Women in foreign intelligence and counterintelligence. Women in intelligence

The debate about the role of the female factor in intelligence has not subsided for many years. Most ordinary people, far from this type of activity, believe that intelligence is not a woman’s business, that this profession is purely male, requiring courage, self-control, and a willingness to take risks and sacrifice oneself in order to achieve the goal. In their opinion, if women are used in intelligence, it is only as a “honey trap,” that is, to seduce gullible simpletons who are carriers of important state or military secrets. Indeed, even today the special services of a number of states, primarily Israel and the United States, actively use this method to obtain classified information, but it has been adopted by counterintelligence rather than by the intelligence services of these countries.

The legendary Mata Hari or the star of French military intelligence during the First World War, Martha Richard, are usually cited as the standard for such a female intelligence officer. It is known that the latter was the mistress of the German naval attaché in Spain, Major von Krohn, and managed not only to find out important secrets of German military intelligence, but also to paralyze the activities of the intelligence network he created in this country. Nevertheless, this “exotic” method of using women in intelligence is the exception rather than the rule.

OPINION OF PROFESSIONALS

What do the intelligence officers themselves think about this?

It is no secret that some professionals are skeptical about female intelligence officers. As the famous journalist Alexander Kondrashov wrote in one of his works, even such a legendary military intelligence officer as Richard Sorge spoke about the unsuitability of women for conducting serious intelligence activities. According to the journalist, Richard Sorge attracted female agents only for auxiliary purposes. At the same time, he allegedly stated: “Women are absolutely not suited for intelligence work. They have little understanding of high politics or military affairs. Even if you recruit them to spy on their own husbands, they will have no real idea what their husbands are talking about. They are too emotional, sentimental and unrealistic."

It should be borne in mind here that the outstanding Soviet intelligence officer allowed himself to make this statement during his trial. Today we know that during the trial, Sorge tried with all his might to get his comrades-in-arms and assistants, among whom there were women, out of harm’s way, to take all the blame upon himself, to present his like-minded people as innocent victims of his own game. Hence his desire to belittle the role of women in intelligence, limit it to solving only auxiliary tasks, and show the inability of the fair sex to work independently. Sorge knew well the mentality of the Japanese, who consider women second-class creatures. Therefore, the point of view of the Soviet intelligence officer was clear to Japanese justice, and this saved the lives of his assistants.

Among foreign intelligence officers, the expression “intelligence officers are not born, they are made” is perceived as a truth that does not require proof. It’s just that at some point, intelligence, based on the tasks that have arisen or assigned, requires a specific person who enjoys special trust, has certain personal and business qualities, professional orientation and the necessary life experience in order to send him to work in a specific region of the globe.

Women come to intelligence in different ways. But their choice as operatives or agents, of course, is not accidental. The selection of women for illegal work is carried out especially carefully. After all, it is not enough for an illegal intelligence officer to have a good command of foreign languages ​​and the basics of intelligence art. He must be able to get used to the role, be a kind of artist, so that today, for example, he can pass himself off as an aristocrat, and tomorrow as a priest. Needless to say that most women master the art of transformation better than men?

Those intelligence officers who had the opportunity to work in illegal conditions abroad were always subject to increased demands also in terms of endurance and psychological endurance. After all, women illegal immigrants have to live for many years away from their homeland, and even organizing an ordinary vacation trip requires comprehensive and in-depth study in order to eliminate the possibility of failure. In addition, it is not always possible for a woman who is an illegal intelligence officer to communicate only with those people she likes. Often the situation is just the opposite, and you need to be able to control your feelings, which is not an easy task for a woman.

A remarkable Soviet illegal intelligence officer, who worked for more than 20 years in special conditions abroad, Galina Ivanovna Fedorova, said in this regard: “Some people believe that intelligence is not the most suitable activity for a woman. In contrast to the stronger sex, she is more sensitive, fragile, easily wounded, more closely tied to the family, home, and more predisposed to nostalgia. By nature itself she is destined to be a mother, so the absence of children or long-term separation from them is especially difficult for her. All this is true, but the same small weaknesses of a woman give her powerful leverage in the sphere of human relationships.”

DURING THE YEARS OF THE WAR

The pre-war period and the Second World War, which brought unprecedented misfortunes to humanity, radically changed the approach to intelligence in general and to the role of the female factor in it in particular. Most people of good will in Europe, Asia and America were acutely aware of the danger that Nazism brought to all humanity. During the harsh years of war, hundreds of honest people from different countries voluntarily threw in their lot with the activities of our country’s foreign intelligence service, carrying out its missions in various parts of the world. Women intelligence officers who operated in Europe on the eve of the war and on the territory of the Soviet Union, temporarily occupied by Nazi Germany, also wrote bright pages in the chronicle of the heroic achievements of Soviet foreign intelligence.

The Russian emigrant and famous singer Nadezhda Plevitskaya, whose voice was admired by Leonid Sobinov, Fyodor Chaliapin and Alexander Vertinsky, actively worked in Paris for Soviet intelligence on the eve of World War II.

Together with her husband, General Nikolai Skoblin, she contributed to the localization of the anti-Soviet activities of the Russian All-Military Union (EMRO), which carried out terrorist acts against the Soviet Republic. Based on the information received from these Russian patriots, the OGPU arrested 17 EMRO agents abandoned in the USSR, and also established 11 terrorist safe houses in Moscow, Leningrad and Transcaucasia.

It should be emphasized that thanks to the efforts of Plevitskaya and Skoblin, among others, Soviet foreign intelligence in the pre-war period was able to disorganize the EMRO and thereby deprived Hitler of the opportunity to actively use more than 20 thousand members of this organization in the war against the USSR.

Years of hard times during the war indicate that women are capable of carrying out the most important reconnaissance missions just as well as men. Thus, on the eve of the war, the resident of Soviet illegal intelligence in Berlin, Fyodor Parparov, maintained operational contact with the source Martha, the wife of a prominent German diplomat. She regularly received information about negotiations between the German Foreign Ministry and British and French representatives. It followed from them that London and Paris were more concerned with the fight against communism than with organizing collective security in Europe and repelling fascist aggression.

Information was also received from Martha about a German intelligence agent in the General Staff of Czechoslovakia, who regularly supplied Berlin with top secret information about the state and combat readiness of the Czechoslovak armed forces. Thanks to this data, Soviet intelligence took measures to compromise him and arrest him by the Czech security authorities.

Simultaneously with Parparov, in the pre-war years, other Soviet intelligence officers worked in the very heart of Germany, in Berlin. Among them was Ilse Stöbe (Alta), a journalist in contact with the German diplomat Rudolf von Schelia (Aryan). Important messages were sent from him to Moscow warning of an impending German attack.

Back in February 1941, Alta announced the formation of three army groups under the command of Marshals Bock, Rundstedt and Leeb and the direction of their main attacks on Leningrad, Moscow and Kyiv.

Alta was a staunch anti-fascist and believed that only the USSR could crush fascism. At the beginning of 1943, Alta and her assistant Aryan were arrested by the Gestapo and executed along with the members of the Red Chapel.

Elizaveta Zarubina, Leontina Cohen, Elena Modrzhinskaya, Kitty Harris, Zoya Voskresenskaya-Rybkina worked for Soviet intelligence on the eve and during the war, carrying out its tasks sometimes at the risk of their lives. They were driven by a sense of duty and true patriotism, the desire to protect the world from Hitler's aggression.

The most important information during the war came not only from abroad. It also constantly came from numerous reconnaissance groups operating close to or far from the front line in temporarily occupied territory.

Readers are well aware of the name of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, whose majestic death became a symbol of courage. Seventeen-year-old Tanya, a reconnaissance fighter in a special forces group that was part of front-line intelligence, became the first of 86 women Heroes of the Soviet Union during the war period.

Women intelligence officers from the special forces detachment “Winners” under the command of Dmitry Medvedev, the operational reconnaissance and sabotage group of Vladimir Molodtsov, operating in Odessa, and many other combat units of the 4th Directorate of the NKVD, who obtained important information during the war years, also wrote unfading pages in the history of intelligence of our country. strategic information.

A modest girl from Rzhev, Pasha Savelyeva, managed to obtain and transport to her detachment a sample of chemical weapons that the Nazi command intended to use against the Red Army. Captured by Hitler's punitive forces, she was subjected to monstrous torture in the Gestapo dungeons of the Ukrainian city of Lutsk. Even men can envy her courage and self-control: despite the brutal beatings, the girl did not betray her comrades in the squad. On the morning of January 12, 1944, Pasha Savelyeva was burned alive in the courtyard of the Lutsk prison. However, her death was not in vain: the information received by the intelligence officer was reported to Stalin. The Kremlin's allies in the anti-Hitler coalition seriously warned Berlin that if Germany used chemical weapons, retaliation would inevitably follow. Thus, thanks to the feat of the intelligence officer, a chemical attack by the Germans against our troops was prevented.

Scout of the “Winners” detachment Lydia Lisovskaya was Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov’s closest assistant. Working as a waitress in the casino of the economic headquarters of the occupation forces in Ukraine, she helped Kuznetsov make acquaintances with German officers and collect information about high-ranking fascist officials in Rivne.

Lisovskaya involved her cousin Maria Mikota in intelligence work, who, on instructions from the Center, became a Gestapo agent and informed the partisans about all punitive raids of the Germans. Through Mikota, Kuznetsov met SS officer von Ortel, who was part of the team of the famous German saboteur Otto Skorzeny. It was from Ortel that the Soviet intelligence officer first received information that the Germans were preparing a sabotage action during a meeting of the heads of the USSR, USA and Great Britain in Tehran.

In the fall of 1943, Lisovskaya, on the instructions of Kuznetsov, got a job as a housekeeper for the commander of the eastern special forces, Major General Ilgen. On November 15, 1943, with the direct participation of Lydia, an operation was carried out to kidnap General Ilgen and transport him to the detachment.

THE COLD WAR YEARS

The hard times of war, from which the Soviet Union emerged with honor, gave way to long years of the Cold War. The United States of America, which had a monopoly on atomic weapons, did not hide its imperial plans and aspirations to destroy the Soviet Union and its entire population with the help of these deadly weapons. The Pentagon planned to start a nuclear war against our country in 1957. It took incredible efforts on the part of our entire people, who had barely recovered from the monstrous wounds of the Great Patriotic War, and the exertion of all their strength to thwart the plans of the United States and NATO. But in order to make the right decisions, the political leadership of the USSR needed reliable information about the real plans and intentions of the American military. Female intelligence officers also played an important role in obtaining secret documents from the Pentagon and NATO. Among them are Irina Alimova, Galina Fedorova, Elena Kosova, Anna Filonenko, Elena Cheburashkina and many others.

WHAT ABOUT “COLLEAGUES”?

The years of the Cold War have sunk into oblivion, today's world has become safer than 50 years ago, and foreign intelligence plays an important role in this. The changed military-political situation on the planet has led to the fact that today women are less used in operational work directly “in the field.” The exceptions here, perhaps, are again the Israeli intelligence service Mossad and the American CIA. In the latter, women not only perform the functions of “field” operational workers, but even lead intelligence teams abroad.

The coming 21st century will undoubtedly be the century of the triumph of equality between men and women, even in such a specific sphere of human activity as intelligence and counterintelligence work. An example of this is the intelligence services of such a conservative country as England.

Thus, the book “Scouts and Spies” provides the following information about the “elegant agents” of the British intelligence services: “More than 40% of the intelligence officers MI6 and counterintelligence MI5 of Great Britain are women. In addition to Stella Rimington, who was until recently the head of MI5, four of the 12 counter-intelligence departments are also headed by women. In a conversation with members of the British Parliament, Stella Rimington said that in difficult situations, women are often more decisive and, when performing special tasks, are less susceptible to doubts and remorse for their actions compared to men.”

According to the British, the most promising is the use of women in efforts to recruit male agents, and an increase in female personnel among the operational staff as a whole will lead to an increase in the efficiency of operational activities.

The influx of women into the intelligence services is largely due to the recent increase in the number of male employees who want to leave the service and go into business. In this regard, the search and selection of candidates for work in the British intelligence services among female students of the country's leading universities has become more active.

Another sophisticated reader might probably say: “The USA and England are prosperous countries; they can afford the luxury of attracting women to work in the intelligence services, even in the role of “field players.” As for Israeli intelligence, it actively uses in its work the historical fact that women have always played and continue to play a major role in the life of the Jewish community in any country in the world. These countries are not our decree.” However, he will be wrong.

So, at the beginning of 2001, Lindiwe Sisulu became the Minister of Affairs of all intelligence services of the Republic of South Africa. She was 47 years old at the time, and she was not new to the intelligence services. In the late 1970s, when the African National Congress party was still underground, she underwent special training in the ANC military organization Spear of the People and specialized in intelligence and counterintelligence. In 1992, she headed the security department of the ANC. When a parliament united with the white minority was created in South Africa, she headed the committee on intelligence and counterintelligence. Since the mid-1990s, she worked as Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs. According to available information, the previously considered independent National Intelligence Agency also came under its control.

WHY DO INTELLIGENCE NEED THEM?

Why are women encouraged to serve in intelligence? Experts agree that a woman is more observant, her intuition is more developed, she likes to delve into details, and, as we know, “the devil himself lurks in them.” Women are more diligent, more patient, more methodical than men. And if we add their external data to these qualities, then any skeptic will be forced to admit that women rightfully occupy a worthy place in the ranks of the intelligence services of any country, being their adornment. Sometimes female intelligence officers are entrusted with carrying out operations related, in particular, to organizing meetings with agents in those areas where the appearance of men, based on local conditions, is extremely undesirable.

The combination of the best psychological qualities of both men and women conducting intelligence abroad, especially from illegal positions, is the strength of any intelligence service in the world. It is not for nothing that such intelligence tandems as Leontina and Morris Cohen, Gohar and Gevork Vartanyan, Anna and Mikhail Filonenko, Galina and Mikhail Fedorov and many others - known and unknown to the general public - are inscribed in golden letters in the history of foreign intelligence of our country.

When asked what the main qualities, in her opinion, an intelligence officer should have, one of the foreign intelligence veterans, Zinaida Nikolaevna Batraeva, answered: “Excellent physical fitness, the ability to learn foreign languages ​​and the ability to communicate with people.”

And today, even, unfortunately, quite rare publications in the media devoted to the activities of female intelligence officers convincingly indicate that in this specific sphere of human activity, representatives of the fair sex are in no way inferior to men, and in some ways they are superior their. As the history of the world's intelligence services teaches, a woman copes well with her role, being a worthy and formidable opponent of a man when it comes to penetrating into other people's secrets.

COUNTERINTELLIGENCE ADVICE

And in conclusion, we present excerpts from lectures by one of the leading American counterintelligence officers of his time, Charles Russell, which he gave in the winter of 1924 in New York at a gathering of US Army intelligence officers. Almost 88 years have passed since then, but his advice is relevant for intelligence officers in any country to this day.

Advice to counterintelligence officers:

“Women intelligence officers are the most dangerous enemy, and they are the most difficult to expose. When meeting such women, you should not let likes or dislikes influence your decision. Such weakness can have fatal consequences for you.”

Advice to scouts:

“Avoid women. With the help of women, many good scouts were caught. Don't trust women when you're working in enemy territory. When dealing with women, never forget to play your part.

A Frenchman who had escaped from a German concentration camp stopped at a café near the Swiss border, waiting for night to fall. When the waitress handed him the menu, he thanked her, which surprised her. When she brought him beer and food, he thanked her again. While he was eating, the waitress called a German counterintelligence officer because, as she later said, such a polite man could not be German. The Frenchman was arrested."

The basic rule of conduct for a scout:

“Beware of women! History knows many cases when women contributed to the capture of male intelligence officers. You should pay attention to a woman only if you suspect that she is an agent of the enemy’s intelligence or counterintelligence service, and then only if you are confident that you are in complete control of yourself.”

source- Vladimir Sergeevich Antonov - leading expert of the Hall of Foreign Intelligence History, retired colonel.

The head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Mikhail Fradkov, presents Kosova with the SVR Prize of Russia for 2010 (for sculptural portraits of outstanding intelligence officers).

-Did you have to recruit yourself?

No, they gave me ready-made informants. And usually these were women. The communication between the two ladies, their “random” meetings in a cafeteria, a store, or a hairdresser does not arouse suspicion in anyone. One day a resident invited me and said that I would have to conduct a secret relationship with a valuable source. This woman worked in the delegation of one of the European countries to the UN. We managed to exchange information with her, even when she was going down the escalator in the shopping center, and I was going up on the next one. One handshake, a friendly hug - and I have the code. Thanks to this connection, the Center regularly received information regarding the positions of NATO countries on global world problems.

- Who else was among your informants?

Many episodes have not been declassified, and I cannot talk about them. In addition, Americans were involved there, who can still be identified from my descriptions. Let me just say that I was constantly in touch with an American woman who works in an important government department. When I met her, I was extremely collected. Any mistake could cost her dearly, not so much for me as for her.

- This was the period of the Cold War, so all the Americans probably looked at you askance?

In general, Americans are a very nice people, and they are similar to us Russians. They treated us with warmth. When they found out that we were Russian, they accepted us so warmly! But I’m talking specifically about ordinary people, and at the government level everything was different. An atomic war was being prepared, and we knew for sure that around April 1949 the United States wanted to drop a bomb on Russia. And we were faced with the task of saving our homeland, no less, so we couldn’t think about anything else. American counterintelligence was furious. Every person from the Union was relentlessly watched. Draconian measures were introduced to relocate Soviet diplomats, the number of which was reduced to a minimum - those who remained were forbidden to even leave the city.

In New York, I worked not in technical work, but in operational work. She was a liaison officer in Barkovsky’s group (he was the one working on the atomic bomb). He gave me instructions - for example, to type a letter with gloves on, drop it in a certain place in another area, meet someone.

- Did this happen every day?
- Of course not, as needed. In addition, I remember something happened to the operational secretary of our station. She was hastily sent home. And I was assigned to perform its functions. To do this I had to learn to type.

- Were secret reports printed at home?

What do you! It was forbidden to keep any incriminating things at home. We never talked about our work or anything like that with my husband. If he needed to know whether I had completed a task successfully, when I returned home, I would slightly nod my head to him. We learned to understand each other without words, only by our eyes. So even if there was wiretapping, we would not have been split.

-Where was the station?

At the Soviet embassy. Our room (where the radio operator was) was on the top floor, and purely theoretically they could listen to us from the roof. That’s why we always took precautions. Ciphers were used.

Every evening I drove from the UN to the station in the evening. And every morning it started the same way for me. By the way, I was closed to our Soviet citizens working at the embassy. Officially, I was responsible for the archive of the economic department there.

- That is, in parallel they led, as it were, another life, a third?

Even the fourth (if you take into account the family one, and I tried to be a good housewife). I was also a mass entertainer for diplomats. She organized amateur performances, sang and danced. But then there was enough strength for everything. Maybe because I was brought up like that in a family... My father was a general, my brother was a general, and my husband also became a general. And I myself am a senior lieutenant. (Smiles.) But the feeling of patriotism has always given me so much energy

- Have you often been on the verge of failure?
- This is very relative. After all, in intelligence, every day involves risk to one degree or another. Sometimes danger lurked where you didn't expect it. I remember one night I had an unusual heart attack (we were renting a dacha 120 km from New York at the time). The husband called a doctor, but they sent a police ambulance, which was nearby. They immediately realized that I had problems with my thyroid gland and decided to urgently hospitalize me. But under no circumstances should I have gone to an American hospital.

- Why?!

There is such a thing as “talking drag”. Something like a lie detector, only the person is split with the help of drugs. They give you pills and he answers any questions. Therefore, we, intelligence officers, were forbidden to even undergo a medical examination without the presence of our doctors.

Help "MK"

Intelligence officer Nikolai Kosov, among other things, was a brilliant journalist, vice-president of the Association of Foreign Correspondents at the UN. He was Molotov's translator and accompanied Khrushchev and Bulgarin on foreign trips.

- Which task do you remember most?
- Our illegal immigrant (such as Stirlitz) was somehow supposed to meet with an employee of the diplomatic mission. He had already left, but a telegram arrived from Moscow, saying that under no circumstances should this meeting be allowed to happen. And then there was surveillance behind all of ours. Only the American counterintelligence did not follow me. So I had to go. Although it was generally forbidden to leave the city, I broke through. They generally take three days to prepare for such a meeting. They look at what restaurant a person goes to, where they can check him to see if there is a tail behind him. But I didn’t have time for all this; I couldn’t intercept him on the “route” and arrived at the meeting place itself. This was an extreme option that could be resorted to in the most critical cases. And then a curly-haired guy comes out of the bushes. I immediately realized - ours! And he felt that something had happened and stepped aside. And here comes the one to whom our Stirlitz came. I let him know that the meeting is cancelled. At first he was in no way - how could that be! Barely convinced. And our Stirlitz jumped on the bus and traveled around the country for three days to make sure that he was not being followed.

- Did you use listening devices, all kinds of voice recorders and video cameras?

No, nothing like that happened. Reports were usually handed over to me in such small capsules (in the form of film). My Buick had an ashtray. In case of danger, I pressed the button and the capsule burned out within a minute. Once I was traveling to another state, carrying a report. And then a policeman suddenly stopped me in the tunnel. I was already preparing to burn the capsule, but he said that there was a traffic jam on the road and I needed to wait a little. I was very worried then. Another time I broke traffic rules. I thought that was it, I was lost (and before that, my husband, at the cinema, where he had a meeting with an agent, gave me this little thing so that I could take it where I needed it). And again she prepared to burn the report, although it was very important. But then I say to the policeman: “Where is your street of brides?” - She really was nearby. He told me: “Are you, bride, going to a wedding? Well then, I won’t detain you, but don’t disturb you in the future.” In general, something happened every time. It was romantic and interesting. We were young ourselves then - and we liked it all.

“I started sculpting at the age of 50”

- Why did you decide to leave intelligence?

At the age of 30, I found out that I was expecting a child. This changed everything. I decided to devote myself to him. My mother was sick, there was no one to help. And in general, I wouldn’t trust my son to anyone. Besides, I didn’t want to give birth in the States. After all, according to local laws, he would then have to serve in the American army.

- I was sure that the scouts were connected forever...

There is no bondage. I came and asked to be released for three years. And the Center offered me to resign, and then, if I wanted, to return whenever I wanted. I never returned.

-Have you ever regretted leaving intelligence?

No. In addition, intelligence has always remained in my life - I was the wife of an intelligence officer... And when my husband and I lived in Holland, I often noticed that I was being followed. We were suspected then: my husband was a correspondent in the States, and in Holland he was already a diplomat... This doesn’t happen. But in general I often had to help him. If you were at a reception, he asked you to go up to such and such a couple, get acquainted, talk, etc. But for me this was no longer a job, but helping a loved one. In Moscow we didn’t tell anyone that he was an intelligence officer. Everyone thought that he simply worked for the KGB. They led a normal life and tried to be no different from others. That's how it was supposed to be.

- When did you discover your talent as a sculptor?

This happened unexpectedly when we were living in Hungary. The husband was a representative of the KGB of the USSR, and he had an extremely important mission. I remember when we arrived there, one of the diplomats said that since the USSR sent Nikolai Kosov, it means that something serious is being prepared. And it was like I had a creative explosion. And this, mind you, at 50 years old. Now I tell everyone - don’t be afraid to look for your calling at any age! Let my example inspire someone. My Hungarian teacher explained that my creativity is an outlet for the accumulated impressions received from intelligence. Perhaps, thanks to her, I learned to be extremely attentive, remember faces, the slightest details, and see the inner spiritual essence in people.

She was the first to make a sculpture of Petőfi (the Hungarians’ favorite writer), and it was immediately appreciated. They convinced me that I was a born sculptor. I became a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR, but they didn’t greet me well there. They heard that I was from the KGB (but at that time we could not say that we were actually from intelligence), and they shunned me. I don’t know what they thought of me then. And then art critics began to say that my handwriting was unusual, I was able to convey the inner state of a person, and newspapers around the world began to write about me.

- Is it true that you sculpted Margaret Thatcher and even gave this work of yours as a gift?

Yes, we met her. And she liked the way I sculpted her. I was very pleased.

- If you had to choose between two professions - a scout and a sculptor - what would you choose?

Then, in my younger years, I was only a scout. I was (and remain) a patriot and dreamed of doing something for my country. But now I consider myself a sculptor and I ask my fans to perceive me in this incarnation.

- But follow the news in the world of intelligence? What do you think about the high-profile spy scandal in the States, in which your namesake appeared?

I'll keep an eye on it as much as possible. And I will tell you that in intelligence everything is not as it may seem. The uninitiated will not understand me...

- Do you think the role of women in intelligence has increased throughout the world today?

It's hard for me to judge what's happening now. But women have always played a serious role in this matter. I think no less than men. Today, several of our female intelligence officers have been declassified. But they all performed completely different functions and tasks, which shows how broad the concept of intelligence itself is. Some intelligence officers obtain confidential information, others provide security at conferences, others are engaged in recruitment, others... Some have to be, as I like to say, “in the hot trenches of the Cold War,” while others work successfully in their homeland. As for intelligence throughout the world, services in different countries may use women in this matter in different ways. Somewhere really like bait.

- There was no desire to “make” Putin? He is, after all, a former security officer.

It is as a colleague that I perceive him. And, of course, I would like to sculpt it. But there are already almost a hundred sculptures of him. And everyone continues to sculpt and draw him...

-Who would you like to sculpt now?

Husband. Then, perhaps, my sadness, which accumulates all the time, will find a way out. They say time heals. No, it only fuels greater melancholy. He died 5 years ago, and there is not a day when I don’t cry and remember him. I sometimes watch modern films and I’ll tell you - we didn’t call love what they call it now. We entered into each other in such a way that sometimes I did not understand who I was to him - mother, wife, daughter. He was the most dear person to me, although we, of course, sometimes fought. We are probably from that ancient Greek legend about the androgyne, who was divided into two halves.

Russian Mata Hari

B N 23–24 for 2006, we talked about Major General N.S. Batyushin, who is rightfully considered one of the creators of the domestic secret services. With the outbreak of the First World War, he continued to be involved in intelligence and counterintelligence, serving as Quartermaster General of the Northern Front headquarters. Anticipating the possibility of a German offensive along the Baltic Sea coast, Nikolai Stepanovich made sure in advance that our agents would settle in port cities that could be captured by the enemy. One of these agents who found themselves at the forefront of the secret intelligence struggle thanks to Batyushin was a mysterious lady, a subject of the Russian Empire, who operated in Libau. Without the slightest stretch, she can be called the Russian Mata Hari.

Not at all a figment of the writer's imagination

DUE TO the fact that the archives of Russian intelligence were badly damaged during the revolutionary events, it is now hardly possible to establish the true name of this woman, as well as many details of her biography.

She entered the history of the great war under the name of Anna Revelskaya. In Libau, occupied by the Germans, she was known under the name of Clara Izelgof. By the way, those who have read Valentin Pikul’s novel “Moonzund” will certainly remember the image of this patriot. It is worth noting that Valentin Savvich made extensive use of German-language sources in his work on Moonsund, including the memoirs of the heads of the Kaiser and Austro-Hungarian intelligence services Walter Nicolai and Max Ronge. The writer did not invent his heroine and her fate; he only decorated real events with some picturesque details.

Anna Revelskaya's main merit is that she played a truly outstanding role in thwarting German plans to break through the Kaiser's fleet into the Gulf of Finland, and the death of an entire flotilla of the newest German mine cruisers that were blown up by Russian mines can be attributed to her personal account.

But first, a little background...

A generous gift to the British Admiralty

ON AUGUST 27, 1914, the German cruiser Magdeburg, in thick fog, struck an underwater reef near the northern tip of Odensholm Island, 50 nautical miles from the Russian naval base in Reval. "Magdeburg" secretly made its way into the Gulf of Finland with the task of mining the fairway, and on the way back it was supposed to attack and destroy patrol ships and torpedo boats of the Russian Baltic Fleet.

All attempts by the German crew to remove their cruiser from the reef before the approach of the Russian ships failed. At dawn, the captain of the Magdeburg ordered the burning of secret documents, with the exception of those that still had to be followed. Therefore, two journals of encryption codes with the key to deciphering them were never set on fire. Before the ship's commander ordered his sailors to leave the cruiser and the miners to blow up the ship, the radio operator, following instructions, threw overboard a magazine with ciphers, packed between heavy lead tiles. But another copy was lost in the confusion...

Russian ships that approached the Magdeburg wreck site picked up German sailors. The divers then began a thorough examination of the half-sunken Kaiser cruiser and the bottom beneath it. Now let's give the floor to Winston Churchill, who at that time was one of the Lords of the British Admiralty.

“The Russians fished the body of a drowned German junior officer out of the water,” Churchill writes in his memoirs. - With the ossified hands of a dead man, he clutched to his chest the code books of the German Navy, as well as maps of the North Sea and Heligoland Bight, divided into small squares. On September 6, the Russian naval attache came to visit me. He received a message from Petrograd outlining what had happened. It reported that, with the help of code books, the Russian Admiralty was able to decipher at least certain sections of German naval cipher telegrams. The Russians believed that the Admiralty of England, the leading naval power, should have these books and maps... We immediately sent the ship, and on an October evening Prince Louis (meaning the first sea lord of England Louis Battenberg. - A.V.) received from our hands loyal allies, priceless documents slightly damaged by the sea..."

German codes were too tough for Russian hackers

Alas, the British cryptanalysts (code-breaking specialists), who achieved great success in deciphering enemy messages using materials provided by the Russians, did not share their achievements with their Russian colleagues, repaying the allies with black ingratitude in the traditional manner of Albion figures.

Russian codebreakers also struggled with German codes, but to no avail. The Kaiser's intelligence service, which had an extensive network of agents in Petrograd, building a nest even in the Russian Ministry of War, was well aware of these futile efforts.

From the story of the Magdeburg code books, the capture of which the Russians were never able to use to their advantage, the German naval command, headed by the pompous and smug Prince Heinrich of Prussia (the Kaiser’s brother), concluded that the Russian intelligence services and their inability to undergo major operations. This rash conclusion determined Prince Henry's strategy until the end of 1916, although the Russian Baltic Fleet, under the command of the talented admirals Essen, Nepenin and Kolchak, taught the Kaiser's fleet a whole series of impressive lessons with the help of brilliantly executed mine laying, extending literally to the very German harbors ...

Women's charms and men's naivety

NOW let's return to the Baltic states, where Anna Revelskaya acted. It is known about this lady that she came from a wealthy Russian family that owned lands in the Baltic states, graduated from high school and knew several languages, including German. She is described as a graceful and attractive woman, literally bursting with health.

Back in the spring of 1915, before the start of a large-scale German offensive, under the name of Clara Izelgof, she got a job as a waiter in a port confectionery shop in Libau, often visited by sailors.

A few months later, German troops occupied Libau. The commander-in-chief of the German fleet in the Baltic, the Kaiser's brother, Prince Heinrich of Prussia, moved his headquarters here. Following the heavyset grand admiral, the ranks of his headquarters moved to this city, and many of the German dreadnoughts docked at the Libau berths. Kriegsmarine officers began to frequent the coffee shop on Charlottenstrasse, where excellent coffee, French cognac and delicious cakes were served. And soon a young German sailor, Lieutenant von Kempke, commander of one of the main caliber turrets from the cruiser Tethys, fell in love with the pretty and amiable pastry chef Clara Izelgof, who lived alone, so much so that he intended to offer her his hand and heart.

Clara allowed the lieutenant to stay at her apartment. Returning one day from a campaign, the lieutenant accidentally found his beloved dismantling all sorts of rubbish, among which were various things from the everyday life of gentlemen, including a man's travel bag with a set of all sorts of things, even mustache curlers. The lieutenant made a scene of jealousy for the lady of his heart. Brought to tears, the pastry chef admitted to the lieutenant that during the period the Russians were in Libau, her admirer was an officer of the Russian fleet. In a fit of generosity, the German forgave Clara, because her tears were so touching, and her repentance was so sincere...

Without ceasing to sob, the lady said in a broken voice that the Russian, in his haste to leave Libau, had forgotten in the attic some kind of briefcase made of expensive crocodile skin of excellent workmanship, with wonderful nickel-plated locks and a lot of pockets, but for some reason she could not find it . The thrifty German really wanted to get this little thing from his predecessor. After tormenting a fan eager for “war trophies” for a week, Clara one day handed him the trunk with a victorious look, noting that, due to her natural modesty, she did not look inside.

When von Kempke began to get acquainted with the contents of the briefcase, he was thrown into a fever: there were top secret diagrams of the recent mine laying of the Baltic Fleet! The lieutenant presented the materials that had accidentally fallen into his hands to his command.

At the headquarters of Henry of Prussia, and then at the General Headquarters of the German Navy, they were subjected to the most rigorous examination. And they came to the conclusion that the diagrams were most likely genuine - this is exactly how the Germans would have laid out minefields if they had intended to clog the Irben Strait for the enemy, leaving narrow passages for their own ships. Prince Henry subjected the tower commander to a meticulous interrogation, mainly concerning the identity of his beloved. The lieutenant's answers, which boiled down to the most positive characteristics of Clara Izelgof, her sympathies for the Second Reich and her own matrimonial intentions, completely satisfied the prince. He promised the lieutenant a brilliant career if, with the help of these schemes, one operation was successful, which, as it seemed to the Kaiser’s strategist, could well prompt the Russians to hasten their exit from the war...

Prince Henry decided to send on a military raid to the Gulf of Finland, guided by the Russian mine laying scheme, the pride of the Kaiser's Navy - the 10th flotilla of mine cruisers, launched from the shipyards just before the war. 11 pennants!

In a mousetrap

TO check the reliability of the route, the Germans sent a couple of destroyers for reconnaissance, and they returned safely to base. On November 10, 1916, the entire flotilla moved along the explored path, hoping to throw mines at the fairways of the Gulf of Finland, Kronstadt and Helsingfors and send to the bottom everything that came along the way.

When all the ships were pulled into the “safe” passage indicated on the Russian officer’s diagram, something happened that the Germans did not expect: two destroyer cruisers suddenly exploded on mines.

The head of the operation, Captain First Rank Witting, having sent one of the cruisers with crews picked up from the water to Libau, nevertheless decided to continue the pirate raid, writing off the explosion as an accident. He broke through into the Gulf of Finland, but did not dare to go further and, having almost leveled the fishing village of Paldiski with artillery fire, turned back.

And then it turned out that the “safe passage” was all covered with mines! And when did the Russians manage to install them again? Of Witting's ten ships, only three managed to reach Libau; the rest were blown up and sank. Thus, the 10th flotilla ceased to exist, having lost eight ships.

And the scouts disappeared without a trace...

UPON RETURNING from this inglorious path that turned into a trap, the Germans rushed to look for Clara Izelgof. They turned the entire Charlottenstrasse upside down in search of her, but to no avail: there was no trace of the Russian intelligence officer. On that very night, when Witting’s destroyers were rushing to the Russian shores through Irbeny, the Panther submarine, which secretly approached Libau, took on board a certain passenger. As the reader has already guessed, it was Anna Revelskaya...

The further fate of this brave woman is drowning in the darkness of revolutionary hard times. We don’t know which side she took when the Bolsheviks took power and then the Civil War broke out, whether she stayed in Russia or emigrated. This lady has remained an absolute mystery in the history of intelligence, we don’t even know her true name... But what cannot be questioned is the value of the operation carried out with her help to mislead the enemy, which in terms of effectiveness (almost completely destroyed the flotilla of the newest destroyers of the Kaiser’s Kriegsmarine) has no analogues at all in the history of the First World War.

Beautiful, smart, selfless - these were the women who, by the will of fate, took the path of espionage. Each of them led their own arranged lives until the moment the state made it clear that it needed their work. Female spies are a combination of cold prudence, courage, willpower, visual attractiveness and seductiveness. Scouts have no right to fame; their names and exploits become known only after they officially cease to perform their duties.

1. Nadezhda Plevitskaya - sweet romances and treacherous kidnapping

Plevitskaya’s most high-profile operation was the kidnapping of Evgeny Miller, the head of the Russian All-Military Union. The result was to be the appointment of Plevitskaya’s husband to the position of Miller. But Miller began to suspect something was wrong and managed to write a note to his deputy, which allowed him to expose the Russian spies. Plevitskaya was arrested by French counterintelligence. She was charged with espionage for the USSR and kidnapping, for which she was given 20 years. In 1940, she died within the walls of the women's prison in Rennes.

2. Margarita Konenkova - the woman to whom Einstein was partial

Communicating with scientists, she, with the help of seduction and feminine cunning, learned the details of atomic research, was aware of the stages of creation and transferred all this information to Soviet intelligence. It is not known exactly what kind of relationship connected Margarita and Einstein. However, letters to each other with very tender content were found in their personal belongings.

3. Zoya Voskresenskaya-Rybkina - intelligence officer who wrote children's stories

In 1941, while working at the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign States, she went to the German Embassy for a gala reception. The local ambassador was fascinated by the Russian beauty and invited her to dance. While the German diplomat whispered compliments to her, twirling in a waltz, she was able to see traces of paintings hanging on the walls and packed suitcases in the slightly open office. Then she reported that the Germans were planning to evacuate, which meant they were preparing for war. The bosses ignored her message.

Zoya trained scouts and saboteurs during the war. The episode became famous when she refused to carry out the orders of the management. They wanted to entrust her to become the mistress of a general from Switzerland who had connections with Germany. But she did not want to betray her husband, who, by the way, was also an intelligence officer, and told her superiors that she would shoot herself. After leaving intelligence, Zoya served in the administration of camps in Vorkuta, and when she reached retirement, she began writing children's stories under the pseudonym “Voskresenskaya.”

4. Olga Chekhova - actress who never admitted her connection with intelligence

Having married her colleague Mikhail Chekhov, she forever kept his last name, although the German authorities forced her to return her maiden name. Goebbels openly demonstrated his dislike for the actress because she rejected him. But at the same time, the Fuhrer himself sympathized with her.

In April 1945, Olga was arrested by USSR intelligence, and the spy was taken to Moscow. After that, she visited West Berlin and then moved to Germany. This visit was shrouded in secrecy. Local newspapers began to write that Chekhova was a super agent of the USSR and went to Moscow to receive the Order of Lenin for services to the state from the hands of Stalin himself.

Persons close to the Soviet leadership claimed that Olga took an active part in preparing the assassination attempt on Hitler, which, due to Stalin’s fears, never took place. There is evidence that in the summer of 1953 Chekhova completed her last task - she became the link for fruitful communication between Beria and Konrad Adenauer.

The spy died in 1980 in Munich. It is interesting that all her life she denied any connection with intelligence; the Moscow authorities also did not officially confirm this data.

5. Elizaveta Zarubina - work with 22 agents and FAA missiles

During World War II, Lisa was one of the most valuable employees of the USSR residency in the United States. The most important informants were in touch with her, and in total she supervised 22 agents.

6. Leontine Cohen - postage stamp spy

Leontina brilliantly mastered the skills of a radio operator. The intelligence officer was famous for her extraordinary resourcefulness and ability to instantly navigate difficult situations. One day, leaving a strategically important area near nuclear facilities, Leontina came under police search. While the agents were examining her suitcase, the spy pretended to be looking for a train ticket in her purse and, smiling charmingly at the inspector, asked him to hold a box of tissues. The policeman kindly helped, simultaneously flirting with a beautiful lady. The inspection was completed, Leontina took the box and went to the platform. In fact, this box contained secret documents, which, thanks to the resourcefulness of the intelligence officer, were not discovered and went to Moscow to the leading atomic engineer of that time.

7. Irina Alimova - from cinema straight to intelligence

8. Nadezhda Troyan and her participation in the destruction of the Belarusian Gauleiter

9. Anna Morozova and the creation of the film “Calling Fire on Ourselves”

This feat became the basis for the creation of the film “Calling Fire on Ourselves.” After watching it, the veterans turned to the leadership of the USSR with a request to award Anna the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously, which was done in May 1965.

At one time, a spy drama with a tragic ending caused a huge resonance - not everyone knew then.

Women in intelligence

The words “chercher la femme” translated from French mean “look for a woman.” These words, which have survived centuries, were spoken when, for unknown reasons, a certain monarch was sent to another world, a palace coup unexpectedly occurred, or the heads of participants in an unsuccessful conspiracy flew under the executioner’s ax.

Often, representatives of the fairer sex were behind such events. People who used women for their purposes knew well that the secrets of the royal or royal court were often hidden in the skirt of a maid. They knew that in order to catch a man in the net of a conspiracy, it would be a good idea to use a beautiful woman. And not necessarily of noble origin. A lot of secrets fell into the hands of intelligence officers through prostitutes.

During the First World War, the German dog Fritz repeatedly crossed the front line, delivering spy reports in his collar. The dog showed amazing resourcefulness, evading the pursuit and traps of the French every time. Then counterintelligence remembered the famous phrase “look for a woman.” And they slipped Fritz a bitch named Rosie. She was so beautiful that the stern dog’s heart could not stand it. Forgetting about the service, Fritz began to indulge in dog-like affection with her. Then the French took him.

Women are often assistants to intelligence officers and counterintelligence officers. It is not for nothing that Chinese wisdom says: “A woman’s tongue is a ladder along which misfortune enters the house.” However, the woman is so firmly entrenched on the front of the secret war that she is unlikely to give up her place to a man. However, there are very conflicting opinions on them.

Thus, one author (Bernard Newman) writes: “I do not at all want to say that there were no female intelligence officers at all, although their activities were by no means particularly outstanding. Among them there was only one Mata Hari, and even she did not accomplish a hundredth part of everything that was attributed to her. However, it is not gender that makes female intelligence officers so invariably harmless, but, mainly, the nature of their upbringing.

The thing is. that popular writers too often do not pay attention to the fact that the intelligence officer still needs to know something about the subject of his intelligence. It makes absolutely no sense to send a woman to

an enemy country in order to fish out the details of a new howitzer, if, having encountered both a howitzer and a field gun on the road, it cannot distinguish one from the other. This kind of intelligence officer or intelligence officer is more a danger than an acquisition for the country that uses them.”

The most accurate assessment of women as intelligence officers was given by counterintelligence officer Orest Pino:

“Most women suffer from three deficiencies that hinder intelligence and counterintelligence work. Firstly, they do not have the necessary technical knowledge. For example, if you need to find out the structure of a secret engine created by an enemy, then a garage mechanic has a better chance of success than the most educated woman. Already from his previous work, a mechanic is familiar with some of the basics of technology, but a woman has to start from the basics. As for military secrets, only a few women know military ranks and the difference between units, units, formations, that is, everything that makes up the modern army. Such knowledge can be acquired, but it will take time. Secondly, in an unusual environment, women are more noticeable than men. A man dressed as a worker can walk near a military facility for several hours without arousing suspicion, and a woman, especially a young and beautiful one, will immediately attract attention. Dressed simply, a man can walk into a bar in a seaport and no one will notice him. A woman shouldn't do this. She is a woman, this alone limits her capabilities and reduces her value as an agent. Thirdly, and this is the most important thing, women do not know how to control their feelings like men. I know of two or three cases where a woman had to win the love of, say, a senior enemy officer. She coped with this task successfully, but then she herself fell in love with her victim and spoiled the whole thing. It is not difficult to guess what followed next. She went over to the enemy’s side and revealed all the secrets she knew. I know that male spies also sometimes became traitors, but for different reasons. It seems to me that the only thing female spies are capable of is obtaining intelligence information. This is usually done like this. A woman wins the love of some enemy officer or official, learns something, and then blackmails him, threatening to tell his boss or, even worse, his wife. The threat is in effect and the spy receives comprehensive information. That's why I asked women who wanted to become secret agents if they were willing to sacrifice their honor. A decent woman will not do this. A woman who is capable of spending the night with an unfamiliar man, often physically repulsive, must have the soul of a prostitute in order to obtain the necessary information. And prostitutes are known to be unreliable. In all my 30 years of practice, when I had to deal with talented intelligence officers and counterintelligence officers in Europe and America, I have never met a woman who would prove herself to be a good spy or a good “spy hunter.” According to Pinto, counterintelligence officers are advised to pay attention to a woman only if there is a suspicion that she is an enemy agent. One of the best ways to expose it is jealousy. You need to choose a handsome, smart man from among your employees as bait for this woman. The next step is to establish an intimate relationship between them. Then introduce a counterintelligence officer into the game, supposedly because of whom the man will leave the woman suspected of being a spy. Then another employee should be sent to this suspect, who will play the role of a sympathizer. All women are talkative, and in the vast majority of cases, a woman suspected of being a spy will let it slip in a fit of anger. This gives counterintelligence the tip of a thread, by pulling which it is possible to unwind the entire tangle.