Feklisov's atomic espionage: how did a Soviet spy save the world?

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

A series of operations by Soviet intelligence to extract the secrets of American nuclear weapons in the West is usually called atomic espionage. All people, one way or another involved in this grandiose undertaking, have already gone down in history.

Scout Alexander Semyonovich Feklisovwas born on March 9, 1914. He went down in history twice, participating both in atomic espionage itself and in saving the world from its consequences.

- The first memories in my life began in London, - says Natalia Alexandrovna, Feklisov's eldest daughter … - In an English kindergarten, I beat an English boy. Mum Zina always covered with a crimson blush, and dad only grinned. It was 1947. Father was a deputy resident for technical intelligence, worked with a famous nuclear scientist Klaus Fuchsengaged in nuclear weapons projects.

Ten years later, Feklisov found himself on the ground of "GP", the main enemy - as his father called the Americans. From 1960 to 1964, in the open position of Counselor at the USSR Embassy, he headed the Soviet residency in Washington. And in October 1962, the Cuban missile crisis happened …

13 days of crisis

These days, Exidental Seafood Grill is a posh and expensive Washington DC establishment a stone's throw from the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue. Then, 52 years ago, it was a decent, but not the most posh restaurant in town. At one of his tables, two people tried to save the world from nuclear disaster.

… On October 14, 1962, an American spy plane noticed that launch sites for Soviet R-12 ballistic missiles were being hastily built in Cuba. Their range of 2,000 kilometers would cover the entire US East Coast, including New York and Washington, Chicago and Kansas City. President Kennedy and First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Khrushchev we constantly exchanged telegrams, but it was not possible to agree - neither side wanted to concede. The world was sliding towards nuclear war when on October 22 Feklisov was invited to breakfast at the Exidental by his Washington friend, TV journalist John Scaly … He knew that Feklisov was a Russian resident. But Feklisov knew that Scali was personally acquainted with the Kennedy brothers. On that day, the conversation did not work out, and the situation continued to heat up. After 3 days, Feklisov called Scali for lunch.

- How is Khrushchev feeling? - the American began the conversation.

- I personally do not know Khrushchev, - answered the father. And he did not fail to sneer: - You are on a short leg with President Kennedy.

Scali's last assumption was immediately confirmed, bringing to the attention of the "Soviet comrade" that the Pentagon assures the US President of its readiness, if a political decision is made, to end the regime. Castroand Soviet missiles in Cuba in 48 hours.

“The president must be aware that invading Cuba is tantamount to giving Khrushchev freedom of action,” his father replied. - The Soviet Union can retaliate against your vulnerable spot in another part of the world …

For some reason Scali thought about West Berlin, dad did not try to dissuade him. The fact is that no one authorized him at all to make such bold statements. Alexander Semyonovich was then reproached for a long time for acting without the approval of the leadership. But Scali and Kennedy did not know about this, so their father's improvisation about the possible capture of West Berlin frightened both John Scali and the owner of the White House, where the journalist immediately ran. At four in the afternoon Scali met Feklisov again. This time, he brought the following conditions for resolving the Cuban missile crisis: the USSR dismantles missile launchers, and the United States lifts the blockade of the island and pledges not to invade. The father clarified who authorized Scali to convey the terms of the settlement of the crisis, and received the answer: "John Fitzgerald Kennedy is the President of the United States of America."

They had time

As a matter of fact, the deed was already done, although everyone still had to worry. For example, the Soviet ambassador Dobrynin refused to transmit the proposals through diplomatic channels, and they went to Moscow through the KGB.

Khrushchev did not give an answer for two days. The Americans were nervous, at the next meeting, Scali accused Feklisov of the Russians wasting time on purpose. It got to the point that I personally came to the Soviet embassy to look at him (is there such a person at all?) President's brother Robert Kennedy, US Attorney General … Finally, on October 28, Khrushchev agreed. Everyone felt relieved. At the last restaurant meeting, Alexander Feklisov and John Scali simply drank a bottle of good wine. “We deserve it,” said the American journalist. And he was right. As it turned out many years later, half a day was left before the disaster: the missiles were supposed to be put on alert on that very day, and the next, on October 29, the Pentagon was planning an attack on Cuba.

Hero of Russia

“It was always interesting with my father,” recalls Natalia Aleksandrovna. “He always tried to guide me and my sister, as he said," in a reasonable direction. " How he did it is difficult to understand. He worked in intelligence for 35 years, of which 15 he spent on business trips abroad. I lived in the KGB boarding school for three and a half years, and my sister lived for a year and a half. I remember that my father was very fond of picking up our textbooks and reading them from the first page. Once I was given a homework essay on "Adolescence" Tolstoy … My father undertook to write it, composed 4 pages and said: "You will see, they will give us an A." He did not know that when I was rewriting, I added my own, very stupid, phrase at the end, and the teacher immediately realized that the composition was not mine. We got 4 points. My father was very angry that we fell asleep on such a trifle, and for a long time he did not talk to me …

Later, when I was in my third year in foreign languages, my father wrote a coursework for me on Soviet-English relations during the Cold War. He did not repeat the old mistake - the work was printed and bound by the KGB. Teachers from the Department of Regional Studies then boasted for a long time what a wonderful student they had raised. If they only knew that the term paper was written for me by a scout, in the recent past - the second person in the London residency!

"Your dad is the most courageous person in the world," our mother Zinaida Vasilievna told us. "Learn English, read English, marry intelligence officers and you will also help your husbands in their work." She herself was the ideal wife of a resident, and she spoke English, perhaps, better than her father.

Before retiring in 1974, Alexander Semyonovich taught at the Foreign Intelligence Academy. Then he wrote two books of memoirs, and continued to be interested in events in the country and the world until his death.

In 2000, the United States filmed the film Thirteen Days about the Cuban missile crisis with Kevin Costner in one of the main roles. Feklisov in it was played by an actor with a strange surname for an American - Coollegvaguely reminiscent of the original. Alexander Semyonovich had no complaints about the choice of actors. I had to the dressers: “They put me in a turtleneck with a jacket,” he was indignant after watching. - So in America, some farmers go. And I always wore a shirt with a tie."

After his mission in Washington, Feklisov remained a colonel. The title of Hero of Russia was awarded to him only in 1996, and for obtaining the secrets of the atomic bomb, and not at all for the Cuban missile crisis. He died on October 26, 2007. Now Feklisov has four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Skali's merits at home were also assessed quite restrainedly. At one time he worked as the US ambassador to the UN, then returned to journalism. He died in 1975 at the age of 77. In general, one cannot say that a grateful rain fell on the participants in this story. Although, on the other hand, how can a person be rewarded so special for saving the world?