Foreign Intelligence Service on the legendary scouts classified as "secret"

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

The names of seven prominent Russian intelligence officers were announced by the head of the SVR Sergei Naryshkin. In addition, even some details of their work and biographies have become known. What people are we talking about, why did they receive the title of Hero - and why do other details of their stay on long foreign business trips still remain classified?

Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Sergei Naryshkin named seven prominent domestic illegal intelligence officers who contributed to ensuring the security of Russia. "This is Hero of Russia Yuri Anatolyevich Shevchenko, Hero of the Soviet Union Yevgeny Ivanovich Kim, Hero of the Soviet Union Mikhail Anatolyevich Vasenkov, Hero of Russia Vitaly Vyacheslavovich Netyksa and his wife Tamara Ivanovna Netyksa, Vladimir Iosifovich Lokhov and Vitaly Alekseevich Nuikin," Narysh said at the conference in MIA "Russia Today".

In December last year, Naryshkin announced that the SVR, on the eve of its centenary in 2020, decided to officially disclose the names of seven "employees of the special reserve." This is the first time that the service has declassified several prominent illegal intelligence officers at once. A little later, the SVR press bureau published short biographies of declassified illegal immigrants. Unfortunately, this official text is completely devoid of specifics and does not provide an opportunity to really get acquainted with the activities of prominent Soviet and one Soviet-Russian intelligence officers. Naryshkin himself made a special reservation that it is nevertheless necessary to observe the regime of state secrets, since the full disclosure of the details of the life and activities of illegal immigrants can harm the system even in historical retrospect.

Let's try to fill in the gaps.

For example, about Hero of Russia Vitaly Netyks, the press bureau of the Service said that he "formed an agent apparatus, through whose capabilities he regularly obtained especially valuable information on the strategic aspects of the policy of the leading Western countries." According to the VZGLYAD newspaper, by special order it is forbidden to disclose exactly which operations in 2010 Vitaly Netyksa was awarded the title of Hero of Russia. In the open part of the "closed" decree on awarding, the standard wording about "courage and heroism shown in the performance of the official duty" is indicated.

At the moment, all the circumstances of his life, including education, are a state secret. We can only say that he was born in 1946 in Moscow and was on long business trips in foreign countries, and at the end of his life in the rank of major general he continued to serve in the central office of the SVR. Vitaly Vyacheslavovich died in 2011 at the age of 66, a year after he was awarded the Hero's Star, and was buried at the Troekurovsky cemetery. There is probably hope that now, after the decision to partially declassify his biography and work, the public will be able to learn more.

Evgeny Ivanovich Kim is a legend of illegal intelligence. The press bureau said that he "had sources of valuable documentary information in contact, obtained information on priority issues, which were highly appreciated and implemented according to the highest markup." The press bureau did not specify what this set of words means, but we will clarify: "the highest markup" is when materials obtained through intelligence are sent to the table of the country's top leadership.

Evgeny Kim was born in Bukhara in 1932. Almost all his life he was in illegal work, and his activities and biography still remain a secret. It is only known that Soviet Koreans in the second half of the 1960s and in the 1970s were actively used in illegal work in Maoist China, because, due to their appearance, they could mix with the crowd.

There were no other means of obtaining information about what was happening on the streets of China during the so-called Cultural Revolution. However, this is only an assumption, and in the case of Yevgeny Kim, society will also have to wait for an official declassification. Kim received the Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin in 1987 with the standard wording "for courage and heroism displayed in the performance of his official duty." Evgeny Ivanovich tragically died in Moscow in November 1998 at the age of 66, he was hit by a car. He was also buried at the Troekurovsky cemetery.

Vladimir Iosifovich Lokhov was born in the village of Pichidzhyn in the Znaur region of South Ossetia in 1924. Since 1942 he served in the NKVD troops, took part in the fight against banditry and desertion. Then he entered the Azerbaijan State University in Baku, where he received a referral to the state security bodies. Since 1958, he was trained to serve as an illegal agent, lived in one of the Soviet republics of Central Asia to improve his knowledge of the language and local customs. From 1960 to 1966 he was on two foreign business trips in an illegal position. According to the VZGLYAD newspaper, Vladimir Lokhov worked according to a scheme familiar and widespread in Soviet illegal intelligence: he was legalized in one country, and in another he worked under the guise of a foreign businessman who had arrived from the country of legalization. This scheme allows you to avoid accidents such as meetings of childhood friends who might recognize the character of the legend, as well as unexpected questions, such as where did this person get the money to start a business.

At the same time, he perfectly knew the languages, customs and mores of the region, which gave him the opportunity to fully integrate into the local society, to acquire connections in the local foreign colony and in commercial circles. After 1966, Vladimir Lokhov taught for some time at the Forestry School and performed one-time assignments abroad. In 1968, Lokhov was assigned to lead an entire network of illegal intelligence agents "in areas with a crisis situation." This is the period immediately following the Six Day War in the Middle East, but we cannot yet openly state in which country or even region this network operated. In 1979, Vladimir Lokhov was appointed head of one of the departments of the PGU of the KGB of the USSR.

He was married to Nonna Tolstoy. For the concrete results achieved in his work, he was awarded the medal "For Military Merit" (1967), the badge "Honorary State Security Officer" (1970), the Order of the Red Star (1977), the Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1985), numerous anniversary awards and medals for years of service. In 1991, Vladimir Lokhov retired by age. He did not have a single failure, and until now his work has been completely classified up to the host countries. Vladimir Lokhov died in 2002 in Moscow at the age of 78 and was buried at the Troekurovsky cemetery.

In modern South Ossetia, Colonel Vladimir Lokhov is one of the national heroes. A month ago, in December 2019, in Moscow, the RSO Embassy held a gala evening dedicated to the 95th anniversary of Vladimir Iosifovich, which was attended by members of his family.

About Vitaly Alekseevich Nuikin, the press bureau of the Service informs: “I have obtained especially valuable information on the strategic aspects of the policy of the leading Western countries and scientific and technical problems”. In reality, Vitaly Nuikin worked in various countries of the world for 38 years in tandem with his wife Lyudmila Ivanovna. They met when they were 16 years old, in East Kazakhstan, and both come from Siberian taiga villages. Vitaly studied in Moscow at MGIMO, where he received an interesting offer from the PSU KGB. Lyudmila studied to be a nurse. After some time, Vitaly, with the permission of the intelligence leadership, offered his wife to also take a course of special training. The history of their work is very indicative in terms of the methods of illegal intelligence practiced in those years.

The basic language of the Nuikins was French, and they were initially legalized in one of the Francophone countries of Europe. They had real passports, but legendary biographies. This has led to dangerous situations several times. In Europe, the Nuikins re-registered their marriage under legendary names. And the notary who was preparing the marriage certificate for them unexpectedly asked Vitaly: "What is your mother's maiden name?" Sometimes even years of preparation fail, the brain is short-circuited, and this surname simply flew out of Nuikin's memory. But the notary said with a smile: "I understand, monsieur, you have such an event today, you are nervous." This hitch was enough to come to his senses, and Vitaly remembered all the components of his legend.

The Nuikins did not work in Europe, but in the francophone countries of Africa and Southeast Asia under the guise of European entrepreneurs. This created unexpected additional problems in those days. For example, Lyudmila, with her medical education, could not work in her profile, since a white female nurse was nonsense. It was not possible to get a job, for example, as a secretary, for the same reason, and the position of a secretary in the colonial administration could provide ample opportunities for intelligence activities. But Lyudmila Ivanovna successfully performed "representative functions": she went to the clubs of the wives of bankers and government officials, to receptions and dinners, where a lot is usually blurted out.

Together with Vitaly, the traitor Gordievsky studied at the Red Banner Institute on the same course. He even visited the Nuikins' house in Moscow. And once, not yet being exposed, Gordievsky in some conversation directly asked the then head of the Soviet illegal intelligence, General Yuri Drozdov: "And the Nuikins, what country are they in now?" Drozdov skillfully left the answer, but after the escape of Gordievsky it became clear that the Nuikins were under threat. They are looking for. In the country of Southeast Asia, where they worked, a strange English couple settled next to them. Then the Nuikins found a bug in their apartment. Lyudmila was at that time in Moscow, but Vitaly had to, in the best traditions of James Bond, take out in the trunk of a car to a Soviet ship that was being repaired in the port.

In the South China Sea, the "underrepaired" ship got into such a storm that it was a question of death. The captain of the ship came to Nuikin and asked: "Do you have clean clothes?" Nuikin did not understand, but in the navy it is customary to die clean. But in the end, they managed to take the ship in tow and drag it to Vietnam. At six in the morning, Vitaly Nuikin, as he was, in tropical shorts and with an attaché case, flew to Moscow and called his wife: “Do you have money? Come out, take 10 rubles, otherwise I have nothing to pay the taxi driver with”.

Colonel Vitaly Nuikin died in 1998. He had a heart attack at the airport, but he got behind the wheel, drove to the departmental clinic, stood in line for a medical card and relaxed. Clinical death, he was resuscitated for five hours and rescued, after which he lived for another year. Lyudmila Ivanovna retired at the age of 70, but she consulted the Service for another five years.

A separate story is Mikhail Anatolyevich Vasenkov. The Service's press bureau reports that he "created and headed an illegal residency that obtained valuable political information that was highly appreciated." But this is not a matter of bygone days, but quite a modern history. Mikhail Vasenkov was born in 1942 in Kuntsevo, which was then still a separate village, and not a district of Moscow. In 1976, he came to Peru from Spain with a passport in the name of Juan José Lazaro Fuentes, a Uruguayan citizen, and a travel certificate from a tobacco company. Classic scheme. In 1979 he received the citizenship of Peru, in 1983 he married the local journalist Vicky Pelaez, and in 1985 he moved to the United States, to New York.

He received his Ph. D. from New York University and taught for a while. At the same time, he moonlighted as a journalist and photographer, which gave him access to various political events. In total, Vasenkov-Fuentes was in an illegal position for almost 35 years. Vasenkov's activities were unique. He was able to become friends with the functionaries of the Democratic Party, got access to the schedule of the US president for several years in advance, lectured on the political situation in Latin America at several prestigious New York colleges. In the summer of 2010, he was arrested by the FBI at his home in New York's Yonkers borough. A few months before his arrest, he learned that he had been awarded the rank of Major General, and he had received the Hero of the Soviet Union 20 years before that - in January 1990.

Vasenkov refused to cooperate with the FBI, insisting on his innocence, until the moment when the traitor Alexander Poteev personally appeared in his cell and put the dossier in front of him. It was Poteev who then handed over to the Americans the entire illegal network in the United States. Before that, however, Vasenkov, who had become more American than was required, attracted attention with harsh statements in lectures on American foreign policy, in particular about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as praise for Hugo Chavez. One vigilant student complained about him, and the rector of the college decided to fire Professor Lazaro Fuentes.

There is, however, evidence that the FBI wiretapped an apartment in Yonkers and received strange information that Lazaro Fuentes told his wife about "moving to Siberia when the war began." Yes, and Vicki Pelaez herself was spotted in Latin America during a meeting with employees of the Russian embassy. After Poteev showed the dossier on him, brought by the traitor from Moscow, Vasenkov identified himself, which was permitted by internal instructions, but did not give any further evidence. In the summer of 2010, he was exchanged at the Vienna airport during the famous "spy exchange", as a result of which Skripal also left for the West.

For almost 35 years of his stay in Latin America and the USA, Vasenkov practically forgot the Russian language, and upon his return to Moscow certain psychological problems arose. His wife, Vicky Pelaez, returned to journalism and published columns for RIA Novosti and Moskovskiye Novosti. There were reports in the Western press that allegedly Vasenkov would like to return to Latin America, but, judging by today's events, all psychological problems have been successfully resolved.

About the Hero of Russia, retired colonel Yuri Shevchenko (born 1939), the press bureau of the Service reports that he “obtained valuable information on priority issues, including those with the highest secrecy class“Kosmik”. “In the course of performing special assignments in conditions fraught with the risk of life, showing courage and heroism, he implemented a number of the most difficult acute operational combinations, creating channels for obtaining information directly affecting the national interests of the USSR, and subsequently the Russian Federation,” says the biographical note … No other details are provided.

Hopefully, this is just the beginning. By the anniversary of the service in 2010, Russian intelligence should continue to work not only to declassify (albeit such a scanty way) the work of individual prominent Soviet and Russian intelligence officers, but also to popularize the activities of the Service as a whole. Against the background of the current round of so-called historical wars and other forms of ideological confrontation, this could be very important. How exactly this is presented is another matter.

Intelligence and its history, of course, have understandable limitations, but even in the USSR, under Andropov, the head of the KGB, the popularization of the work of Soviet intelligence was exclusively creative. Will the Service now be able to reach at least this level with the books of Yulian Semyonov and serials like "TASS is authorized to declare" or will it limit itself to dry information, as it is today, is a difficult question. Sergei Naryshkin's reasonable and noble impulse to pay tribute to the heroes, including those who have already passed away, has so far turned into several lines, more suitable for reference from the personnel department than for public material. And this discredits the very idea.

We can only hope that certain conclusions will be drawn. There is almost a whole year before the anniversary of the Service.