invariably refused the invitation of Uncle Sam. Why? This is another unsolved mystery.

Major General (according to some sources, Lieutenant General) of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the USSR Ministry of Defense Dmitry Polyakov worked for the CIA for 25 years and practically paralyzed the work of Soviet intelligence in the American direction. Polyakov betrayed 19 illegal Soviet intelligence officers, more than 150 agents from among foreign citizens, revealed that about 1,500 active intelligence officers belonged to the GRU and KGB. Former CIA chief James Woolsey admitted that “of all the US secret agents recruited during the Cold War, Polyakov was precious stone 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, ending nuclear confrontation and ushering 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 for one of the arrested Soviet agents former general GRU Dmitry Polyakov. However, his request was somewhat late, by that time the traitor general had already been shot. Who was this man, 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 Order of the Red Star. After the end of the war, Polyakov graduated from the intelligence department 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 guise of an employee of the Soviet UN mission. He was entrusted with a responsible task - providing agents for illegal intelligence officers. The work of an energetic officer turned out to be successful, but a tragic event took place in his personal life. The severe flu gave a heart complication to his three-year-old son. A complex operation was carried out, 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, the US intelligence services were conducting Operation Courtship - Matchmaking, directed against Soviet citizens working in America. They created their own recruiting 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 not easy. 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 business 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 committee of chiefs of staff at the UN, being at the same time the deputy resident for illegal intelligence. The Americans arranged a check on the initiator (as the intelligence service calls people who go to recruit without additional pressure). And he, in order to gain the confidence of the new owners, betrayed three Soviet military intelligence officers known to him who worked in the United States. The GRU had high hopes for the Sokolovs. They went through a lengthy legalization process, but were arrested before even getting to work.

To deflect suspicion from Polyakov, two Soviet employees of the UN Secretariat were arrested on espionage charges. And then the FBI announced that they had extradited the Sokolovs. And only after many years did the truth prevail. Polyakov played a fatal role in the life of the scout Maria Dobrova. This beautiful, elegant woman ran a fashionable beauty salon in New York City. Her clients were the wives of many high-ranking officials, including the sailors of the nuclear submarine fleet. Dobrova's merit in preventing (and this was the main task of military intelligence) a sudden nuclear strike on the Soviet Union is beyond doubt. When the FBIs came to arrest her, Maria committed suicide by throwing herself out of the window of a high-rise building. After a while, Polyakov reported to the center that Dobrova had been recruited by the Americans, who reliably hid her. For many years, the brave scout was considered a defector.

The times of the Cold War are strikingly different from our days. It is now a revealed agent Russian special services Anna Chapman, who operated in America along with nine more of her 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 intelligence officers, extradited 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, who were friends with the family of the country's president, Pieter Willem Botha. Dieter, a naval officer of the South African Navy, was supposed to be awarded the rank of Rear Admiral, he had access to a super-secret NATO naval base that controls Soviet ships and by airplanes. When the CIA, on a tip from Polyakov, arrested Gerhardt and presented the details of his Moscow dossier, he confessed to espionage. The scout was sentenced to life imprisonment and 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 will hand over the lists of his listeners to the Americans. Already retired, "Bourbon" - this pseudonym was appropriated to him by the CIA - remained to work in the GRU as the secretary of the party committee of the department. According to the established practice, illegal scouts remained on the party account at their place of work. On their account cards, the general calculated the intelligence agents being introduced. Did he feel sorry for betraying his former colleagues? It is unlikely that espionage and morality are incompatible things.

But we ran a little ahead, on account of Polyakov there were many more "feats".

General's shoulder straps and invaluable information for the CIA

In 1966, Polyakov was sent to Burma as the head of the radio interception center in Rangoon. Upon returning 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 overseas, he meets almost openly with Americans as recruiting candidates. The volume of information transmitted by Polyakov was so great that the CIA created a special department to process it. 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 positions between China and the USSR. This information allowed the United States to mend relations with China in 1972.

Polyakov did his best to convince the GRU leadership of his exceptional abilities. To do this, the CIA regularly transferred some classified materials to Bourbon, and also framed two Americans whom he allegedly recruited. Polyakov was known as a good friend, he handed out 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" transfers to the American special services a list of military technologies that were purchased or mined in the West by intelligence, forwards 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 to destroy the pieces of military equipment sold by the Soviet Union to Iraq during the Gulf War. The information provided by Polyakov was invaluable, and the damage inflicted on the Soviet Union amounted to many billions of dollars.

The motives for Polyakov's betrayal have not been fully clarified. Money was not the main reason. While working for the CIA, Bourbon received less than $ 100,000 - a ridiculous amount for a super agent. The Americans believed he was disillusioned with the Soviet regime. The blow for Polyakov was the debunking of the cult of Stalin, whom he idolized. During the investigation, Polyakov himself said the following about himself: “At the heart of my betrayal lay both my desire to openly express my views and doubts somewhere, and the qualities of my character - a constant desire to work beyond risk. And the more the danger became, the more interesting my life became ... I was used to walking on the edge of a knife and could not imagine another life for myself. "

No matter how much the string twists ...

A natural question arises, how did Polyakov manage to work for the CIA for a quarter of a century and remain undetected? Numerous failures of illegal immigrants abroad intensified the activities of the KGB counterintelligence. Colonel O. Penkovsky, Colonel P. Popov, who had extradited Soviet illegal immigrants to the CIA in Western European countries, 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 signal the cache was laid, Polyakov, while riding a trolleybus past the US Embassy in Moscow, activated a miniature transmitter hidden in his pocket. This technical novelty, in the West it was called "Brest", in an instant it threw out a huge amount of information that entered the American residency. The KGB radio intercept service detected these radio signals, but could not decipher them.

Meanwhile, the circle of GRU officers suspected of betrayal was gradually narrowing. The work of all spies 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 a high-ranking CIA officer, Aldridge Ames, who worked for the KGB, and Robert Hanssen, an analyst for the Soviet FBI department, 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 at his Moscow apartment, secret writing devices, cipher pads and other spy equipment were found. "Bourbon" did not deny it, he went to cooperate with the investigation, hoping for leniency. Polyakov's wife and adult sons were seen as witnesses, since they did not know or suspect about his espionage activities. In the GRU at this time, stars were raining down from the shoulder straps of employees, whose negligence and talkativeness were skillfully used by Bourbon. Many have been dismissed or fired. In early 1988, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR sentenced DF Polyakov for treason and espionage to execution with confiscation of property. The verdict was carried out on March 15, 1988. Thus ended the life of one of the biggest traitors in the history of Soviet intelligence.